Refusing to bf

[Hona]

Makai is 6 months old now. He started taking about one bottle a day from dh when he was 4 months old. He also started on solids at 4 months. Just this last week he has started to refuse to bf before going to sleep at night. He'll be exhausted and hungry, but just cry and cry until we give him a bottle of ebm. He's waited as long as two hours for a bottle - being fussy throughout the whole time. If I try to feed him, he'll throw himself back and scream more. He'll nurse pretty well during the daytime, but not as well as he used to. Any ideas on why he's doing this or on what I can/should do? Thanks!

[Gemela]

dd did this a few times and it was related to her teething or having a ear infection because she either didn't like the pressure on her ear when she was nursing or she didn't like the pressure on her gums when she was sucking. Maybe that is what is going on?

[CodeNameMom]

I was going to guess the teething or ear infection as well. Another possibility would be thrush, though I would try the other 2 first. If it is teething you can simply give him a little bit of motrin and when that kicks in he should nurse fine. I would check with the dr though if you suspect either of the other two.

A last resort could be part of a fussy stage. Though normally they want more nursing not less, but around 6mos they get highly distractable and if he knows he will fall asleep breastfeeding and can fight sleep more with a bottle then it could cause him to resist sleep and thus resist nursing. This comes to mind mainly because you said it is a night problem when he may be more likely to fall asleep nursing. At 6mos they often resist sleep and nurse poorly because they don't want to miss anything that is going on around them. For these instances keeping the environment dark and quiet for nursing often fixes the problem. If there is nothing happening there is nothing to miss out on. Sometimes a white noise machine or fan helps sooth too.

[Hona]

Thanks for the replies! Makai is eating again now, thankfully. I'm guessing that he's teething.