Refusing the breast

Hi
I have a 5 month old boy who has been breastfeeding quite well, but over the past week has started to refuse to feed. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, he just starts to scream and pull his head back and gets so upset that he tends to fall asleep through exaustion. He is teething, but that isn't new. He has been teething since he was about 12 wks and it has never been a problem until now. Any suggestions on how i can go back to the peaceful feeds we were having before, or how to calm him when he gets upset. I just feel so helpless!

Hi cams mum,
Can I suggest you contact the Australian Breast Feeding Association. I had the same problem with My little boy Cody when he was 3 months so I phoned them and they were so helpful. Iwas ready to give up on breast feeding but they gave us all the info and support we needed. I don't know about you but I felt I was letting Cody down which made him even more unsettelted when it came to feed time as I was not relaxed. But by the second week we got there.
Good luck I hope they help
Stacey and 71/2 month Cody

Hi, my baby's just 2 months but I got my period and she refused to take the breast because it tasted salty. I just wonder if you have had any changes in diet/hormones that would change your milk?
Hope that helps smile

My son went thru the same thing at about that age. I started using a smaller teat on his bottles (which he has water from) and found this helped as I think he was getting lazy. I also found that the more anxious I got the worse he got. I began putting 15 ml of peppermint tea in 100ml of water too as this aids the appetite and is usually quite safe.