Flailing arms while trying to latch

[AngelDog]

2 week old DS2 often (not always) flails his arms when trying to latch, especially on the breast where his latch is less good. His hands get in the way of his mouth.

I don't want to swaddle his arms, which is what I did with DS1.

Any tips?

Well congratulations AngelDog- fantastic news about DS2's birth.

Not sure what to suggest really.... why are you not keen to swaddle?
Would a laid back breastfeeding type thing help at all?

If you are doing the cradle hold, lie DC down & tuck his arm nearest to you under him as you roll him towards you. You will then have dc in a perfect position to latch on & will only have 1 stray hand to deal with. It is a pain when their little hands get in the way but it is something they did in utero when they were drinking amniotic fluid. Hope that's helpful & congrats!

This was happening to me ten mins ago too!I swapped sides which helped a little but not found a good solution yet :-(

DD2 (18 days) does this too. After the difficulties I had feeding DD1, this feels like a very minor problem and I find myself trying to negotiate with her to keep her arms out of the way

Once I remember that an 18 day old is unlikely to fully understand what I am saying, I just tend to arm wrestle her until her little hands are out if the way and she gets a good latch. So far, I've been winning the wrestling matches...

Congratulations :)

The early days are tough with all those uncontrolled limbs moving around

It can be helpful to start the feed before he gets to the point of being hungry; watch for early feeding cues. The less worked up he is, the less likely his hands will get in the way.

Try and remember that its a natural baby reflex, as frustrating as it is, and it does pass.

If you're feeding in cradle position, wrap the lower arm around your body, possibly holding it in gently between your own arm and body. Use the hand not supporting him to keep gently pulling his hand away, some parents finding holding that hand can be helpful.

This used to reeeeally annoy me! Yes, as PP said, I tucked his underneath arm between my arm and body, and held his top hand. Mostly he just grew out of it eventually. Occasionally I had to take him right off and reposition from scratch - used to sit him on my knee and give him a 'talking to'.

At 6mo he's still keen to use his hands for bf [sigh] - he likes to pull my nipple into his mouth all by himself, and fiddles with the other one while feeding.

Both my dd's did this. I tucked one arm under their body, and when a hand came up I put my finger in the palm of their hand, and let them clamp hold. Although, dd2 did then end up being a boon grabber

Boob grabber lol, not boon.

Thanks everyone (and thanks, crikey - hope you're well?). I had a bit more success today with some of your suggestions.

I don't really understand DS2 yet - sometimes I think the flailing hands are because he's ravenous, but when I restrain him, he just lies next to the nipple calmly for a couple of minute before doing anything about it.

It doesn't help that during the day I'm being climbed on by my 2.9 y.o. which makes it even harder for DS2 to get well-latched. Night feeds are much better.

Actually, longdistance, your suggestion is really helpful - DS1 loves getting DS2 to hold his finger, so I could get DS1 to help with that bit. I bet he'd enjoy it. :)

applecrumple, on one of the scans we saw DS2 sucking on his whole fist and putting it in and out of his mouth...

Just to give you some hope, my ds is 5 weeks today and stopped doing this at about 3 weeks. I thought it would last forever at the time!

Now he's taken to grabbing my boob with his fingernails

All good here thanks for asking AngelDog, hope things are calming down in the arm flailing department.