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Infant feeding

Tiktok, mears any other BFC.....please help us make it to a year!

3 replies

Swaliswan · 29/04/2008 20:53

DD is 11 months old and seems to be losing interest in BFing. Over the past week or so, DD has started pulling off the breast and reaching out for her cup of water (which is sat next to her cot ready for a nighttime drink if necessary). If I give her the cup, she drinks really well then goes back to the breast. She does this up four or five times during a feed. She also makes mmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm noises while feeding quite a lot of the time like she does if I don't spoon her weetabix in fast enough during breakfast. I think that she is getting frustrated with slow flowing milk. I've been poorly recently with flu and did get quite dehydrated for a few days because of vomitting. I also feed with a shield (always have done) and I'm wondering if this is finally catching up with me?

I'm really worried that DD is going to lose interest and that this will be the end of BF for us. Please help!

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PrettyCandles · 29/04/2008 22:24

Something similar happened to me several times with dd. The best solution I found was not to have any other means of feeding her visible. So any bottle or cup was only brought out after the breastfeed had finished. I breastfed dd until just before her 2nd birthday.

I'm currently bfing 18m ds2, and what I have found with both dcs is that they developed relationships with my breasts that were almost independant of their relationship with me! They talk to the breast, bury their faces in it, mumble and yank their heads around while feeding, and it doesn't necessarily seem to be a frustration thing.

They also go through phases when they seem to be less interested. IMO, if you want to continue bfing, then you just need to chug through the phase, offering breast whenever feels right to you, and never giving an alternative means of feeding, until they come back to the breast. Ds2 has gone through at least 2 of these phases.

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mears · 29/04/2008 23:22

I perswonally would get rid of the cup of water - I don't think children need that at their beds but that is a personal opinion. The more they drink, the more they pee so makes it harder to achieve dry nights.

Try and relax and go with her wants just now regarding breastfeeds - it could all change next week. Since you have fed for 11 months successfully with a shield I don't think that would be an issue. Offer feeds more often during the day if you want - you might be surprised at how often she takes one, no matter how short. Just relax and go with her.

Similar post to prettycandles really.

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Swaliswan · 30/04/2008 09:36

Thank-you Ladies. I was beginning to panic a bit. I only have the cup there out of habit now really. It started out being there when she was ill and often was quite content to just have a sip of water but didn't seem to need a feed. It's good to know that this is just another normal stage of feeding. I'd be heartbroken if we stopped now and DD still seems so small. She was a bit happier having her feed this morning when I lounged back into a pile of pillows and let her get on with it whichever acrobatic pose she seemed to get into. I think that maybe I have been restricting her fidgetting a bit much and still trying to feed her like a little baby. However, it is beyond me how it can be comfortable to feed in some of the positions she adopts and it is just as well my breasts are saggy stretchy now