my lo won't nurse before bed- help?

[amahrey]

i'm not sure where to put this- sorry

this may get a little long- just because i'm not sure what info may be relevant.

i have a 14mo. little boy who has been an awesome nursing babe from the start. he has been eating solids in addition to nursing since about 10 months. he never really liked purees, so we just gradually introduced him to solids and he eats pretty much what we eat (with a few exceptions). however, he is a pretty picky eater, and some days only wants bread and fruit and other days will eat beans and pasta, or chicken, or some veg. some meals he doesn't eat much solid food at all.

i teach and just went back to work three weeks ago. ds gets bottles or sippy cups of pumped milk when i am at work (he stays at home with dh). he will nurse when he gets up in the morning, and then will drink about 5-7oz. before i get home at 3. he usually nurses then, and maybe once around 5-6 and USED to nurse before his bath/bed at 7:30.

the past 4 nights he has either nursed for 3 minutes, with great encouragement and effort on my part, or hasn't nursed at all. he sleeps through the night until about 4-5 when i get up for work, so it doesn't seem like he's hungry at night, but it seems terribly strange to me that he wouldn't want to nurse before bed. tonight for instance, he barely even ate any food for dinner, and then still wouldn't even nurse.

any ideas? he has 4 teeth in and two halfway through (but they don't seem to bother him) i don't see any others coming in.

he is having enough wet diapers, and will drink water from a cup during the day, so i'm not really worried about that. i guess i'm just worried that he's not getting enough nutrition with the combination of being a picky eater and deciding not to nurse as much. i'm not sure what to look up or where to look for info about this and i'm really hoping someone has some ideas.

thanks for reading this giant post - apparently being concise is not my strength tonight

[pbjmama]

So when he won't nurse at bed time how does he act - is he trying to get away from the breast or is he just distracted/tired? Have you tried offering before starting the bed time routine?

Only being 4 days into it I would say don't worry too much yet. It could be so many things - the teeth, getting sick, growth slowing down? Keep offering!

[amahrey]

hmmmm- maybe all three? he will let me pick him up to sit down and nurse, but then as soon as i start he is all arms and legs flailing and just wants down. then he will want to play with toys or crawl around, or make faces at his dad. i have tried taking him into the dark bedroom and nursing him laying in bed too. that worked for a few nights if he was too distracted out in the living room, but the last few days, he will just roll over and try to crawl away. he's definitely tired by then- i have been wondering if maybe we should just move dinner up and have an altogether earlier bedtime.

[SeekingJoy]

An earlier bedtime sounds good for a 4-5 am wake up. Also, what about offering some pain relief before nursing in case it is the teeth?

[amahrey]

oooh, really? you think moving the bedtime up would help him sleep longer? i will definitely try that. this morning he was up at 3. he used to sleep until 6, and it has just steadily been getting earlier and earlier. which is weird because i would think with it being darker in the mornings now it would be going the other direction. aargh.

tonight will be motrin and i will aim for 7 instead of 8. thanks for your input. maybe he is getting too overtired to want to nurse...

thanks for telling me not to worry after only 4 days too, i never know if i'm just overworrying about things.