am i nursing a monkey?!

[JenMidwife]

for her entire life, erin has been the most intense nurser... totally focused on the prize.

but for the last two week, it's been like wrangling a monkey! she's so easily distracted, but even when there are no distractions, she's yanking herself off (ouch!) & arching her back every 30 seconds or so all of the time, except when i've let down & she has to keep swallowing to keep up. then after she arches her back, she puts herself back on- so it's not that she's disinterested.

we're stretching out her feeds from ~every 2 hours to ~every 3 hours to make sure she's good & hungry & nursing her in a stimuli free environment (& not touching her while she nurses).

my nips are starting to hurts!

anyone else having this? any suggestions?

[taradt]

could she be teething? both of mine have done that when their teeth hurt.
nipples could be hurting because of a change in her latch (also from teeth)

tara

[veganf]

TOTALLY normal for her age. All of my babies have gone/going through that distractable stage. Nate started coming out of it about a week ago, but for about a month he hardly ate during daylight hours (just nursed lots at night instead) because he was so distracted.
When nursing is no longer sufficient "entertainment" I too try to stretch the time in between feedings instead of constantly offering the breast. He is fascinated by toys and loves just "talking" with people. A half hour conversation and some time with his toys and he'll actually get down to business and nurse for a few minutes, but gone are the days of hours of daytime nursing!
Teething can sometimes cause the back-arching and pulling off. Nate would often rather chew on his hands (or mine) than nurse. Also, he prefers to nurse after I've pumped because the flow isn't as strong; he's the first baby I've nursed who hates milk letdown! And I have to tell my husband to stop talking to me while I'm nursing--that's a certain way to get him to pull off and start looking for Dada entertainment!

[SummerTwilight]

Aria does this. Partly because she is a Nosey Nurser as I call her and can't bear to miss anything and partly because she has reflux. She eats better if I wait til she is hungry to feed her.

[JenMidwife]

thanks for your suggestions & letting me know we're not alone on this one!