Distracted Nursling...

[emsumm]

I'm so hoping that some of you have some suggestions for me...I'm new to posting on this board but I really need help now, and I know you ladies are the experts.

I have almost 5 month old twins who were great at nursing until they hit 4 months.  N went on an all-out nursing strike and almost 4 weeks later I can only nurse her at night.  M, who has always been more into the breast, is still nursing, but gets INCREDIBLY distracted by everything.  Because of the problems I had with her sister, I've decided to cut waaay back on any bm she was getting from a bottle (both babies would get 1.5 oz of pumped milk from a bottle after nursing, a throwback from their preemie-hood), and have been bfeeding her as often as she will allow it.  

What can I do to get her to concentrate on eating??  If she's not sleepy, she's all over the place.  Right now what I do is bring her to a quiet room, in the glider, and swaddle her.  This works sometimes, but other times even the ceiling is too fascinating to compete with!

Any thoughts?  I don't want to lose my nursing relationship with both babies...

Thank you!

[3girls1boy]

I can definitely relate, as I'm sure most moms of around 4 to 6 month olds can!  This is the classic age for distracted nursing.  All the things you are doing are good and work for a lot of moms.  One other thing that worked for me was to do the blanket over the shoulder and over the baby.  I used a dark quilt, so that it made it very dark and it was not easy for my baby to knock it off.  Hang in there--this stage doesn't usually last forever.  Eventually, they figure out that they do have to eat.  

JTS

mom to 3 dd and 1 ds

[annettemarie]

Moving out to the main forum,  as per the forum guidelines.

[Marissamom]

sometimes with DD I had to lay down in the bedroom with her so she would concentrate on eating. some babies do better with a nursing cover to block out distractions, for others the cover makes them more distracted.