Hi all. This is my first question here.
My 6 month old has never really nursed for comfort like I hear a lot of babies do. She generally only takes the breast if she's hungry and has gotten in the habit of screaming and arching her back if I offer it any other time. We dealt with a very overactive letdown when she was a newborn that she had a hard time managing and would come off screaming a lot. I cut down on my dairy and soy intake when she was about 3 months old and that seemed to help her fussing at the breast quite a bit. My letdown has slowed down since then and she is able to manage it fairly well nowadays (in fact sometimes now I think she gets frustrated if it's too slow for her!).
I find her fussiness at the breast has increased again in the past few weeks. I'm getting stricter about my dairy/soy intake. I don't think she has a full blown allergy since she doesn't have the blood in her stools and excema that I hear other babies can have. She does have lots of wet diapers and is off the charts in terms of her weight and height. She only eats about 5 times a day these days (and a minimum of 3 times at night - we co-sleep). But that's with a lot of work on my part sometimes. I think some of it might be distraction with the world at this age... but even when I try to go into a quiet dark room and lie down with her to nurse she wails and tries to get away. Most of the times she eats nowadays is when she is either just going for a nap or just waking up from one. She spits up a lot and always has. Cutting down on dairy/soy has helped a little. Sometimes she seems to regurgitate some food and then swallow it again without spitting it out.
I find also that I don't offer the breast as much when we're out and about these days since I'm worried about her screaming and refusing it. This especially worries me in terms of my supply. I used to have no problem at all nursing in public and now I feel nervous to try because I don't want others to think something's wrong. I know it's bad.
I'm just wondering if I should just accept that she's never going to be a comfort nurser? She does accept comfort/consoling from me in many other ways. Will her not being a comfort nurser eventually negatively affect my supply? I'm always worried about that! Am I thinking there's a problem when there's really not?
Thanks in advance!
My 6 month old has never really nursed for comfort like I hear a lot of babies do. She generally only takes the breast if she's hungry and has gotten in the habit of screaming and arching her back if I offer it any other time. We dealt with a very overactive letdown when she was a newborn that she had a hard time managing and would come off screaming a lot. I cut down on my dairy and soy intake when she was about 3 months old and that seemed to help her fussing at the breast quite a bit. My letdown has slowed down since then and she is able to manage it fairly well nowadays (in fact sometimes now I think she gets frustrated if it's too slow for her!).
I find her fussiness at the breast has increased again in the past few weeks. I'm getting stricter about my dairy/soy intake. I don't think she has a full blown allergy since she doesn't have the blood in her stools and excema that I hear other babies can have. She does have lots of wet diapers and is off the charts in terms of her weight and height. She only eats about 5 times a day these days (and a minimum of 3 times at night - we co-sleep). But that's with a lot of work on my part sometimes. I think some of it might be distraction with the world at this age... but even when I try to go into a quiet dark room and lie down with her to nurse she wails and tries to get away. Most of the times she eats nowadays is when she is either just going for a nap or just waking up from one. She spits up a lot and always has. Cutting down on dairy/soy has helped a little. Sometimes she seems to regurgitate some food and then swallow it again without spitting it out.
I find also that I don't offer the breast as much when we're out and about these days since I'm worried about her screaming and refusing it. This especially worries me in terms of my supply. I used to have no problem at all nursing in public and now I feel nervous to try because I don't want others to think something's wrong. I know it's bad.
I'm just wondering if I should just accept that she's never going to be a comfort nurser? She does accept comfort/consoling from me in many other ways. Will her not being a comfort nurser eventually negatively affect my supply? I'm always worried about that! Am I thinking there's a problem when there's really not?
Thanks in advance!
