Bored=Wanting to Nurse

[CaedensMama]

Okay- I have been having a hard time the last week or so keeping Caeden on a 3-4 hour feed. At first I thought it was a growth spurt cause he seemed hungry ALL the time, and I increased solids, but he still wanted to nurse ALOT. Now, I think it is when he is bored and since I am right here and playing with him he wants to nurse. He usually only nurses 5 minutes or so, but he is a quick eater all the time, so I am not sure if he is snacking or taking a full feed.
We have been working on sleeping thru the night so I have been trying to make sure he is getting enough to eat thru the day, but he is wanting to nurse every couple hours.
Is this normal? I don't want to be creating a bad habit, but if he is hungry, I don;t want to NOT feed him.

Any suggestions here?

Also, he is only napping about an hour and he is up 2-3 hours between naps, so he is often ready for a feed in the "middle"of his nap and I am wondering if this could be why he isn't napping as well as I think he should be. Should I try nursing before the nap? He very rarely comes close to going to sleep while napping.

[annamum]

but he is wanting to nurse every couple hours.

How often is every couple hours? If you think he is bored, which could be the case, imo, try getting out with him and see if he is "hungry" as often as at home or if he forgets about nursing. If he is is still asking for milk while being entertained then my bet would be that he needs it.

I think there is no problem with giving him an extra feed before a nap, just make sure he is still having some A time after it. I found out with Anna that around 6 months she finally extended her naps to 1.5 hour long but I needed to add an extra feed so she didn't wake up hungry after 45 minutes. Worth trying, you could do EAEASY for example and see if it works.

[CaedensMama]

He is wanting to nurse every 2-3 but only while at home - which is why I am thinking he is more bored then hungrey. When we are out he goes 4 hours easily, sometimes 4 1/2.
I may try nursing before nap and see if it helps though - I am usually getting 45 - 1.25 hours naps, I would really like closer to 1.5-2 though as we have dropped the catnap, so he is only napping twice a day (unless we are out, then he gets a little nap on the way home).

[annamum]

I  noticed that when Anna was droping a nap, it didn't immediately translate to longer remaining naps. It always took time for her body to understand that she needs to extend her remaining naps, sometimes even two to three weeks.

[CaedensMama]

Okay - I think I will give it a couple weeks and stay with the 2 naps when we are home and try a little nursing shortly before the nap to help "tide" him thru. And days when we are out - he will get a catnap and more then likely not nurse as much.
We will see what happens over the next few weeks - we should be getting into a better routine at home too as the holidays are almost over and things wil settle done here.
Thanks -

[annamum]

Good luck!