Newborn keeps rooting while in carrier

[cat13]

I have a 3 week old and would love to use my ring sling more, but so far we have only been successful if he is asleep when I put him in. If he is awake, he just keeps rooting around my chest like he wants to nurse, then gets frustrated and starts screaming. This is even after a marathon nursing session. Any tips, or do I just have to wait until he gets a little older?

[ABO Mama]

My DS was the same at that age.  Facing in just made him mad, as he wanted to be able to suckle all the time.  Instead of facing him in, in the tummy to tummy position, I sat him sideways.  He had plenty of head support from the side of the ringsling or stretchy wrap (my favorite carriers for the newborn stage).  He did grow out of it, and was able to ride facing me w/o getting upset.

[cat13]

That's a great idea, thanks! 

[TiffanyToo]

How frequently are you nursing? Baby migh tneed to nurse more frequently.

[cat13]

Pretty much all the time! Usually, he nurses about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, has lots of poop/pee diapers and is gaining tons of weight... so I know that's not the problem.  
 

I tried placing him sideways, but haven't quite gotten the hang of it. But I have found that if I do tummy-to-tummy, he eventually stops rooting after a couple of minutes and drifts off to sleep if I am moving around a lot. 

Thanks for the feedback! 

[musikmama]

My LO wanted to nurse all the time as newborn, for almost 3 hours straight in the evenings.  We did end up using a pacifier after some time, I couldn't relax, couldn't get anything done, and he would still wake up every 2 hours at night anyway.  If you're open to using a pacifier as a soother because he really IS NOT hungry, that's your choice, its not for all I know.  Is he doing this at the same TIME of the day everyday, or just always when in the carrier? Maybe if he tries again, take him back out, nurse him, and put him back in---doing this also means you don't want him to associate nursing with being in a carrier....so its up to you again.  Lots of options! LOL  I didn't have a ringsling when my LO was a newborn, so I'm looking forward to trying that out this next round. 

[cat13]

Yes, we've been thinking about getting a pacifier soon since I'll be going back to work part time and DH will be watching him. He loves to comfort nurse so much that I think he might need the pacifier when I'm gone for 4-5 hours at a time. I'll definitely post back here after a couple of weeks with the pacifier to see if that changes how he acts in the sling. 

[HopefulJo]

It's not just you- I ran into this same problem. If he was awake, he was confused why he was so close to me yet couldn't eat. This was mostly a problem with the Moby- using the Ergo with the infant insert didn't seem to cause the same issue, since he wasn't quite as cuddly-close. It took me  awhile to figure out how to nurse with him in any carrier- figuring that out earlier would have been helpful!

[Whipple]

I'm guessing he does it in the cradle position. I can imagine they associate that position with nursing. So tummy to tummy would not have the same association and he should be fine. Although I think you already figured this out.

[AnkaJones]

Mine did the same thing in the ring sling.  I never really got the hang of sideways, but found that if I put him in the sling and started walking right away fast and furious, he would fall asleep after a minute or so of fussing.

Anka