wont hold still while nursing

[sosurreal09]

DD is 8 m/o now and im going nuts trying to nurse her. ive tried distractions, nursing in a quiet dark room, nursing to music...i needs suggestions! this kid is all over the place! she will nurse 2-3mins then sit up or try to crawl away or play with something or look behind her i mean you name it she does it. she only eats every 4hrs and shes been losing weight. shes in the 25th percentile right now. we just started solids too but she's not really going for them...

[Bebe's Mom]

I am having a similar problem. Are you lying down to nurse? I find this exacerbates the problem. If I sit up in a chair and rock her while nursing, it seems to calm her down.

[sosurreal09]

it doesnt seem to matter what i do lol ive tried it both ways shes a VERY active child lol. i need to find a way to make it work b/c shes eating so much at night now! she always did 2 feeds one at 11pm and one around 3am last night i was up nursing her 4x! i have horrible sleeping problems and i wake up no matter what and it takes me at least 1hr to get back to sleep. im a zombie!

[mkksmom]

My LO will nurse a little while longer if I switch positions. I start out cradling her and then I switch to football. I can sometimes get her to nurse longer if I nurse her when she is tired or just waking from a nap. She got really tough to nurse for a while, but the past 2 weeks or so have been a bit better.

[clemrose]

have you tried swaddling her? we swaddle our 8.5 mo old very firmly and it helps a ton.

[Bebe's Mom]

You may just have a night nurser on your hands! Sorry to say, I don't know how to change that...Mine nurses at least 4x a night and 6x during the day. Maybe a pacifier would help, although I am opposed to them myself. I am her only pacifier, and I find that at night she just wants to suck. I can detach her eventually, but I have the same problem, she wakes me up and then I can't get back to sleep.

[sosurreal09]

oh great lol

i did not try swaddling at this age but its worth a try! shes a very umm spirited child though lol she will probably throw a temper fit which she already does quite frequently...lol

i was nursing her in the wrap at church today and she was screaming and flipping out b/c she wanted to do the whole let me sit up and look around thing. it was a tough situation...

also she does this even if she gets a bottle! its EBM of course but she will nibble a bit then rip off and look around/do something its so strange!

she does not have a paci and i did recently try a closer to nature silicone one but she wont take it anyway.

[aricha]

Mine have all gone through it at about the same age. It's been a stage and they have gone back to nursing fine after a while. The quiet room away from distractions can help, but to a newly-mobile 8 month old, there is no such thing as a distraction-free zone! I had one spot in the house where I nursed as often as possible, which seemed to help somewhat...also nursing when they are tired sometimes helps. And making sure you are not trying to multi-task (that's my downfall)... make interacting with you interesting and you might be able to keep baby's attention for a little while.

Mostly I just resigned myself to nursing in short bursts for a while... if you give it a couple tries at resettling baby and it's just a fight, I would just take a break and wait until baby asks again to nurse.

[sosurreal09]

that sounds more like what been going on...at least its just a phase! TG b/c my right nipple hurts soooooo bad from her ripping off all the time!!

[flower01]

I remember my daughter doing this...and now my almost 9 month old son is doing it. I just don't force it. If he's not into it a give up and go do something else...let him play. Then he tires himself out and he'll let me know when he's ready. It can be frustrating though.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Oh my goodness, I'm glad I'm not alone. I was just coming on here to post about the same thing! Our 10 month DD will not nurse for more than 2-5 minutes every 3-4 hours! I WOH, so during the week she gets a bottle so we can see how much she gets, but on the weekends I feel like she's barely nursing at all. Plus, on some mornings and evenings, I can barely get her to nurse as well. I'm so afraid it's going to affect my supply... I almost feel like she may be self-weaning. I know, probably not, but I'm so frustrated. Instead of enjoying nursing right now, I'm a bit stressed out because I can't get her to sit still for long enough...

Anyway, right there with you all!

[sugarpop]

OK I didn't post about this b/c I figured I was in a bizarre boat, by myself! Sophia is almost 9 mo and we are going through this too! She tries to take my nipple with her and I have to say I don't exactly think it is so cute!

GOod to know it is a phase that will pass...I am hoping to have another child and thinking they might like to BF if Sophia doesn't remove my nipple first!

[sosurreal09]

seriously nipple pain omg shes killing me!

im also wicked nervous about self weaning and supply issues. my DD can not have formula she has really bad intolerance problems! i hate formula anyway!

[aricha]

My little ones have all gone through phases of not eating much for a while, and it hasn't had an adverse effect on my milk supply. Sometimes after a couple days of him (my current nursling) not nursing much I'll need to pump once or twice (like if he has gone hours without eating then just eats enough to get a strong letdown, then leaves me hanging!) and then my body adjusts to the lower demand. Then a few days or a week later when he gets hungrier and starts wanting more, he'll want to eat more often for a few feedings and then my body readjusts to the increased demand.

Boobies and babies have been working together for a long time-- they know what they're doing if we just do our best to let them do their thing!

[Hannah'sMommy]

Originally Posted by aricha

Sometimes after a couple days of him (my current nursling) not nursing much I'll need to pump once or twice (like if he has gone hours without eating then just eats enough to get a strong letdown, then leaves me hanging!)

Can't help but laugh because that's exactly what our DD does! She'll nurse just long enough to get a letdown, then pull off and leave me spraying while she goes and plays!