4 month old SUPER distracted... Should I be worried?

[anjsmama]

My 4 month old DD is like, way too busy with the world to bother nursing. I have already been a little nervous about her nursing patterns.... she sleeps 12 hours at night without waking at all to eat and has done so since 2 months. But she's so happy (and nurses so much during the day!) and weighs more than 15 lbs.. so I know she's well. But here in the last 2 weeks her day nursing has cut too. She's perfectly happy, and peeing and pooping plenty, but wow - she sometimes waits nearly 3 hours to nurse! This is the first time I've offered her the breast to have her just smile at me and turn away like "No thanks Mom.. I'm good right now". And then when she DOES nurse, she pulls my nipple so hard looking around, and she is really aggressive. She fights for let down, drinks through it, and then is done. I think nursing sessions are averaging about 6 minutes right now. She still marathon nurses her last feeding before bed and her first feeding in the morning - kind of sleep feeds where she just nurses and nurses and nurses for an hour or so laying with me. But during the day - forget it.

I feel like a first time mom, because DS & I did not succeed breastfeeding and he was mostly weaned at this age already. I don't know if this is normal for her age, and if I should be concerned about what seems like so few nursing sessions?  I thought maybe it was an issue of me not being available enough to her (we moved recently and it has been pretty nuts here), but no change despite my attempts to be available constantly and offer the breast before she asks the last several days. She seems very interested in solids lately, so I've been letting her munch breastmilk popsicles when I eat, plus she learned to sit up independently and roll over this week. Big week for her! I expected all of this growth and change to result in a whole bunch of nursing but it seems just the opposite....

Advice please?! TIA

[Marissamom]

not super worrying, most babies go through a really distractable phase at that age. because she is sleeping so long at night I would offer starting at the two hour mark, and if you can go someplace with minimal distractions (often laying down in bed) to feed her. but as long as she's happy and peeing and pooping she's probably managing to get enough milk. 

[JFTB1177]

Hey there! My 4-month-old is very easily distracted too while BF! Forget it if any of my older kids or dh come into the room, he will turn his whole head and try to get their attention. Even when I am alone with him (the baby), while he is nursing he will try to make eye contact with me and smile... I've had to start closing my eyes and pretend I'm sleeping lol! My little guy is still getting every 3 hours or so a night to nurse but also only seems to want to nurse 5 or 6 minutes once each breast!

[somegirl99]

Oh yes, at 4 months DS was totally distracted by anything and everything.  Our best luck nursing was when he was sleepy (just waking up or falling asleep).  I used those times to get him used to nursing in a ring sling and then was sometimes able to nurse him elsewhere in the sling as long as it was out of the way.  Most of the time when we were out and about, though, I could only nurse him in the car, and only some of the time.

Even at almost 11 months he still gets distracted and pops off when the dogs are moving around, and I still mostly nurse him in the bedroom or the car because there is less going on.