Does anyone else find nursing in the Moby impossible?

[kittywells]

I'll preface by saying my son does not do cradle holds. We tried it with him the first few weeks of his life and he just hated being in the Moby until we started the newborn hug. Now he practically lives in the thing, but he screams every time I have to take him out of it to nurse him.

So I have been trying, on and off, to follow these instructions: http://www.mobywrap.com/t-instructions-Nursing.aspx

And it's just not working. I guess my Moby just isn't wrapped neatly enough by the time he's been in it a while and is ready to nurse?

Is anyone else unable to do this? I think it's totally a conspiracy.

[ecb]

Same story here. DD is 9-months now and has never liked cradle holds, to this day. We quickly found Moby success with the hug hold, but to get it tight enough to be supportive meant that she was too close to nurse in that position. And the hundreds of yards of fabric was just too much adjusting for us to untie and tie looser to get comfy for it. I'd highly recommend trying other kinds of babywearing for something you guys can nurse in...

For us, I found upright nursing in an Ergo and mei tai worked well. I start with her in a regular upright hug hold or front carry and loosen the shoulder straps until she's low enough for me to lift a boob into her mouth. The loosening should both drop him down, and also give him room to move his head back a few inches to get your breast in his mouth. I couldn't do this well until she had half-decent head control, and I still have to sometimes hold my boob.

Once that technique worked for us, it's all been about finding a carrier that was comfy for both of us and made the nursing easy. I've settled on a Angelpack buckle-tai and short woven wraps, under 3.5m, doing a kangaroo carry. I'm totally in love with my warm-weather Vatanai Maruyama, but that's a long OT story.. :-)

IMHO, the Moby is really only good for newborns, but I was suckered in getting one too as my first intro to babywearing. No wonder so many mamas give up! If you generally like the wrapping idea, I would suggest trying woven wraps; really nice ones will last you two well into toddlerhood and can be found on the FSOT forum on thebabywearer.com for as little as $40.

[kittywells]

I tried on a Hotsling today on a whim and he nursed in it beautifully. He likes being cradled in it because he can still see out, I think.

[hrsmom]

That's awesome about the hotsling! I haven't had much success with nursing while babywearing, but it's ok. I've had a few times where it worked, and maybe I should try again.

[kvan]

Here's a great video of the front wrap cross carry which ends with the mom showing how to "bounce" a wrap a little looser to nurse in a tummy to tummy carry. This baby is 9 months, you didn't say how old your ds is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZE1L2avn5M


I had great luck nursing my son in an upright position. This can be much easier if you have a smaller/higher bosom. If you have a larger chest, you can still do this, and might try a rolled up washcloth or a breast pillow (like Utterly Yours, etc.).

As ecb said, a woven wrap will be easier than a stretchy one like a Moby for getting firm support in any carry, but you could certainly practice with the Moby you have and can get the wrapping, positioning, and the idea if your LO will nurse happily in an upright position or not.

I'd also suggest NOT covering/supporting your son's head with fabric (the wrap crosses) at first. Just let him get used to latching on and nursing this way. After a few successful tries around the house, take a long walk with him in the wrap when he is somewhat sleepy and nurse him to sleep in the wrap. Then you can support his head with the cross fabric and let him snooze.

good luck to you both

[KristyDi]

I've never been able to nurse in any carrier.

My dd dosen't like cradle holds and my boobs are so big that getting her low enough to nurse is basically impossible.

I still love babywearing though.