Nursing manners

[AngelDog]

I was going to ask this on the extended bf thread, but it was getting too long.

16 m.o. DS has started clawing at my top and pulling the neckline down to my midriff while saying 'muh!' to tell me that he wants milk. Apart from wearing less stretchy tops has anyone got any good tips for how I can teach him to ask in a more civilised manner?

Irritatingly, he often doesn't want milk at all when he does it, and frequently wanders off when I offer. Even when he does want milk, he'll often wriggle off my lap for the first 2 or 3 times of offering before deciding he was desperate for it after all.

I'm pretty sure he's trying to ask for milk & not something else, though, as it's what he does when he wants to protest about me switching sides whilst feeding him to sleep.

Not sure sorry Angel. Do you feel like you would like to stop feeding on demand and put in some fixed times?

DD (18mo) will pull at my top and demand "boob!" at the top of her voice. I think at such a tender age, they're not into asking with subtlety.

All you can do, I think, is gently remove his hands whenever he does pull...

Breastmilk I was so glad that when mine were a bit older that I'd been given the tip of "don't call bfing anything you don't want them to shout at the top of their voice in Tesco". Especially as I had planned to bf for just 6 months and DC1 had very different ideas

Thanks. I'll resign myself to it then. :)

JJJ, I'm happy feeding on demand (although I've only been doing it a few weeks - before that it was at fixed times as I always had to offer).

He's been a bit better the last day or so - not spending his time trying to get his hand down my top all round the supermarket (like he did the other day. He didn't even want bf when I sat down and offered. )

I taught DS the sign for milk (open and close a hand) which was a bit less obvious than "MOOOLK!" which is his usual way of asking.

Once he got to about 20 months he could understand "When we get home" and would stop asking. Now he's 2.7 (! How did that happen?) and he'll just suddenly announce very decidedly "I want to go home!" which basically means that he wants milk.

my memory's all hazy, and I don't remember 16mo very clearly, but is it possible he's just learning to communicate? how many other things can he ask for and get you to respond? I recall there were points when ds1 would ask for things just because he'd learnt he could, rather than because he wanted them, if that makes sense. If so, it's just a phase (isn't everything?)

otherwise, I am pretty sure that by 16mo ds1 could understand what I was saying, even if he couldn't say much clearly himself. so you could try saying "oh, do you want milk? this is how you ask nicely for milk " and get him to copy you.

I've been signing 'milk' with him for nearly eleven months now and he still doesn't use it . At least he's consistent - he doesn't use any of the other signs I've tried to teach him, except for body parts and 'hat'.

too late now.

Yes, Mama, I think he's just starting to ask for things. He can ask for things more using gesture (taking my hand & leading me somewhere) than verbally. I'll try your suggestion.

I think he's using it to ask for other things too - for asking to get down from his highchair, for example and he does it occasionally to DH as well, which probably means something different again.

@ Breastmilk.