He'd rather chew on his hand....

[PMolly]

I just don't know what to do. Although my baby is showing signs of being hungry and wanting to nurse, when I put him to breast he wants to chew on his hand. I've tried taking his hand from his mouth (this just seems so forceful ) and then he will nurse. He is also very distracted, but we are working with this issue by laying down to nurse in bed (when we are home). He will nurse for a bit and then put his hand in his mouth with my breast, then it's just his hand - I've been forced out. Sometimes he will even cry (hunger? frustration?) and then I do force his hand out and nurse him - that seems to make him happy. Anyone else had this issue? Did you remove hand from mouth or just wait (forever)?

[krisw]

I do sometimes have to remove my son's hand from his mouth, as he has figured out how to get it in there but hasn't yet figured out that he can't nurse with it in. Right now he will suck on anything (his hands, my fingers, my nose...) if he is hungry for quite some time before getting very upset that they're not producing milk (ok, so I haven't let him suck on my nose, but he does try to latch on to it)

he is almost 6 months

[jarynsmom06]

Wow...I think you got in my head and posted this My son does the same thing. He started about a week ago, today was the first time he got mad because I would pull his hand away and then he would get even more angry when he couldn't nurse and have his hand...He just turned 5 months. I just gently pull his hand out of his mouth, but sometimes that doesn't work, so I will just snuggle him a little more by turning him more toward me that way we are belly to belly, that usually makes him stop. I am assuming this is normal, but it can get annoying. My mom says he does the same thing when she tries to give him a bottle when I am working. He is teething and chews on anything he can get ahold of.

[PMolly]

Originally Posted by jarynsmom06

He is teething and chews on anything he can get ahold of.

I did wonder if this might be a sign of teething, though DS is showing no other indications. (other than the permanent drool, but that's been there for months now! )

[Doodadsmom]

I think you're fine just removing his hand for him. DS at 13 months still does this with his thumb when he's sleepy. I just pop it out for him and he latches on right away. I think with the thumb/hand always available and the breast not always, the thumb/hand is just a sort of default setting until your little one can get the good stuff.

[daffodillysun]

Been there!

My DS has been sucking his hands since he was a newborn. I also have to pull his hand out of his mouth to nurse, frequently. When I nurse him and his hand is in mouth, I just pull his hand out and tuck it between his body and mine. With my other children I tucked their arm under mine, but with DS, if I do it that way, he just pulls it back and puts it in his mouth while I am nursing him. And then he gets mad he can't have both at the same time!

He has recently found his thumb, and for the past couple of days has been using this to pacify himself and when he wakes up from a sleep and is not ready to get up yet (he doesn't cry then, and I don't know he is awake). I have no problem with thumb-sucking, as long as I make sure to nurse when I first notice thumb in mouth. Some babies just need that oral fix more than others - he is the second baby out of my five babies that seem to want this, and I nurse on demand for extended periods of time. My other baby with the thumb-thing going nursed for as long as the others with no thumb-fixation. And they were the best sleepers and easiest to get down to bed. Since my last child is horrible about sleep, I'm not complaining about this baby being easier to get to sleep!

Jada