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My son also did this around 9 mths and around 1 yr. It lasted about two weeks both times. The same with my daughter when she was about one. I also followed advice from that site, kellymom. Stopped nursing, explained it hurts. Had a little break and then continued. I didn't take too long breaks, because I was afraid of nursing strikes, especially when my son was only 9 mths.

This happened with my twins. One thing that helped was always having an alternate thing available during nursing that was appropriate to bite: they liked silicone teething rings and those silicone teething necklaces that you (the mom) wear. Whenever they would bite, I would unlatch, and say (firmly but kindly) "You can't bite mommy. Bite this!" And I would give them the item they could bite. I won't say it eliminated biting, but it helped and they really liked biting those objects while teething. It seemed to give them a lot of relief. Also, you may find that you can predict when they are going to bite. My twins would both start making a certain noise -- it was sort of like "nom nom nom" but in an agitated way, like their teeth were hurting or something. I started offering the teething object when I heard that sound, and they would usually be glad to take it.

Repetitive biting is really difficult- my daughter did this around the year mark and it was so frustrating and painful. After a while, she just stopped. In talking with other moms about repetitive biting this seems to be the typical pattern, it just goes away as mysteriously as it came on. Very good general article with many tips on how to handle biting: https://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/biting/

It can happen that way, but more typically there are days of more nursing, days of less nursing, several weeks or months when nursing increases for a while, times it drops off etc.

Nursing a toddler is definitely a different feeling than nursing a newborn! Bigger, stronger mouth = stronger suction. That said, by age 2 you can definitely work on nursing manners - ie, "that's too rough for mama, please be gentle" and ending the nursing session. You don't have to wait long to let him try again, but that little break will help him to figure out that if he doesn't nurse nicely, he doesn't get to nurse! Another thing to think about is whether you're getting your period back (if you haven't already) or if you're possibly pregnant - both things that can make it a little more uncomfortable to nurse.

:lol Mine had a short period of doing the vacuum clearer style (at around one year). But it passed as we always re-adjusted the latching so she wouldn't take too much of my boob.

I think that is true of a lot of kids, for sure. Mine drank it, a little, but not as much as they do now. To the OP: I was going to add that I personally would not start an 11 month old on formula because it's not necessary, they might refuse it anyway, and it can cause constipation or other digestive issues. It sounds like you're providing plenty of options without it! :)

Often teething is short-lived, especially if your consistent in how you handle it. You can pre-emptively end the feed when you see your LO slowing down/finished to prevent the opportunity to bite. You can break suction, end the feed, put baby down and tell her no; and usually if your consistent they get it, like, oh, okay, if I do that, I can't nurse. And you can give her something she CAN teeth on after you take her off. One of my kiddos loved it when I would rub his gums and he would nurse contently afterwards.

Congratulations on surviving the strike and persevering through it! I offer to nurse even at 4! Mind you, not often, but still. I think it's a good thing to offer to nurse a child and I hope it's something that YOU feel good about. I don't think you ever have to stop offering, especially when your not ready to wean. Nursing is a two-way street. It meets my needs for closeness as much as his.

My kid wouldn't really play around with Cow's milk until he was over 2. It seemed weird to him. Like...it wasn't as sweet as BM so why? He did eat plenty of cheese and yogurt at that age tho!

With my twins, around that age they got funny about whether or not they'd take a bottle of expressed milk. My doctor said during separations of a few hours, simply leave solid foods, and if needed a bit of water in a cup or even a couple ounces of cow's milk.

Here are my thoughts based on my experience- Nursing is not only about eating. As a child gets older and begins to eat more volume and variety of other foods, they naturally need breastmilk itself less and less (although logically we can assume breastmilk is always good for the child, it is a perfect food that would be "good for" anyone at any age.) But what nursing is still important for (as well as nutrition and immunity protection) is comfort. A mother nursing her child is positive and comforting physical contact, and that is something everyone needs. If your child stopped asking to hug you, my guess is you would offer to hug, or ask for a hug because YOU want a hug. To me, offering to nurse a nursing child is no different. You never needed to offer before, but maybe you do now. It is common that kids get busy and basically forget to nurse. Kids do tend to go through periods where they get busy and do not ask to nurse as much. So even though your child did not need "reminding" before, they may now. The reason people say "don't offer" is a weaning strategy is because it really works as such. Breastfeeding is something done by two people, and like anything else done by two people, either participant can initiate the contact and if both are initiating, it will probably continue to happen longer than if only one is initiating. Many breastfeeding sources talk about limiting nursing at this age. This is advice for mothers who WISH to limit nursing or are...

Oh ok. Thanks a lot both of you. It's very reassuring.

There is an old post on here somewhere, or used to be, where the mother discovered that she could use a bottle warmer to scald the milk as it heated the milk to the appropriate temperature.

I always fed one boob each time until my kid turned one. It was never a problem in terms of supply.

Sorry I missed this. How are things going now? I am still not really understanding why you have so much concern that your milk production is insufficient... I am trying to grasp if, at this point, it is real or imagined. But let's say for the sake of argument it really is not enough for baby. Of course trying and trying over a long time to get production up is going to cause many moms to feel frustrated and worse. One option would be to decide to from now on, supplement with formula, as needed. Just leave trying to increase production with pumping and meds alone, and supplement as needed. Yes this could be harmful if your production is really fine. But in this imaginary scenario, it is not fine, baby really needs more. A mom in this case would want to try to not over supplement, again, as that would be harmful to production.

Ok keep us updated.

In the world of poop, these are possibly concerning: White poop, black poop, and lots of visible blood in poop. Everything else is usually just a variation on normal. When a mom has OP and baby is going 6 hours between breasts, sure, they are probably going to get lots of milk all at once when they nurse, and this will tend to moderately change poop look. This is not, however, usually any reason for concern, unless this is causing baby to not want to nurse or to have unusual amounts of severe gastrointestinal discomfort. All babies, just like all humans, have some minor gastrointestinal discomfort regularly. This is how we know we need to use the bathroom for example, or that we ate too much, or we are hungry, etc. We understand what the discomfort means and what we can do about it- but a baby does not and tends react to normal discomfort more dramatically.

Thanks a lot for your response. Ok I was worried since each breast gets used only after 6 hours would dramatically reduce my supply. As you said I try to hand express so that the flow is not too fast and to feel comfortable. About the poop I thought he is pooping a lot. And since he goes 6 hours to get each breast at times. His stools have become yellow foamy. Is that ok? I will think about the pacifier again Thank you again. You are such a blessing to the community.

Yes, this is normal. Are you concerned it is too much or too little? In fact there is a very wide range of normal for this age with some babies of 2 months old pooping even less than once a day. But many still poop as much as they did the first month as well, many times a day. So this is normal output. I think this sounds very normal- so I am gathering what you are concerned about is baby not taking both breasts when baby nurses, so one breast goes longer than 3 hours. Right? But this is also probably normal. As you have reported you had/have overproduction. Well, the baby needs what baby needs, not more. So if mom makes more, then the normal thing would be for milk production to reduce to enough, not too much. In fact what you are describing happening with baby becoming upset when trying to comfort nurse sounds like you are continuing to overproduce, at least somewhat. This is not really a problem, but in the normal of course of things, time will naturally reduce your production to enough, not too much, and that may slow the flow to the point baby is happier nursing for comfort. If you are very concerned with milk production reducing, or of course if you are uncomfortable between nursing sessions, and do not want to wake baby to nurse, or if when you wake baby and baby is upset or not interested, my best advice after that is to hand express from the breast that has been 'waiting." Does that make sense? A little hand expression will cause the flow to be less next...

Yes. Pain went away when I nursed. The last few days I havent had the shooting pains at all. It seemed like maybe the bleb surfaced I pricked it with a sterilized needle. It still hurts but it always continues to hurt for a week or so after I ope them. Of course I may have just pricked my nipple randomly thinking the bleb surfaced and that wasnt it. Anyway, I will post if somwthing changes. Thanks for your help!

Even now the baby was sleeping and my breast was not used for 6 hours so I encouraged him to nurse. He didn't like fast flow and he was mad that he couldn't go back to sleep and started crying very badly. How can I avoid this. Even though breast is best. Sometimes it makes me feel that he is not happy with it all the time. I am so stressed that being a mother I am unable to console him. I hate to use pacifier since it has so many cons. I hate to use it .

He is definitely nursing 8-12 times a day. But the frequency every 3 hours is what annoying me and I am terribly worried about loosing my supply all over again.

Hello Maddieb. Thanks for your response. Sorry for long time to get back to you. Baby nurses every 3 hours and he is satisfied with only one breast. so the other breast is not used for 6 hours. initially i encouraged to nurse him often but what happened was whenever he felt sleepy he couldn't nurse because he was full already. So I thought i will let him don the lead. I tried to use both breasts each time but most of the times he doesn't take it. I really really don't want to wake him to nurse since it gets very difficult to pout back him to sleep. I can tell you one scenario. every night say he nurses at 8 and goes to sleep at 9. he wakes as soon as 30 minutes and feel so sleepy and just want to nurse to sleep but doesn't like the flow of the milk and cries hysterically that he couldn't nurse back to sleep. he cries hard for at least one hour. and he gets tired and he nurse to sleep. Please suggest some ideas so i can use both breast each time he nurse. I am unable to make him nurse often. baby is gaining really well. he is pooping at least 6 times a day. Is this normal for a 8 week old? all his poops are yellow watery hardly seedy. please help. I don't want my supply to drop. please help.

Yep. I think that's fine. If she needs more liquid than that while away from you I'd use water. She is still getting plenty of breastmilk and if she is eating her solids she should be fine. I went back to work at 14 months and had been feeding on demand up until that point and I never pumped and I never used any milk substitutes. My son drank water while away from me, ate solids and we still nursed on demand while together. I think you are fine.

So sorry I missed this latest post, hope things are going ok? In any case thank you SO much for updating- as you found, info online or in print for this situation is scarce. It is the kind of thing discussed mostly in person, that is where I gathered most of my knowledge on all toddler and older child nursing concerns over the years. Directly from other moms at LLL meetings, attachment parenting groups and other social situations.