Sheri,
>"Nonsense; four & a-half month
>old babies don't develop nipple confusion!!"
I have known several mother-baby pairs with similar problems at this age.
It sounds more like what I have heard called "rate confusion" which is
different than nipple confusion. It is a lot easier and faster to slam
down a bottle of something than to work harder at the breast. Four month
olds are notoriously distractable nursers under the best of
circumstances. They are just becoming aware of the outside world and
nursing isn't as interesting or worth working at for a while. It is a
period when undisturbed nursing in a quiet place may be necessary for a
few weeks. Most babies go through this brief, but frustrating period and
then become avid nursers again. At four months my second child would only
nurse when I was laying down on my bed in complete quiet and darkness
(during the day or night) with all the shades pulled for about six weeks.
(Some trick with a 3.5 year old brother around.) She refused to nurse
under any other circumstances. This was especially frustrating because my
son had been willing to nurse anywhere, any time. Having had experience
with a previous child and worked with a lot of women in LLL - we got
through this period because I knew it wasn't ME and it wasn't that
breastfeeding didn't work. This same child who didn't want to take the
time to nurse is now a hardcore nurser at age two!

It is also important to know that breastfed babies do not follow those
growth charts that are published by ABM companies and based on formula
fed babies.

Did you have LLL or another support group available to you? Sometimes
just knowing that this is a typical situation that needs support and
patience can help you through those difficult times.

Marie

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Marie Schulte LLLL & MOM
from the computer known as
[log in to unmask] ;-)
Visit the
La Leche League of Madison web page at:
http://www.terracom.net/~mjstoy/
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