Refusing Daytime Feeds

ThunbergsAreGo

We have a wonderful 4.5 month who for reasons unknown is a struggle to feed during the day, breast or expressed bottle.

It is the same most times, warm bottle up give it to him, three gulps (sometimes up to an ounce) and then head turned and batting it away. Even putting him in the "feeding positions" evokes a negative reaction from him.

He is fine feeding at night but the day time is a struggle, have tried singing etc

We changed bottles and that worked for a few days but now back to ground zero. He only took 5 oz from a bottle yesterday for example.

Anyone face similar?

shesty

I haven't experienced that but....I presume you have spoken to GP?He doesn't have any other problems does he?Like signs of reflux or allergies, tongue tie or anything?

ThunbergsAreGo

shesty wrote: »

I haven't experienced that but....I presume you have spoken to GP?He doesn't have any other problems does he?Like signs of reflux or allergies, tongue tie or anything?

Havent brought him to GP, I do think he has slight tongue tie though. The fact he can feed fine when he wants has made us think its not medical

shesty

Is he putting on weight well and at night, is he feeding in his sleep or is he awake?
Sorry for all the questions.

ThunbergsAreGo

shesty wrote: »

Is he putting on weight well and at night, is he feeding in his sleep or is he awake?
Sorry for all the questions.

No all good question,

Weight is fine, so its a not a thing to panic over, hence no doctor yet.

He feeds well (sometimes) in the day when being put to bed and last thing at night when he realises its sleep time, he guzzles it down. It just the 7am to 8pm times that he has a problem with. We do sleep feed him sometimes during the day just to get those calories in.

He can do it, he just doesnt want to!

And less food during the day means more night feeds/waking required

shesty

Is he sleeping a lot in the day?

ThunbergsAreGo

shesty wrote: »

Is he sleeping a lot in the day?

Normal, I would say.

Hes not great at putting himself back to sleep but with coaxing he probably naps for 3 or 4 hours of the day

waterfaerie

I think a lot of babies at that age start to get very easily distracted by things going on around them and it can make it difficult to get them to latch on.

You could try going into a calm, quiet environment with dim lighting and no distractions. Maybe do some skin to skin and let him take his time.

I don't know if you've tried this already but it seems to work well.

ThunbergsAreGo

Will give it a try

shesty

I don't know, if he's not showing signs of anything else it could be just a habit he's in.
Lots of babies breastfeed more at night, something to do with what is in the milk produced at night.So he may just be filling up at night, and not need so much during the day.It's not ideal for his sleeping habits or your OH's sleep but at four months, there's not much you can do about that.
I'm fairly sure there are ways you could try to gradually stretch between his feeds a bit longer at night and maybe that might encourage more daytime feeding but he's still so young I would be reluctant to go down that road without proper advice from a lactation consultant or doctor. A lactation consultant could advise you on it if you wanted to change his habits a bit.

ncmc

Is this just a new thing or has he always been like this? They go through a leap/sleep regression at 4 months and it definitely can cause issues feeding. My little fella is the same age and he has been THE EXACT SAME on the boob the last two weeks. He was really bad the weekend before last, I was demented with him. Same as your little man, even putting him in the feeding position would set him off. The worst phase only lasted a few days, he can still be fussy but not near as bad.

I did pretty much what was recommended here, feed him in a quiet, dark room. I put him in the feeding position with his soother in and then try and do a quick swap! In hindsight I was trying to feed him every 3 hours, when in reality he's happy going 4 hours, so I think it's worth leaving him get hungry rather than force him to feed. If he's feeding well at night, maybe try and add a feed at night, re-instate a dream feed if you're not doing one. I found feeding while he was drowsy after naps helped too.

Very important to protect your supply so maybe try and pump if he's really having a bad nursing strike.

Marz66

This is normal for breastfed babies. I think it is called The Four Month Fussies in the LLL breastfeeding book. They get very curious and distractible.

The usual advice is to feed in a dark quiet room with no distractions. I feed before the 2 daytime naps. Also when she is just out of the buggy or out of the car seat I feed as she may be feeling warm/thirsty. I also offer at various times throughout the day. It’s easier to offer boob than prep bottle and then offer.