Short nursing sessions...what's the problem?

[lilbaker]

Hi mamas, I need some opinions please. My DS has always been a long nurser but as he's grown older (5 months now), he seems to have shorter sessions especially during the day. He would keep popping off to have a look around and most times, he would stop nursing completely. I'm worried about his liquid intake as he doesn't like the bottle with milk or water so I have to keep breastfeeding him. He has recently started solids so I'm wondering if that has changed his preference for nursing?

Any advice is appreciated - thanks!

[naivete]

If you're worried, take away the solids and start solids at a later time, the recommended age is usually 6 months now. At this age most of his nutrients should be from breastmilk, solids don't have all the nutrients he needs, it could be that he's filling up too much on empty filler solids and not hungry as much for milk. Other then that, he's getting to an age where he's curious about the world, he's not going to starve himself, he's just looking around My LO went through the same thing, and now he's mastered looking around while nursing, so it stopped

[Maddie&Jake'sMom]

Sounds like you can lessen the solids, but also keep in mind that around that age, feeding efficiency gets better and sessions aren't as long

BUt I DO agree 100% with the PP that BM should be his primary source of nutrition for the first year...so at 5 months, keep the solid intake VERY low.

[cakemaven]

As the others said, solids are just for exploring new tastes and textures, not for nutrition. So be sure your babe isn't filling up on them. We offer our 7 month old solids once per day *after* he has nursed.

5-6 months is an age where nurslings get very distracted. I find that a nursing necklace or cover-up is sometimes helpful, as the necklace keeps his attention right there on you and a cover-up works like blinders to keep the babe from wanting to check out every little thing around him.