fussing whilst eating

G

glee

Registered User
My baby just turn 4 mths and in the last week has been eating half the amount he normally eats. He tends start well and then fusses and pulls off the bottle halfway through the feed. At the moment, he's only managing 3
oz at time and then wakes up at night to eat (3 feeds at night, instead of the usual 1). He's also waking up earlier and earlier in the morning - instead of the usual 7 am, it's now 5 am which results in his being more and more tired in the day. I'm just wondering if this is a phase they all go through and any suggestions to get him to eat & sleep more would be much appreciated!
 
Have you tried giving him some solids? Maybe he is ready to try some. I started off giving my babies 2 teaspoonful at the age of 4 months. Don'd forget to change the teats' sizes as well. They get really frustrated not getting the right flow of milk, and may thus protest.
 
tried changing teat size to next one up and feeding in silence and separate rooms so that there's no distraction but still not helping. Have been advised by our PD not to put him on solids yet coz suffers from allergies so am trying to keep him breast milk completely.
 
I posted a similar question a week or so ago about my little one. She's 3 and a half months now and was really struggling during feeds. I tried the advice given by one of the replies - to feed her when she was clearly hungry. For her this meant slightly less frequently - she's never cried when she's hungry so we've had to get her on a routine otherwise she'd happily go for 6 hours without food! So she's now going 3 hour and three quarter hours (roughly) betweeen feeds, rather than every 3 and a quarter to 3 and a half hours. It seems to have done the trick. She's much calmer when feeding, just chugging through rather than fussing. And she's sleeping better at night too!
 
Having said that my daughter's (who's now 15 weeks) feeding had improved, it's now got worse again. She's barely taking more than 100ml at any feed. She's still very chirpy and sleeping well, but I'm worried that she seems so distressed by feeding.

I've tried new teats, feeding her less frequently to build up her appetite - don't know what else to try. Any suggestions?
 
Have tried extending the time for feeds and still not worked. But tried feeding bb in a swaddle just before a sleep and it seems to work (albeit only occassionally!). Was told by a friend that sometimes development in the brain of babies at this age results in babies eating less esp since they've now "woken up" to the world which is much more interesting that eating! V distracted by everything. Am hoping this phase will pass quickly but in the meantime, will just keep trying!

Good luck!
 
Took my lo to the Matilda baby clinic this morning, just to check that everything's OK. They said that sometimes this happens - not sure why. Maybe the baby goes off the taste of milk or they're more interested in what's going on around them than eating. They said to try feeding alone with the baby in a quiet, darkened room to minimise external distractions. But overall they advised me not to worry as long as she's putting on weight and suggested popping back in a couple of weeks to check that she's still gaining.

Hope that offers some reassurance to others in the same boat - just one of those quirky little baby things I guess!
 
thanks! it helps that the "experts" aren't bothered by it! having said that my boy's now starting to eat normally - fingers crossed, it will continue.....

So hang in there!
 
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