BFing 5.5 month old

vollmasm

M has become the WORST nurser over the past few weeks.  Constant on and off, distracted, you name it, which in turn is causing my let down to take longer because I get so frustrated which of course makes her more upset.  I am so frustrated that I've actually stopped nursing her before bedtime and started giving a bottle of pumped BM. I was one of the unfortunate ones whose cycle started when she was about 3 months old and I know that my supply is affected depending on where I am in my cycle.  I am so tempted to stop nursing, continue to pump what I have been (about 16 ounces per day) and make bottles of half and half (BM and formula).  Before I give up the good fight, I wanted to know if anyone else had this experience and did it get better at any point?  If know there may some improvement, I may be more inclined to continue the battle.

TIA 

Missbollinger

My AF returned at 3 months but I am preservering.  I am taking cal-mag supplements to help and I had already bought me some nursing necklaces for when she gets more distracted.  I also take them into the bedroom and close the door and draw the curtains to nurse when they get very distractable.  I did this with DS2 and it worked great.  I hate pumping (I loathe it who am I kidding) and consider my one a night pumping session as plenty enough so I'd rather get through this phase because it does pass and the whole nursing experience is always changing as they develop so just go with the flow?

HTH 

vollmasm

Missbollinger:

My AF returned at 3 months but I am preservering.  I am taking cal-mag supplements to help and I had already bought me some nursing necklaces for when she gets more distracted.  I also take them into the bedroom and close the door and draw the curtains to nurse when they get very distractable.  I did this with DS2 and it worked great.  I hate pumping (I loathe it who am I kidding) and consider my one a night pumping session as plenty enough so I'd rather get through this phase because it does pass and the whole nursing experience is always changing as they develop so just go with the flow?

HTH 

I have tried doing this, but it's not helping.  She will nurse beautifully at her 3:30 a.m. and 6:30/7 a.m. feeding, but her afternoon (when we get home from the sitter) and before bedtime feedings, forget it.  It doesn't seem to make a difference. It's the constant on and off that has me really thrown for a loop because it is painful.

Moesten

AF returned for me at 10 weeks with #1 and I nursed for a year. With #2 it returned at 9 weeks and I am still nursing him at 9 months. I have never had supply issues related to AF but I am not sure what others' experiences are.

I think the distraction and pulling off you're experiencing right now is very, very typical of the age of your LO. Try to stay calm although I know it is frustrating. And do what you can to minimize any distractions. I had to take to nursing DS in silence and away from any stimuli like DD or the TV or what have you. He eventually got better focused but he's still pretty distractible with nursing now. It's just patience and perseverance. Good luck. 

Moesten

Have you introduced solids yet? If you have she may be dropping a nursing session as a result which is not unusual. Somewhere around 6 months they *tend* to drop a session and go down to approx. 4 or 5 sessions per 24 hour period. Could this explain the difficulty with the afternoon session? 

vollmasm

Moesten:

Have you introduced solids yet? If you have she may be dropping a nursing session as a result which is not unusual. Somewhere around 6 months they *tend* to drop a session and go down to approx. 4 or 5 sessions per 24 hour period. Could this explain the difficulty with the afternoon session? 

I did introduce solids right at the 5 month mark.  I didn't know that babies tend to drop a nursing session around 6 months, so maybe that does help explain some of it.  What's weird is that she still gets fussy like she normally does when she's hungry.  Thank you for sharing that piece of information, this is all new to me. 

segerama

Like a previous poster, I typically nursed my daughter in my bedroom with the lights dimmed and no tv/radio.  I also nursed laying side by side.