I appreciated the earlier comments posted about the frustration of the
calls asking "how can I  get my baby on the bottle?"  But I was once again
surprised when a mom of a four month old called and initially stated that
her daughter had started refusing to take a bottle of EBM at caregiver's.
We talked about how she could try a cup and how the baby had really
increased her night nursing.  But then the mom shared how she had called
her medical provider and he had her bring the baby right in because
something must be wrong.  He couldn't find anything wrong but instructed
her not to breastfeed that baby again until it had taken a bottle. AARGH!
What a reason to wean!

Then mom shared how when her older child had gone through what she
described as a nursing strike at about the same age, the same medical
provider told mom that babies sometimes choose their preference at that age
and moms just have to accept it.  She drew her own conclusion that his bias
was that babies would choose normally to be bottle fed but if they choose
to breastfeed that there was something really wrong.

I am still amazed at how much work we need to do.

Teri Shilling, MS, IBCLC, FACCE
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