Help! Baby gives me a hard time nursing

Jlc9633

for the past two months my son has been giving me such a hard time nursing. He will scream and cry and refuses to latch on. The only times I can get him to nurse is while he is drowsy or sleeping and most of the time when we are in a dark qiet room. Given that I have a 3 year old daughter it's extremely difficult to nurse him alone.

I work three nights a week so he does get bottles while I am gone. Feeding him is extremely stressful so any information you may have would be a huge help!

Prea333

So sorry that you're experiencing this. I had the same problem with my little one. I breastfed her from day one and then started giving her an intermittent bottle feed every night at around 3 months of age just in preparation of me going back to work, planned on bottle feeding during the day and breastfeeding at night once I was back at work full time. After the first week of introducing the one bottle feed she started screaming bloody murder every time I tried to breastfeed and would only latch on when she was half asleep like your little bubs does. Eventually I put her onto bottle only and she was a happy little camper once again. I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear but once I gave in and bottle fed exclusively she stopped screaming and fighting at feeding times. Started eating full feeds and even started sleeping better! Good luck to you, please let me know how things go

NLB2009

Do you have a breastfeeding cover? My LO has been getting really distracted during feedings so I've started using my cover even at home and it's really helped. Not sure if it'll work but might be worth a try

secretbaba

Try changing position - my daughter is very nosy nowadays and gets FOMO. She does the same when nursing sometimes. I stand up and walk around whilst nursing, or if I have a chance I lie down and nurse. The nursing cover my be a good idea too.

Clobert

Around 3 months they can get very distracted during feedings so a quiet place like nursery with lights low can help. This is thought to be a main cause of 4 month sleep regression. However it could also be an issue of flow. He may be frustrated that your let down is slower than the bottle. You could try pumping until you get a let down if that's the case. Also try the "laid back" position as it encourages instinctual nursing and they're more in control. Good luck.

Anne Mommy

My son gets that way when he is really hungry. If I nurse him right before he gets that way, he does better. It's like he has to tell me how mad he is before he'll calm down enough to eat.

sj3019

My son use to do the same and I too was bottle feeding because I felt like I wasn't producing enough milk. Therefore I'd pump to make sure I knew how much he was eating. The thing is that with nursing they have to work for it vs. bottle feeding it's instant. I find that if my breast is fuller he doesn't fuss but if he has to work for it and he's hungry we're gunna have an all out war so I just don't even bother trying to nurse if that's the case. I'll just go ahead and bottle feed.

mommy4+1angel

I have this problem towards the end of the day if I let my baby girl get too hungry/tired. Others above are correct, baby is just frustrated because the milk is taking a long time to let down. In the morning there is an abundance of milk ready since she sleeps all night. In the evening she is ready for bed, and tired, it takes longer and she fights me a little. I just keep offering my breast to her while relaxing, and taking deep relaxing breaths, she tries and cries several times then in a bit my milk lets down and all is well. I just keep talking softly to her the whole time. One night I almost gave up and made her a bottle I was particularly stressed that night but I got some water, regrouped, relaxed and in a few minutes we were fine. There is definitely a mind body connection with nursing related to the let down of the milk. Hang in there.