Hellobee Boards

Both of my kids went on bottle strikes around 9 months; it's just the age. They suddenly realize they're too busy to sit down and drink they're their milk, lol! The strike lasted about a month with both kids.

W started screaming and arching her back every time I tried to nurse her during the day, starting around 6 months. She is also wild and crazy and would rather play than be stuck staring at me. (she's never been a cuddler)

I kept offering, and she would usually take it after a lot of coaxing, but it started getting too stressful for both of us. I moved to exclusively pumping from 8 until 10 months and then I had to give it all up because I was burned out. Hopefully it's just a strike for you, but I believe W weaned herself.

You are lucky it only started at 9 months! The first nursing strike episode started at 4-5 months for us, it broke my heart. It continued to break my heart for the following months. I tried bathing together with him, kept offering my breast, skin to skin, nursing in the dark, nursing him when he was sleepy, nursing right before nap / right after waking up from nap; basically acting / running around like a crazy woman. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, it all depends on his mood and/ or if his mouth hurts from teething. At one point I was scared of my own baby because I can not predict if he would take my breasts and if he didn't, how do I feed him a bottle (as he'd be crying out of hunger at that time) while pumping my painful boobs at the same time.

At 8 months I gave up and only pumped, and I think I still tried to nurse first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We stopped breastfeeding completely at 10 months because he just flat out refused at that point.

And yes my baby is also a crazy and wild one. He started crawling at 5.5 months and walking (unassisted) at 11 months. He started also refusing the bottle during the daytime around 10-11 months, and I found myself throwing away tons of formula because he won't drink it after they are mixed.

I also have to say though, at 1 year we weaned off from the bottle to 100% cup with no fuss at all. So I guess every cloud has a silver lining. ha!