In the last few days our BF adventure has taken a bit of an unexplained sideways steer. DD (almost 4 months) is going through that stage where she is very easily distracted but other than that, she has been only having very quick feeds (excluding her night feed) and pulling off and on. The right side is harder for me to feed her on than the left. She almost seems uncomfortable..........and squeals if I try and put her back on after she has finished. The left side isn't much better. She does stay on this side a bit longer but once she's off - that's it, DONE. I think I make more milk on the left side anyway.
I am back at work so we are doing BF and EBM bottle feeds and feeding on demand. She pretty much feeds every 2 - 3 hours and sleeps through at night.
Quote often when she does come off, she will do a burp or sneeze or something so there does seem to be a reason why she has come off.
Also, yesterday she seemed to barely drink anything at all. I fed her at 6am and it was a relatively quick feed for that time of morning. Then we tried to give her a bottle when she woke at 8am (this is her normal routine to get up and eat) but she wouldn't take any and then she didn't show any hunger signs until 11am when I fed her but it was a 15 minute feed including burps which is super fast for her. Then I tried to feed her again around 2:30pm and she fed for 5 minutes on each side. At 5pm we gave her 90mls of EMB in a bottle and then she had her dinner feed at 6:30pm and slept through until 6am this morning. Previously to this she was doing 45 minute AM BF feed then 4 bottles during the day of about 500mls combined and then a dinner BF.
I am worried she seems to be taking less milk. I am wondering whether she has suddenly gotten heaps more efficient or if something else is wrong. Is this a common thing? We have never had any problems with her weight or anything.
The EXACT same thing happened here a few weeks ago..., which would coincide perfectly for the same age your DD is now.
It was really frustrating, I just tried to offer it to him more hoping that he was getting enough... but he seemed to be (wet & dirty nappies) and he was happy enough in between feeds.
He was exactly the same - night feeds were fine & the same length as usual, no fuss.
Carmelo went through it for about 1-2 weeks and seems to be back to normal now.
I have no idea why (the other girls are more knowledgeable than me!) but I do know it was a phase
It is a developmental stage they go through at this age.
Just let her come to the breast when she wants to (she may switch to night feeds to make up a bit). Also try taking her to a quiet darkened room to feed during the day. Avoid extra bottles or forcing her back to the breast if she says she's done. She really won't starve herself - go with it and this phase will pass sooner
Don't worry about the length of time she feeds. My DS went from 20-30 minute feeds to 2 minutes max almost overnight. I panicked and thought he wasnt' getting enough. I kept trying to force him to have more and he ended up refusing to feed at all sometimes.
Marcellus - I really appreciate that tip about not forcing her back to the breast once she says she is done. Tonight I did put her back on the right side 3 times and while she accepted it, she wasn't happy. I won't do that tomorrow and I'll see if she whinges after she has come off both sides for more milk. I just want her to be well fed and happy.
Hollybolly- It is so good to know that you went through this as well. Did Carmello keep feeding more quickly after this? I always thought she was a slow feeder but at least I felt like she was taking all the milk she needs.
It is stressful when they up and change on you so quickly, I still remember this time very well. Keep an eye on her nappies - that's probably your best indication (and reassurance) that she's still getting enough
DS continued to feed very quickly after this time, unless he was very tired and wanting to suck off to sleep.
He has seemed to feed a little quicker in general since then!
Its still such a shock for me as my DS1 was so sloooooooow & used to take 40min-1hr to feed, lol! When I first brought Carmelo home and he took roughly 15 mins I was stressing that he wasn't getting enough, despite draining the breasts and being happy
He probably takes about 10 mins now, sometimes he wants both sides, sometimes just the one (per feed). If he only has the one side, I start on the opposite side for the next feed (I have no idea if this is necessary, but it stops me from feeling lopsided )
Thanks Hollybolly. She kept doing this today - I think she is just getting more efficient like you found as well. On the upside, she drank more EBM from her bottles today - DH said about 480 mls and she had 3 BF's. So I am feeling a bit better about it all now.
Thanks so much HollyBolly She fed really well again today both on the bottle and the breast AND she made a really good go of rolling over - hee hee. She's been rolling onto her sides heaps and today she was really going for it and getting so so close. She did then crack it at 6pm because she was SO tired but I am now thinking she's just having a big development week because DH said she was super tired all day too. Thanks so much for your support.
Fussy
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