Why is My Baby so Fidgety? Is this a Nursing Strike?
This is part six in our series “Why Does My Baby Do That?!”. This post will cover why babies wiggle so much and does it mean they don’t want to nurse anymore?
Have you ever watched a baby at six months old? They probably move around a lot. And if they aren’t moving, they’re snuggling for comfort or sleeping. Sometimes they even move around in their sleep. One of my children would move her fingers or toes even when the rest of her was perfectly still, she just needed some body part to be in motion all.the.time. It is a normal part of development for babies to wiggle and move around. How else are they supposed to explore the world? It’s also very common and perfectly normal for babies to get distracted. Around the six month mark, babies are becoming more aware of their surroundings. Even if you sat in a completely plain white room with no noise, or white noise, and nothing else going on, your baby would likely pop off to look around. Are they trying to say they don’t want to nurse anymore? No. But do people often mistake it with a nursing strike? Yes.
Wait, what’s a nursing strike?! Well, that’s when a baby refuses to nurse. It is sometimes a day or two, or longer, like a week. Will they ever eat again? Eventually. But we have to give them the opportunity. So if a baby is super distracted during the day, they may want to nurse more often at night. And if we are determined to make the child sleep in their own crib in their own room, that doesn’t leave a lot of space and time for night nursing. If the baby is too distracted to nurse during the day and we are starting to introduce solids and trying to get the baby to sleep on their own, it is likely that nursing will decrease and milk supply will decrease and what might just be developmentally appropriately wiggly baby, turns into early weaning. That’s a whole spiral of events that can lead to stopping nursing before you might’ve planned to stop. Or not, you decide what’s right for your child and your family. I’ll be supportive.
Back to wiggly fidgety babies! Have you heard the term nursing gymnastics? That’s when babies suddenly don’t appreciate the comfortable cradle of your arms and would prefer to stick a foot in your face or practically turn themselves upside down to nurse. It’s a thing. I’m pretty sure they teach babies this stuff before they arrive to us.
Another thing is twiddling. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know what I’m talking about! Twiddling can be one of the most annoying things and can cause some parents to feel “touched out” immediately. For those who don’t know about it, twiddling is when a baby is nursing on one breast and reaches over to pinch, twist, flick, grab, caress, scratch, etc the other nipple. For some parents it may cause a reaction that halts nursing completely or just for that moment. I’ve heard people describe it as “making my skin crawl” and “hurts like hell” and others who just find it annoying. You might be thinking, oh my gosh, just tell me what to do about it already! Alright, here are a few ideas to combat twiddling. Wear a necklace that your little one can touch, let them hold a special item that they only get to hold while nursing, hold their hand and play with their fingers or let them play with your fingers or a ring. And just like I’ve said before, whatever you find works for you, is what works. So take care of you and take care of your little person, you get to make the decision because you are the expert on your body and your baby.
One last thing about fidgety babies, some babies like to sing to the breast, or moan, or growl, or yell while they’re nursing. Sometimes babies do this when they’re waiting for another let-down, or are impatient for more milk. Is there anything you can do about it? Not really, the singing is kind of cute and doesn’t mean the baby isn’t getting enough but it can make some people anxious. Other times babies will be vocal like this when they aren’t really hungry, just wanting to connect and also get a quick snack and then when the snack doesn’t come as fast as expected they voice their opinion. Like some of the other fidgety baby things, it’s not necessarily an issue unless you don’t like it and need it to be different for your own comfort. Stay tuned for the next blog post on why toddlers nurse so often.