What is a nursing strike?

Has your infant started refusing the breast? Won’t even get near you for breastfeeding sessions? It’s likely not you! Let’s talk nursing strikes, why we see them and how to get back on track.

What is a nursing strike?

I will be totally transparent in saying this topic is near and dear to my heart because my first son began refusing my breast one day around 11 months old and I thought he was weaning himself. We actually came to an abrupt end that day, and I was not prepared! BAM. Done. No mas. I then began pumping so we could maintain until 12 months of age and transitioned to cow’s milk. It took me months into my studies to become a Lactation Consultant to understand there is a term for this, I was not alone, and he was not weaning. This was an example of a nursing strike!

A strike is a period of time where your infant will refuse to breastfed despite feeding well in the previous days.

The strike will often come out of nowhere and all the sudden your babe will refuse to latch, and in extreme cases, won’t want to even be held or snuggled by you during this time. It can be very difficult to understand such a drastic distain after being his/her favorite person and activity for all these months. I have tears writing this because I can remember how alone, and confused I felt. So rejected. But knowing you’re not alone and how to overcome can be empowering!

Let’s talk breastfeeding substitutes

Since your babe is in a nursing strike, feeding at the breast is not an option temporarily. There I said it. This is short term, this is not your fault. This is temporary. So, you’ve got 2 options for breastfeeding substitutes. Your first option is to pump or hand express your breastmilk. If you are determined to avoid formula you’ll need to get out the pump and create a short term schedule for yourself until this strike is over. Depending on your baby’s age you can then offer your expressed milk in a bottle, cup, or spoon! A good rule of thumb is pumping every 3-4 hours for 20 minutes or 8 pump sessions within a 24 hour period. You can review our article on exclusively pumping here which highlights pump schedules, and some frequently asked pumping questions! Your second option is formula. Formula feeding a breastfed infant is okay. I’ll repeat this for those in the back…Formula feeding is OKAY! In saying that, I will tell you that formula is not the first choice for feedings nor is it the healthiest option but it IS okay. It can bridge the gaps in our breastfeeding journey that we struggle to fill ourselves. Most of the negative formula research stems from infants who receive formula longterm with routine use. Also introducing formula during times like this DOES NOT mean you’ve failed at breastfeeding. Let the parent guilt go. Now that we’ve discussed what to feed, let’s talk how to feed.

Bottle feeding a breastfed baby

Since we’ll be feeding your infant away from the breast the easiest way to feed will likely be a bottle. Although, if an infant is striking at a young age we can also offer small amounts of milk in a spoon, cup, or syringe (like the plastic medicine dropper kind that comes with infant medicines) with infant sitting upright. If we go the bottle route we’ll want to make sure to avoid creating a bottle preference. We do this by using a method called paced bottle feeding.

Paced Bottle Feeding

This is a great example of the paced bottle feeding method. Pacing allow infants to slow down the amount of milk they consume during a feeding. Most infants naturally do this while breastfeeding but they will need our help with this technique when we introduce a bottle. This method will require infant to sit upright while holding the bottle parallel to the ground, ensuring the nipple is half full of air and half full of milk. This positioning closely mimics breastfeeding in that infants have to work to remove the milk from bottle just like they work to remove milk from the breast. If we feed them traditionally we could create a preference to nipples or bottle feedings since we are doing the hard for work them. There are many great visuals on this, and here is an awesome video that also walks you through positioning.

Other ways to fight back against a nursing strike

There are a few other things we can do to help end this nursing strike. We can;

  • Attempt skin to skin time with infant. In some cases infant will want to hide from Mommy but get creative! Is your baby a fan of water? What about a bath together? Try your best.

  • Baby wearing can be a great way to reconnect but don’t force it

  • Snuggling and quiet time with infant. Consider calling off visitors for a day or two and focus on downtime. If we are stressed about this strike, our infant will also feel this and we could further exacerbate the situation.

  • Mimic breastfeeding with stuffed animals or dolls. Sometimes creatively playing with the topic can take out some of the “scary”.

  • Do you have a friend who is nursing? Schedule a playdate so your infant can see the connections.

  • Lastly, nursing in the overnight hours when infant wakes can be a good way to get back in the swing of things. You could start a feed with a bottle and half way through offer the breast, or vice versa.

It’s been 2 weeks, will we nurse again?

Typically nursing strikes last from 2-3 days to a couple of weeks. If during this time you are concerned, please reach out to a  Lactation Consultant. If you are nearing the 2 week mark and NOTHING has worked, seeing an LC for more tips, tricks and advice can help. If infant is over 12 months of age we could be dealing with a true weaning but weaning is usually done gradually and not abruptly. When in doubt, call for help! You got this!

Why is my baby striking?

As a lactation professional I can tell you we, as a whole, have no real scientific answers on why we see this happen. Some think it could be due to an external factor i.e. Mother returning to work, family vacation and getting off of routine, pregnancy, birth of a sibling, moving, sore gums from teething, under supply, over supply, medications, or new maternal diet. Regardless of the reason, finding yourself in the midst of a nursing strike can be frustrating and scary - what will my baby eat?!?!

As Seen on TV

I like to call this the “As seen on TV” bottle feeding method. This can be great when infant is older and on cow’s milk or cow’s milk substitutes! But for bottle feeding a breastfed baby, this method is not conducive. Feeding a breastfed infant like this allows them to sit back and relax with very little work to remove milk. Infant’s can quickly begin to prefer this feeding method and will not want to resume feedings at the breast since that is much harder. Save this technique for older babes.