Distracted daytime feeding causing low supply?

[Lels]

Hi ladies!  Lo will be 6 months this week, adjusted age 5 months.  For a past 2-3 weeks she has been very distracted during day time feeds.  Usually she will nurse on both sides for a total of 25-30 minutes.  Now she will latch on and latch off, and I find that she will only nurse for about 5 minutes on each side.  I still feel full after, so I suspect that she isn't taking in a full feed.

I am now also concerned because now I feel that it's affecting my supply.  My breasts don't leak or feel as full as they used to. 

Any advice?  Thank you in advance!

[Erin M]

My breasts don't leak or feel as full as they used to. 

Is this the only thing that makes you feel that your supply is low?  It's actually fairly normal for this to happen around the 6 month mark.  A more reliable indicator of supply would be if your LO seems content between feedings and is having the proper number of wet/dirty diapers.

If it does worry you (we're programmed to worry since we're moms!), you can try pumping or even hand expressing after she nurses. 

[Lels]

She seems content...but doesn't nap well and wakes up every two hours at night!  But that's a separate issue.   

I also feel,like my supply is low because she doesn't nurse very long and constantly latches on and off.  But I will def take your advice an try to pump after.

This distracted nursing is driving me crazy!

[Erin M]

There are some good tips here - http://kellymom.com/parenting/parenting-faq/distractible-baby/ -- not all totally in line with BWing, but enough to sort through. 

[Fiver]

Completely agree with Erin.  It may be that she's waking more frequently at night because she's not taking so much during the day because of the distractability (I may have invented a new word there).  By 6m your supply is pretty well established, so please don't worry too much.

[Lels]

Thanks for the advice ladies. My question is should I try to nurse more often than three hours than so she gets more milk during the day?

[Fiver]

Mmm, tough one.  You may find if you feed more frequently that she'll just continue to take small feeds, but sometimes people find that if they move feeds slightly further apart that LO takes more.

[Lels]

Thanks for the response.  I was still a bit worried so I had lo weighed. And she lost 3 ounces in 7 days. I don't know if it's supply or her being distracted?  I have also noticed that she seems to be biting instead of latching during nursing. She doesn't have teeth yet, but she is drooling tonnes and seems to want to chew everything. I am quite worried and am not sure why she isn't gaining.   

[Fiver]

It could be that she's teething and is uncomfortable feeding, hence the distractable feeds, slight weight loss and drooling etc.

Do you have any teething gel/liquid/powders that you could try applying before feeding to see if that makes any difference?

Also, have you started on solids yet?