Advice on how I can re-train bfing ds, please!

[phdlifeneedsanewname]

Ds (7m next Friday) won't feed anywhere except lying down on our bed. We got into that habit when he went on a nursing strike at 4m; although I've tried he's never got over the distraction stage and if we're out he would rather look around than feed. (And then scream later when he's hungry.)

But although we've done it a few times recently, yesterday he refused to feed in our front room, not in cradle hold, not lying down. Just screeched until I moved. Today I tried cradle hold on the bed - no dice. Lying down or screaming. Fed him for 2mins, then tried repositioning; he burst into tears. FGS.

He has started solids but it is going excruciatingly slowly so it's going to be bfing for a while yet. I'm okay with that but not okay with rest of the nonsense. Any clues?

[phdlifeneedsanewname]

oh go on there've got to be some good baby wranglers around here somewhere

[phdlifeneedsanewlife]

bumping this as I am at wit's end

today we found a quiet bfing spot in a baby change room. DS was hungry but could not/would not settle to feed - he ended up crying either from hunger or because I kept trying to feed him when he wanted to look around (for 20 minutes in a loo-sized cubicle ffs); I ended up crying because he hadn't fed for 4hrs and I had to go to work, leaving him to scream at dh til I get home. This is really making me very - any clues how I can re-train him to feed while we're out? please?

[monkeybird]

I dunno about retraining but my DS is sometimes fussy and our patented GPLH (general purpose loud humming) calms him down now end. don't ask me how or why it works but since DS1 would only calm down to the sound of the vacuum cleaner, GPLH has been soothe of choice with our babies when out and about.

It doesn't always work but a good loud and constant humming when he's fussy feeding does sometimes calm DS3 down enough to get him to latch on a start sucking. I do often have to keep it up until I get a letdown though...

Might raise a laugh while you're in the shops however but guess you'll try anything if desperate enough?

[Philomytha]

Oh dear, this sounds like a complete pain for you. Things I can think of

• move him from one position to another without unlatching him, if this is possible for you both
• try bfing whilst walking around, to see if the movement soothes him
• sit there bare-chested and let him attach himself when he's ready (close curtains and have a book handy!)
• give him something interesting to hold to distract him from staring around

I don't know whether any of these things will solve it, since I've only ever had the opposite problem with DS - tries to pull my top off wherever we go - but perhaps something will be useful.

Oh, he hasn't got a blocked nose or sore ears or anything like that? Or teeth coming through? Those things can all make some feeding positions more comfortable than others.

[annoyingdevil]

My ds was exactly the same, it was a relief to get him weaned tbh. I started him on protein foods as soon as he hit 6 mths and was able to drop his breastfeeds down to 4 per day. Once the pressure was off, he started to feed much better and is still breastfeeding at 16 mths!

[trixymalixy]

I can completely empathise with this as my DS was an absolute nightmare to bf in public at about the same age. He would scream the place down when i was trying to feed him and then scream because he was hungry. He progressed extremely slowly with weaning as well.

Our problem was partly due to allergys as we later found out he was allergic to dairy and eggs, but it was mostly due to him being a nisey so and so.

I'm afraid I don't really have any practical advice but can tell you that it does get better once they are getting more solids down. It took my DS until he was about 9 months until that happened though.