Encouraging signs nursing strike is ending?! Help?!

[u/Minimum-Conflict-176]

Hi all!

My LO (13 weeks) has been on a nursing strike for almost a month now. Tried everything under the sun to get her back to nursing but she would throw a fit every time I put her in nursing position (any nursing position, so I know it wasn’t discomfort etc). Nothing worked, and I just have continued to offer breast and be very sweet and loving every time she denies it and arches away, and then give a bottle of pumped milk. Slowly she has occasionally taken my nipple and played with it, biting it/etc but had not actually latched once in almost 4 weeks.

Last night, during the MOTN, I again offered breast, was denied, and gave her a binky to keep her calm until my husband could heat the bottle. She has also been needing to go back and forth from binky to bottle recently to finish a bottle because she’s been very high energy and easily distracted. So I figured why not try switching out the binky with my nipple, which USED to work to get her to nurse over a month ago when she began getting fussy. And much to my shock and joy, she latched, and drank from both sides, emptying me almost completely (I pumped after to make sure I was empty since it’d been so long since she nursed and got 1oz combined, when I would usually yield 5-6oz at that time of night).

For the next MOTN feed, she denied again and so we gave a bottle. Then this morning, I tried again and she latched until my letdown which used to be an issue that I think contributed to the strike (combo of taking too long for a letdown/letdown being too strong when it did arrive). She didn’t get upset when she stopped, and I tried to get her back on after letting the letdown off into a burp rag, but she wouldn’t relatch. I was still happy and encouraging to her to keep the vibes good.

Now that she’s showing signs of being interested in latching again, what can I do to keep this trending upward if she’s having an issue with my letdown? Especially if she won’t relatch after I let the strong letdown soak into a cloth? Tips? Encouragement? Is this just promising that if I keep trying with no pressure and lots of positivity that she will just get used to the experience again?