eating strike | breastfeeding

This post has been weeks and weeks in the making.  I didn’t want to share about it until we came through this struggle victorious.  At about 4 months Levi began to refuse to eat anywhere other than our bedroom.  Sometimes, although he seemed hungry, he refused to eat all together. My breastfeeding experienced friends said they had had similar issues when their babies were teething and not to worry.  

A couple of weeks later his gums were very swollen, and it was obvious it was a teething issue. So I trudged on. One week later, with many hours of sleep lost, we had two teeth!  I thought, great, now I don’t have to be secluded in my room for what seems to be half of the day.  Wrong.  The eating strike continued.  He would only eat if he was almost asleep or waking up.  Even then, there were times where I had to stand with him and shhhh, for him to eat at all.  It was hard.

This evoked horrible feelings of failure, rejection, fear, and frustration. If my husband hadn’t been there for us, cheering us on and being supportive, we may not have been able to continue on.  After just a little bit of research online I found out eating strikes are VERY common.  LOTS of babies do this.  It is usually caused by teething and the fact that infants are just so interested in the world that they don’t want to slow down to eat. At least I know we are in good company.  Now, at about 7 months he is SO much easier! Levi is still a little bit picky, but we are back on track towards a healthy breastfeeding relationship.