How do I get my distracted 6 month son to feed for longer?

[Whirliwig72]

Help! my 6 month exclusively bf DS2 has up until recently has been a great feeder but for the last week or so has been distracted by every little noise/movement when he's in the breast. He's also dropping feeds left right and centre e.g today he's only had 2 short and one long day time feed and last night he only had two short feeds. He's a big boy weighing in at 19 lbs and is on the 91st percentile and I'm concerned about maintaining his weight with this sudden lack of interest in feeding.
A typical feed is now like this: lo starts getting sleepy and indicates wants to be fed. Put him on boob - he sucks for 30 seconds then something will distract him ( eg a noise) so he comes off looks around then cries arching his back. This repeats up to 5 or more times interspaced by lots of winding, shushing, walking him around in my arms. He either then falls asleep whereupon I can get him to dream feed or he gets totally frustrated and we give up for a bit and try later. Taking him into a quiet /dark room seems to work a bit better but I also have a 3 year old I need to keep tabs on so this is unfortunately not always possible. How can I get him to eat more esp during the day?

Omg. You're me. How very scary!

Not sure I have any advice but just wanted to let you know you're not alone. DS is 4mo and doing similar. He used to feed for approx 2 1/2hrs a day and a couple if weeks ago his feeds suddenly got shorter and fewer and we would get to bedtime and he'd've fed for less than an hour.

I don't know whether it is just that having doubled his birthweight he's not growing so much now and is just taking on enough calories to maintain his weight. It's quite nice that he's not grown out of any clothes for the last 2-3 weeks!

DS has got a little better now; he used to be distracted by everything and now, unless he's really tired he's mainly distracted by things in his immediate environment such as a book or phone behind his head, or dd climbing on us.

One thing I have found helpful is being somewhere with someone who can distract dd such as inviting a friend over (not practical for all feeds but on a busy day when feeding opportunities are limited it makes a huge difference to get a half hour feed in him.) Or even finding a quiet corner at toddler group where somebody fan keep sn eye on dd whilst DS and I slope into the corner...

I think for us it was really bad for 2-3 weeks before it started to get better. weaning may also make a difference too. Good luck!

Thanks go lemmings . I hope things improve soon, we've just had the most horrendous night of on off feeding. No one slept and we are all knackered!

going thru the same thing with 5 month old it is soo frustrating i feel your pain and its tiring them wriggling around so much and see trying to drink any type of hot drink it is virtually impossible while nursing now.

one thing i have found that is helping is putting a blanket (or anything) over the head so they can't see something that would distract!

Thanks Jan . It sucks doesn't it.took both children to stay and play at local children's centre and was almost in tears as baby was grumping and obviously wanted to feed but every time I got my boobs out he failed about like I was offering him slugs on toast ! Got him to have a good feed around 4pm while ds1 was napping but had to coax him into it and sit absolutely still until he fell asleep. Had been looking forward to an hour on the I player catching up on telly but no such luck

After 3 or 4 weeks, DS seems to have turned a corner and most of his feeds today were 20mins+. It helps that dd was at nursery though.

I'm sure it will pass...