7 1/2 month old driving me mental while feeding..

Ok so we have had a pretty cruisy feeding journey so far, no cracked nipples, attachment issues really apart from a very windy/screamy baby for the 1st 2 months.

But lately I'm completely over feeding her.. she is on/off, looking around, just a nightmare.. I and her both end up soaked in breast milk because she has 3-4 sucks starts the let down and then pulls off and stretches, carries on a plays around.

I try and take her into a dark, quiet room but she is just far to interested in the world around her.. which is resulting is snacking all day and me feeling extremely uncomfortable.. and im sorry but its bloody frustrating.

I have expressed a few times lately because well I can only take so much and she drank the bottle fine because she could watch everything and drink at the same time, unfort my breasts dont stretch that far!!


I don't want to give up... but I cant handle this, I don't have the time to hide away to feed her.

Will this pass?

Yes, yes, OMG it's really freakin' irritating and YES.

I don't have any hot tips... hopefully others come along who do. But I offer my sympathy. :) I remember that stage with my DS and it drove me utterly insane. I went from loving breastfeeding to finding it made me irritable and impatient. But it did pass. Never went back to being the quiet, snuggly, 'passive' activity it once was, but by the time he was (at a guess) about 10 months, he understood that if he faffed too much, the feed was over.

Deep breaths Hun. Like all things in baby land, this too shall pass.

Hoodie strings have saved me. Ridiculous I know but as long as I have tops with strings and dangle "mummy's strings" she is happy pulling and twisting them around she manages to stay focused enough to stay attached for a while. Once she does say 5 random pull offs I shut up the milk bar for awhile she gets the idea now.
Hugs it's annoying and also as my DD has 2 sharp bottom teeth that drag off the nipple at every head turn it's painful!!
Hope it passes soon

Similar to Joeve, I found with DD that focusing on her and interacting with her kept her interest up on my face rather than looking around elsewhere. If I took her off to a dark room she'd still be looking around for stuff to be interested in, so I had to be more interesting than whatever was going on lol.

Singing (constantly) works here, as well as a funky necklace around my neck. And (ahem) I put Peppa Pig on my iPhone and hold it above my breast so he can watch it whilst he feeds. Yeah, ok, a baby with a screen addiction isn't great, but he feeds! And I've given up on feeling guilty about it. I also hold a noisy toy, or a scrunched up piece of paper, anything noisy enough to get his attention.

It passes. Faffed me to tears, but it passes.

Ride it out. Good luck!!

Last night was horrible. She woke at 1am and was clearly hungry but refused to latch.

I was quite full as well due to her playing around at her before bedtime sleep.

I tried everything, just resulted in more screaming so I left her with DH and went to kitchen expressed 180ml and then gave her the bottle. She drank the lot in less then 5 min.

But I don't want bottles or expressing and I just feel if I keep expressing it's just going to keep happening and she will keep refusing to feed from me.

Yup, it can drive you mad! But is only a stage they are going through. The necklace is often a real boon, it just seems too easy sometimes. I wonder, how many times is she feeding in 24 hours? At this age, taking food, they will often be wanting fewer feeds, but mums are sticking to the *old* routine, often worrying that “they will lose their milk” if they don’t feed as often as they did as a newborn. Often when babies are going crazy they are a little bit unwell - maybe a snuffy nose or teeth causing grief, but at the outset the only symptom is *on/off* feeding, later it becomes evident that there is more going on. Stick with it, she will be back to normal soon

She is feeding prob 5 times a day and I get the feeling she could be trying to cut it down to 4.

Plus yes we have a snotty nose and a top tooth that has just cut.

Yesterday (after going out and purchasing a much better more expensive pump because if the breast refusal was going to keep on I was going to express feed) she has fed well. No screaming at me or pushing me away. She still feeds once a night about 1am but I think she is trying to cut it down from 4 feeds during the day to 3 but isn't sorta 100% ready for it.
I'm not one to time her feeds either.

She was still on and off yesterday but no hitting me or pushing me away and screaming at me. So hoping it was a small strike and she is good to go again.

Oh and I have a feeding necklace and she just tries to chew it rather then feed