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wow stef we have like the same problems brooklynn does the same exact thing!! if u find out anythin let me know....

Hi Stefkay, my dd is now 8 weeks old but around 4 wks she started to discover the boob and played with it just like your dd is. She would play for a bit before finally getting to business. Yes feedings took longer then usual but she adventually got out of that phase. I think its just something they do. As long as she is eating let her play... she will grow out of it, enjoy it. Oh I used the cradle hold and kind of gave her the boob when she started getting mad at it. I hope this helps :)

omg, that is exactly how to explain it! She gets mad at it, lol! I end up having to shove my boob in her mouth and she'll latch and suck for a minute or two and then do it again and we play that game for a while and she cries and gets mad and then eventually latches and finishes that side. I'm glad to hear it's common though! I just was worried this would go on forever or get worse and she'd not get what she needs.

Sounds like a nursing strike kind of. Also she may not be hungry. My daughter went through that at 2 months old and freaked me out. I was calling every lactation consultant I could find. Eventually I tried a nipple shield and that seemed to do the trick for some reason. Just keep trying and when she resists, don't force it. Offer it gently over and over, let her spend lots of skin-to-skin time and it'll even out. My daughter would start screaming if I even got her in the nursing position. They do weird things sometimes.

Stef, all normal honey! Frustrating as hell, sometimes painful if they forget to open their mouth as they pull back but unfortunately normal behaviour. All of mine have done this - Imogen is starting to do it again now but it is because she is having to wait for the let down rather then having milk straight away. She is also getting very nosey! At this stage they are very aware of their surroundings and you could even find loud noises on the TV etc disturbing feeds whereas before she wouldn't pay any attention to anything but the breast. Hopefully she will get out of it soon but she is playing for now and because she is settling at the breast the 'letdown' isn't occurring so when she goes back she gets frustrated because there isn't any milk and that is causing the crying. Breastfeeding is not easy by any choice. It is purely trial by error to see what will work for you both! PS I feed sorry for the LC! LOL!

Sarah and Tory thank you thank you :) I am feeling so much better and I'm glad I finally posted on here about these things. I didn't even notice there was a breastfeeding forum until the other day. Ok, so this is a phase pretty much and I should just be gentle with her and not force her as she will eventually get back to proper eating, latching, etc.?

Hi Stefkay- my DS did the EXACT same thing. The only thing that clued me in to what was really wrong was that he started getting green poop. Sorry if TMI! Anyway, he had foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, because I had an overactive letdown. (Too much milk, too fast.) Try reading this article and seeing if the symptoms or behavior of your baby matches: Go to the La Leche league International website, and under "breastfeeding issues" click on "Nursing strike". Then click on the question: "Am I making too much milk?"

Anyway, the only thing that helped us was to do an upright position, he sat on my lap facing me, straddling my leg, and then I'd lean back to make it more "uphill." Also, feeding on one boob as the article suggested got things under control!
Hope that helps some!

Oh my! i haven't read the article yet, but Ava IS getting green poop lately! Not all the time, but here and there, but still I think it is daily. What does that mean? Is she not getting the hindmilk or what? I'll go see if I can find the article...

Ok, I read the article and that makes total sense. I'm just not 100% convinced I'm overproducing because my breasts don't feel hard and full all the time. I think maybe my milk does eject to fast possibly. I also can't stop pumping here and there because I need to get some backup milk for in case I can't feed her for any reason. I read that pumping can stimulate more milk production, so I just don't really know what to do.

Stefkay let her finish one breast at a time. That way she will get the foremilk and the hind. if she is still hungry put her to the other when she is finished the first, then either pump the second after she is finished or wait till the next feeding and start her on that same side. One way you can tell if you have a fast let down is either A: they choke, or B: they start gulping really fast and it runs down the side of her face because she cant keep up. Use a nipple shield if that is the case so its not hitting her in the back of the throat and she goes at her pace.

Sounds good...I just have a hard time knowing when she is finished because she will stay latched onto one breast for 45 minutes or longer if I don't pull her off. I think she uses me as a pacifier too. I'm feeling like she is getting all of her milk in the first 10 minutes, but I hate to pull her off too soon in case I'm wrong. Also, I don't think she's getting a fast letdown because she doesn't choke (unless she starts crying and then coughs and sputters from the screaming) and milk doesn't run out of her mouth. She just seems to get fussy and pull off and cry. I will try to put her back on and she just pushes away and won't latch back on. I try squeezing my nipples to see if they are shooting out milk or something and they don't seem to be doing anything extreme. I mean, milk comes out and I can make a stream shoot out but that is if I'm squeezing them which I think is supposed to happen. I called the lactation consultant (again) and they basically said they think I'm doing fine and I need to relax (really, go figure).....

STEF honey totally normal and they will eventually get with it and stop playing until they piss themselves off.. Megan does that and my poor nipples play the price. I find that football hold helps the most and one thing that sometimes helps is that I take her completely away from the breast and try burping her to rule out gas and when she settles down I try to get her to latch back on.

Tina, yeah I found out that it helps sometimes if I burp her. I think the best burping position for Ava is sitting her on my lap and supporting her head then patting her back. This morning she did another freak out and it took FOREVER to feed her. She wouldn't take one breast so I'd switch and she'd take that for a while then pull off suddenly crying and then I'd change to football hold and she'd drink for a minute and then cry and so on and on back and forth till finally I think she got tired and latched on and fell asleep, lol :) ohhhhhh my gosh I don't think I'm going to be able to ever get any work done and I'm going to lose my job. nice. Seriously I want to b/f until she is at least 6 months old maybe 9 months tops, but I'm even thinking of going to pumped milk from a bottle. It makes me cry to think of it because right now the most time I get for cuddling and closeness to her is through breastfeeding. Unless she is full or tired I can't hardly hold her because she starts rooting and crying because she smells my milk. Her dad gets to cuddle with and hold her all the time and she stops crying when he takes her. I am so happy they can bond like that, but I don't want to lose my time with her completely :( Sorry for the vent....