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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Dealing with the difficulties of BF'ing a 13 month old.

2 replies

Writerwannabe83 · 22/04/2015 08:12

I'm after some reassurance that things do get better....

Over the last 6-8 weeks my 13m/o DS has become a BF'ing nightmare. He used to lie on my lap and feed quite pleasantly and it was a quick and easy job but now he seems to see it as some kind of game.

He will spend about 1 minute on one breast and then decide he wants to be on the other side, so he swaps himself over but after a minute on the side he then decides he wants to go back to the other side. This to-ing and fro-ing will then usually last for the duration of the feed, swapping sides every 60 seconds.

Sometimes he will also stop suckling but stay attached and then purposefully rock his head back and forth so he's effectively bouncing on and off my breast (with my nipple still in his mouth) which he seems to find hilarious Hmm

He's also decided that no matter what side he's feeding off he has to use his free hand to frequently play around with my other nipple.

Over the last few weeks he's also taken to using his free hand to grab and roll the skin across my upper chest/upper sternum area (almost like pinching) which is quite uncomfortable and has left tiny bruises. I try and hold his arm down, or hold his hand, to prevent him from doing it, but being restrained like that frustrated him. When he's doing the skin rolling he isn't doing it intentionally to hurt me but more of a comfort thing that I don't think he even realises he's doing it. He also uses his free hand sometimes to repeatedly hit my upper chest and it's almost as though he likes the sound of the noise when he makes contact with me. This will leave the skin quite red at times.

He's also sprouted 5 teeth over the last 3 weeks and it's been painful at times. His bottom two front teeth are quite sharp and when he's using his lower jaw to feed I feel his teeth scraping on the skin below my nipples and it's pretty sore. I'm sure if I lifted my breasts and looked underneath them I would have some kind of scratch marks from his teeth. He's bitten me once but it wasn't intentional and he unlatched when I shrieked in pain Grin

Feeding him seems to be some kind off battle now and trying to keep him lying in an effective feeding position is near impossible as he flings and kicks his legs in all directions and tries to get himself into all sorts of random positions.

Up until now, apart from a rough start, I've loved feeding and I don't particularly want it to end but I feel myself becoming disheartened.

I'm really hoping it's just a phase as he's becoming more independent and head strong and that I should just ride it out, but I'm also worried that feeding him is going to be a nightmare from here onwards.

Did anyone else have these problems and how did you cope?

OP posts:
spekulatius · 22/04/2015 10:12

Mine does that. Started around the same age and hasn't stopped. It's comforting for them. From what my friends are telling me the touching doesn't stop even when they stop b feeding.

milkyway1304 · 23/04/2015 04:27

My little girl is just turned one and she pinches and rolls my skin a lot, attempts to nipple twiddle and moves about, standing etc. I stop feeding if she plays with other nipple. I've been experimenting with toys/Muslins when she's pinching with variable degrees of success. And I have no idea about the constant movement!

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