DS not very interested in nursing :(

[curious&eager]

My DS is almost 1 year old. He is too active and busy for nursing. I'm sad because my friend's are tired of nursing and they want to wean at one, but my guy is so busy and refuses to be held or cuddle, so nursing is the only close time we have and now he hardly wants to do that.

We have a great 4am nursing, a ok morning nursing, now tonight after refusing his dinner nursing, he would not even nurse to sleep. He won't take my milk in a bottle, so I started him on whole milk a couple weeks early. He likes it . I'd planned on nursing for two to three years, but I'm sad to see this may not be my baby's plan.

DS and DH are having a great time together lately. DS is walking and he loves being with his dad and eating his food. So I guess it's ok. I like the break a bit, but I like nursing too. I just don't want it to end.

[ewe+lamb]

Our ds was very like yours really active and walking at 8 months, he didn't nurse much at all during the day but we tended to make up for it at night - we cosleep and I'm not sure what your sleeping arrangements are.

You could certainly drop the whole milk and depending on the amount of solids reduce abit of that too to encourage nursing a little more, obviously offer to nurse before he has any solids, you could have a bath together to stimulate birthing memories so that it brings him back to the breast.

Don't know how you feel about pumping but you could do that and put your milk into some of his solids get a nice healthy muffin recipe or something that'll really like as a bit of a treat, use it in breakfast cereal or in anything you would like to add milk to! So at least he'll still be getting all those wonderful advantages of breastfeeding, it's not got the closeness of the skin to skin that we have with bfing but you are rest assured that he will be more protected and that you are doing the best by him.

However I just want to say that sometimes it just happens like this and although we consider this to be more of a nursing strike than weaning, you can't force him to take the breast, offer lots but it has to come from him, try and find peace with what you have achieved and be proud of it, one year nursing is so much more than many mothers achieve - so don't put yourself down.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that your breastfeeding relationship is yours, for you and your son and dh, but if you don't want to share what you are doing with your friends who are trying to wean and this is not your goal - you don't need to say anything, change the subject or give them a bit of a wide birth until you have this more under your control and in a place that you are happier with.

Good luck.

[MangoMommy]

My DD just turned 1 and definately has changed the way she nurses. Tonight she kept asking to nurse (she signs/points to my boppy and says "nurse" LOL) but then would only latch for about 1 min and then unlatch and sit up. I rocked her and she crashed out.

She does wake up about a midnight and comes in bed with us and then nurses a few times, so we are getting dream feeds in but otherwise, she doesn't nurse very good during the daytime.

I just plan on offering before feeding her solids and seeing where it goes. I've never had a baby wean like this! Makes me sad too!

[curious&eager]

Unfortunately, I'm liking our sleeping now. The fuller I can get him in the day, the better he does at night. So when he chooses not to nurse, I bring on the solids and milk. Since I started adding the milk he's only been waking up once in 11.5hrs. It's been too heavenly to change for the sake of missing nursing. I like sleep more.

Oh yeah, if we are not are home, there is no nursing period. His choice. No amount of quiet and dark will get him to nursing. I never minded nursing in public, but he's always been to distrated/interested in the world.

Yeah, busy man- crawling 6months, walking 10 months and climbing everywhere.

He did ask the other day to nurse, lifting my shirt and then trying to lift my bra. He started to lift my shirt in public too once and I quickly answered.

I know, it's ok. It's just sad. Some days he nurses great and other days, not at all. Hopefully he'll at least keep up his good morning/good night meal for a while.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Our DD is almost 10 months and some days, especially weekends when we're home all day, she's too busy to want to nurse much. This is hard on me because it's the time I don't have to pump since I work during the week, plus I'm starting to miss that bonding time. Something I started doing the other night, which seems to help some so far, is that I grabbed one of her smallish favorite toys, and let her hold it/play with it while she nursed. It gave her something to keep her "busy" while she nursed, and kept her attention on me. I also just ordered a mommy necklace from http://www.mommynecklaces.com/ I've heard they work really well for easily distracted babies to give them something to play with/twiddle with while they nurse. Good luck!

[Pookietooth]

Have you tried a "dream feed' while he's napping, where he basically nurses in his sleep? Some less cuddly babies do better this way. Have you checked to see if he is sensory defensive? Some babies with sensory processing issues are less cuddly because of this.

[curious&eager]

Yeah, he does usually do better with something in his hands. At bedtime, he fiddles with a book the whole time. I haven't tired it during the day, but I guess I could.

Sadly tonight, he really wanted to nurse and he tried like every angle possible and there wasn't much milk at all. He nursed in the morning, but not much all day even though we were home. But, they're always fuller for our 4am feed. So, I'm looking forward to that.

I've tired to pump, I can hardly get anything out even when I'm fuller. I hardly pumped since I stay at home, so there wasn't a real reason to get good at it.

He gulped down his whole milk with daddy tonight after nursing because he was still hungry

[curious&eager]

Originally Posted by Pookietooth

Have you checked to see if he is sensory defensive? Some babies with sensory processing issues are less cuddly because of this.

I don't know anything about this, can you tell me more?

[curious&eager]

Wahoo! I got him on today and he ate most of his meals. I nursed before solids and used toys to keep his attention for a decent length nursing session. I was so proud that he ate for a while at bedtime, but he still drank 1/2 glass of milk afterwords. So, I had more milk, but apparently not near enough. Maybe in a few days, I'll have more. But, I'm thinking I never had enough because now that he's getting a few extra ounces of whole milk he's sleeping much longer at night. He enjoyed his nursing session tonight and laughed the whole time. So we're doing better.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Good job! We have good days and bad days with nursing, the toys usually help. I used to think I needed to eliminate distractions and be in a quiet dark place, but she seems to do better most times if I'm more interactive with her. Last night our DD didn't want to nurse when we were at my IL's for dinner, but she took a 5 oz pumped bottle no problem! I know I don't have a supply problem, I think she's just so used to bottles during the day at her daycare or something... I caved and gave her the bottle because I wanted her to have the milk before bed. I hope it continues to work for you!