Nursing Acrobatics!!? HELP!!!

[thistle]

HELP!!!

My 9 mo dd is a high energy girl and most of the time I LOVE that about her. However, unless she is ready to sleep, when she is nursing she is all over the place- she climbs on me, tries to stand on my lap, etc- all while staying latched on. Yesterday I hit my limit when she slipped off my lap and tried to hold on with her TEETH! OUCH!!!

Any suggestions for cutting down on the acrobatics long enough for her to nurse?


TIA

thistle

[Dana]

Wow, just a couple of weeks ago my 20mo dd slipped while nursing and tried to hold on with her teeth OW! So, now when she wants to nurse I either get her to sit on my lap or go lay down in the bed. She still tries to do somersaults if she sits in my lap, so I just try to hold on to her head so that she can't stretch me too far!

That's all I've tried so far, I'm interested in more tips, though.

[mamaduck]

Sometimes it helps to nurse in a dark room.
Not always convenient though!

[DaryLLL]

This is a tough age to nurse. It helps to focus on teaching "nursing manners." Nursing is a 2 way relationship and you deserve respect too.

Babies this age are very distractible, plus they are efficient nursers. Shorten feeds if they won't focus after the first 5 minutes or so. Some babies start to "reverse cycle." They won't nurse well during the day, so wake to feed more at night. It usually gets better after one year. Talk to your baby. They understand more than you think.

[Dana]

Hey Daryl, I always learn so much from your enlightened posts. I think I have a 'reverse cycler' on my hands. (dd is high-needs now 20mo) Do you have any tips for reversing it? I've just begun really talking to her during her night nursing sessions about sleeping at night and having her milk during the day.

[mamui]

With a 9 mo. old I would suggest singing or funny faces to get her to watch your face or a nursing necklace (any interesting necklace that you wear that is long and tough enough for the baby to pull and fiddle with.) Try NOT to let her start "other side twiddling" (you'll regret it!)

With my three year old I now just tell her; no more, you're wiggling too much and it hurts my mum mums. And I have put an end to reading books while nursing cause it also caused alotta discomfort.

Good luck!

[ebethmom]

My high energy son is also into nursing acrobatics. He's 17 months now, but it did start when he was about 9 or 10 months old. We set some nursing rules then - he was only "allowed" to nurse lying down on my lap. If he tried to flip and stand up, I would lie him down again. If he kept trying, he was ready to finish anyway and we would move on to another activity.

Good luck! Now that he's older, I let him face me and snuggle in belly to belly. He usually stays still. But when he moves on to bouncing, we call it quits for that session.

Nursing acrobatics are SO cute - it's hard to make them stop. But it's only fun until someone loses a nipple!

[DaryLLL]

Dana, thx for the compliement. I am just so passionate abt bfing. Like the old song..."I'd like to teach the world to nurse, in perfect harmony...!"

That said, things were not always harmonious at my house. I have 2 spirited and one spunky kid. They all loved to nurse, oh, say, 8-14 times in 24 hrs. Until they started seriously weaning. They all had a tough time with teething too, and it would only bother them at night. They were (are) all large fast growers, and just needed lots of food and milk.

Hence, lots of night nursing.

One child would want to nurse too much during the day, and didn't like to sit still and eat real meals of table food during the day, when she was a toddler. I would offer lots of snacks during the day, and sometimes follow her around to get another few bits into her, or she would ask to nurse in 1/2 hour, and I knew it wouldn't fill her tummy. I would never force food on her, always kept it playful and light. Do you give your daughter a nighttime snack before bed? Or is she not eating much solids yet?

Two books I loved were How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, and Raising Your Spirited Child.

[Dana]

Wow Daryl, 2 spirited and 1 spunky kid??? How did you survive? How far are they spaced apart? If we have another, I think we need to wait till 20mo dd is at least 4 before we'll have the energy.

She nurses alot at night, but I don't think it's because she's all that hungry. She's a great eater. We don't have sit down eat at a table meals very often. Basically, dh, dd and I all eat like toddlers. We just snack every few hours all day. We always have lots of foods that she likes and we just offer her one or two whenever we think about it and sometimes she just goes to the fridge and asks for what she wants. Her staples are oatmeal with blueberries, steamed baby carrots, sweet potates, peas, cheese, yogurt, whole wheat crackers, rice cakes, bananas and other seasonal fruit. Oh and she loves bean burritos!!!

I would imagine that most of her night nursings are not for need of calories. I think it's so ingrained in her to nurse everytime she goes through a sleep cycle. The last couple of nights I've started trying to explain to her (while she nurses) about how we need to go to sleep and she can have milk again when she wakes up and on and on... and after a few minutes of that she rolled over and went to sleep with her back to me (maybe to shut me up?)

I really want to make sure I fulfill her needs, but sometimes it's really hard to tell the difference between and need and a habit. I think she's teething again now, so I'm not pushing her not to nurse.

Oh, and I just read 'raising your spirited child'. It's excellent. I will have to read it again in a few years because I'll probably forget most of the tips. Dh and I do alot of that kind of thing already out of necessity.

Well, guess I should bring this novel to an end. Sorry for hijacking the thread thistle.

[Solange]

Thistle what about a nursing necklace?