Your baby may refuse to breastfeed for a number of reasons: a change in the taste of your breast milk, sometimes caused by a course of medicine or a change of diet, or a change in the taste of the breast, perhaps because you have used a nipple cream. If you have been using a nipple shield (a rubber cap that fits over the nipple with a hole to allow the milk through), your baby may also refuse your nipple when you stop using the shield.
Remedies
- Identify what is causing the refusal. Think about what you may have eaten.
- Make changes more gradually; for example, continue using a nipple shield, but take it off after a minute or two
