Dear Joy,

What a difficult problem! I too want to know if this mother has a strong MER
(and I like the other suggestions I've seen on line).   I have personal
experience with my first baby who at that age refused to breastfeed even when
hungry unless I took him to a quiet room and fed him lying down. I think I
had a strong MER.  I also know now that this child is sensitive to cow's milk
of which I was drinking plenty at that point.  The problem lasted several
weeks and then he was ok again???  At that point I did not know any of the
things that caused it, I just did what the baby let me.  I was not using
pacifiers or bottles which may have been reason for a positive outcome.

What is the baby like without a pacifier?  Is the pacifier covering up colic,
fussy symptoms that may be attributed to GI irritation from something coming
through mother's milk.  (I am assuming that there are no other items in
baby's diet at this point.)  If the baby has figured out that eating is
related to a stomach ache and the pacifier gives comfort there can be a
problem.

 When I was doing my LC internship we had a baby who began this type of
behavior at 2 1/2 months when mom began to try to teach baby to sleep through
the night without feeding...  The baby failed to gain weight and the problem
was not resolved without weaning.

Michael Woolridge, BSc, D Phil spoke at the 1995 ILCA conference on
"Behavioral Aspects of Breastfeeding the Normal Newborn".  He covered the
topic of the contented FTT baby and causes with suggestions for what to do.
 While he focused on the newborn, I think it could very well be applicable to
your situation.  He listed the babies priorities of self care as 1)
breathing--protecting the open airway
                                   2) ingesting nutrients for daily needs
                                   3) avoid pain, discomfort
                                   4) exercise free control over feeding
                                   5) ingesting nutrients to satisfy
requirements for growth.
This baby may be at # 3 or 4 for some reason.  I would encourage you to get a
copy of the tape and see if it helps.

Let us know if this resolves positively!  Natalie Shenk, BS IBCLC; Findlay,
OH, USA