Finding BF tough at 6 months

[Fourleaf]

Hi all,
DS is 6.5 months - he is EBF and although he's started solids he doesn't eat much - he prefers the boob! I've always really enjoyed BF (after the first week or so) but now I'm finding it really tough. He pulls off painfully with his gums when he's distracted, and sometimes bites me (without teeth) when he's agitated. As a result my nipples are cracked and really sore. He feeds about every 3 hours day and night, and I'm just pretty exhausted. He won't take a bottle. I'm thinking of stopping, but am also hoping this is just a bump in the road, as I was hoping to BF until he's 1. Any advice/experiences much appreciated.

Definitely a bumo I would think. I remember being pretty fedup at 6-7 months as well - DS still BF just as much as pre-food, plus there was all the faff with food as well - I never got time to do anything else! The difference between 7 months and 9 months was huge - 9 months was down to about 4 feeds a day, and by 10 months generally only 3.

Hope this helps - good luck and stick with it.

Could it also be teething? Whenever DS cut a tooth his latch changed for about 48 hours or so - was v painful for that time.

In theory the more solids he is taking the less inclined he will be to bf. Perhaps careful timing so his tummy is relatively full before offering boob? He could also be a poor feeder because he is full of b milk? He could be clamping down because teeth are thinking about emerging and using you as a teether . It should start to improve but you are still in transition between bf and solids, so good luck and hope it smooths out.

It is tough, it really is. But to disagree with the previous poster, you should offer milk first, then solids. Milk makes up the bulk of their intake for now.

It gets better, truly. Teeth, development, distractability etc, it's a hard time. Be easy on yourself.

showofhands, 4leaf is trying to cut down the bf as it is cleary exhausing and painful for her, so my suggestion may work for her better than the conventional route, which she has obviously tried and is not working as baby is a poor eater. LO is 6months+ so milk does not need to be the dietary staple. b.milk does not contain iron so a baby HAS to get this from the diet, even if in tiny amounts.
Don't bother with bottles but go straight to a beaker (with water) - experiment with different ones. He may be thirsty so on booby often to quench thirst. Free flowing tommee tippee worked for us as bf babies are not the brightest at sucking (its a different technique from bottle fed babies)

Thanks for the responses. He is definitely teething which might also put him off his food? He was really into solids when we first started (at 5.5 months) but now he hardly eats anything. We give him breakfast (fruit usually) and have just started giving lunch (usually veg). Think we may try the water idea too... Breasts are feeling better after loads of lasinoh cream! Won't stop bf but am keen to get him eating more. Any tips on this?

Dd didn't eat loads when i weaned her and now she is s foodie!

She also fed 3 hourly day and night at this age until i did some gentle night weaning when she was 6.5 months

Also now she is 8 months she is down to 3 feeds per day - has happened over the last few weeks

She has a mega 10 pm feed still

I think it takes them a while to get into solids - offer lots of variety and tastes

Ds is 6.5 mo as well and is hugely distractable. He'll see something out of the corner of his eye and turn towards it with my nipple in his mouth - owwww! Ditto with sounds - so listening to the radio is a no no while he feeds. I've taken to feeding him in a quiet room for now.

Much sympathy. And a hope that this too will pass.

I'm sorry, Beammeupscotty, but you are wrong. A baby if 6m can still get all his dietary needs from breastmilk. The business about iron is a fallacy. It is not important for him to be on solids now. If he is interested in solids, then fine. If he is not interested in solids, that is also fine.

Fourleaf, if feeding is uncomfortable the first stop (afterMN ) shd be a bfing supprt group. Positioning is so often the cause of these difficulties, and face-to-face support can make a huge difference. Yes, even at 6m.

I second PC's recommendation of a BF support group.

It might be worth trying bonjela or similar (if it's appropriate for his age? I haven't used it for ages) before a feed, to see if that cuts down on the biting down.

You could also try stopping the feed if he's faffing about. Not in a cross way, but calmly, in a 'well, now you're just playing, boobs aren't for playing, let's go play with toys', sort of way. That might discourage him.

Will he take those frozen soothers?

Fourleaf, try to watch whether there is a pattern to when he pulls off or bites. With dd I realised that she only ever bit me towards the end of a feed, if I tried to persuade her to rake a bit more. As soon as I let the feed stop when she chose it to stop - she stopped biting me. With my boys, however, I could see no pattern and would stop the feed at that point: a sharp "No!" and then I put them down on the floor or sofa for a minute. Tried feeding again after a minute, if they nipped again then I repeated the no and ended the feed. Took a few days to teach them not to bite me.

Ifyou think it's teething, then squidgy teethers straight out of the fridge are good. Some babies like hard things to teeth on. Bickiepegs are excellent, too.

Perhaps I was too blunt and it came across rude - for that I apologise. It's just that there are still people telling mothers things like "by 6m your baby must be on three meals a day and unless they are eating lumpy foods they will miss the window and their speech will be delayed". This sort of thing also often includes scaring the mother by claiming that their child will be anaemic if the advice isn't followed.

The transition between breastmilk and solids takes months (unless of course the mother chooses to move from breastmilk to formula). Solids do not become the major part of a baby's diet until around 1y. Milk is still sig ificant until then and beyond. No way is the OP's baby in transition from milk to solids yet!

It is true that there isvery little iron inbreastmilk. What there is, however, is highly bio-available. Also, the baby's iron stores do not suddenly disappear at 6m, they begin to diminsh at that point. Dietary iron is not essential before about 9m.

My only agenda here is to support the OP, who has said she would like to continue bfing until 12m. Her dc will come to no harm if he takes less solids for a while - he will show her very clearly if he wants or needs more. Besides, helping her to sort out the bfing issues could easily lead to the LO eating more solids as he could be more contented and therefore less stressed by new experiences. If one reason why he isnot eating much solids is his teething, how would weaning him off the breast help?

It's recommended to START weaning at 6 months, not go from boob to plate just like that.

None of the above say a sudden switch, and neither do I. What they all say is to START then. Having bf my daughter til she was 4! I know what the benefits are. I'm a strong advocate of bf and also cannot see the point of pushing solids on a reluctant baby.

BUT having seen my DGS - (born at 37 weeks so officially term) at 6 months looking transluscent, tired and exhausted, and finding out he had an HB of 6.8 (half normal) I would ask anyone to be very wary and get good advice from the HV. It took 6 more months of forcing foul tasting iron syrup down him to get him back on track. He was small for dates, but even the doctors did not take this into consideration. I felt guilty about not noticing, so did my daughter, and we are both nurses.

Anyway, glad OP's boobs are a bit better.

beamme up - The WHO actually talk about moving from EBF to full famly food over the period from 6 months to 2 years; not over night

WhatK.
Can you point out to me where I have ever said switch overnight to solids. I have not said anything of the sort, anywhere, ever, never, let alone overnight!!

'Weaning' doesnt mean cutting milk from the diet and having only solids but continuing them together - 2 years as WHO recommend. And, having bf for a considerable time myself (4 years) I obviously agree with them!

The OP was considering giving up bf because of pain and exhaustion with LO bfing 3 hourly. To me it seemed worth trying to offer babe solids before milk so that she would be able to continue bfing for her stated year. This may not be text book but if it allowed her to continue with bf and gave her nipples a chance to heal, surely there is greater benefit there than following the text books? (bit GFy to me!).

You make it sound as though I advocate asking a 6 month old to tuck into roast beef and 2 vedge with yorkshire pudding. with a glass of vino on the side (mind you, the beef has plenty of iron in it) - I'm off before the vegitarian/vegan brigade put a contract out on me.