5 month old not on a total strike but a definate go-slow - anyone else experienced this?

[giantkatestacks]

My nearly 5 month old dd has suddenly started bfeeding really weirdly - she will take the really quite forceful letdown and then just start looking at me and smiling and refuses to go back on again - this has been happening for a couple of days. All of the info I have read about strikes suggest that she would be really upset and obv hungry but this isnt the case at all - today she has started breaking off even during the letdown - its like she really cant be bothered with the whole thing anymore - any advice anyone? I really want to wait til the 6 months before solids if possible...

[RuthChan]

Are you feeding her only when she demands it or to a schedule that you control?
If she stops and does something else for a
while, does she soon ask for more?
Is there any chance that she's going through a 'less hungry' stage at the moment?
If she's smiling rather than upset, maybe this is not a phase to be overly worried about...

[giantkatestacks]

i am keeping to a vague schedule as I have got a 5 year old as well and sadly am that sort of person - and she doesnt ask for more no, she seems to be quite happy that shes only had a quarter feed - its the daytime feeds - the one mid morning and early afternoon - so maybe its a stimulation thing as well - but then i cant maroon myself in the house everyday...you're right though will try just to chill out about it.

[RuthChan]

It sounds like she's quite happy and settled.
As long as your supply doesn't drop off too much, maybe you don't need to worry.
No doubt her drinking will increase again when her next growth spurt starts.

Good luck with it.

[MarmMummy]

How weird .... mine is doing the same! Was just about to start new post when I saw this! She's 4 and a half months and keeps pulling off, smiling, not looking too bothered. She's absolutely enormous though so I don't think she'll fade away . I agree that she feeds less well if we are busy ( I have a 2.2 yr old DS as well)and she also has a bit of a cold but it still seems odd for a baby who has never had any probs with feeding.Tonight she was upset when I tried to feed her and was crying at the breast which made me wonder wether she's a bit unwell, has sore gums or something.....

[Shooflypie]

DS did exactly this about 4 weeks ago (he is 24 wks). Hardly eating anything and would only feed lying down.
I took him to bed for a whole day and did skin to skin. It seemed to work! The following day he fed a fair amount more and by about three days later he was back to normal.
Someone on MN said this coincides with them becoming much more aware of their surroundings and therefore easily distractible. There is some great info about this on kellymom too

[pudding25]

My dd is 4 mths today. She has been doing this on and off for ages. She just loves looking at things.

[giantkatestacks]

I have tried only feeding her when shes really hungry as well - at the moment she will happily go almost 3.5-4 hours which means she takes a proper feed at least from one side. Maybe I'm just trying to feed her too often - she is an enormo-baby as well so bound to be different from my average sized ds.

I would agree with the developmental leap theory as well - she has definately become more aware - will just wait it out. It can be quite annoying tho when you've got to get out the house to school and dd is happy breaking off and looking around and generally being all leisurely about things.

Do you generally pump btw if you know that it hasnt been a full feed or just try over and over for an hour or so?

[Fizzylady]

Hi GiantKatestacks,
I'm having a similar prob but my enormous 5 month old only wants to feed at night! During day seems to get very grumpy or just wants to play.
Its really tricky as I'm not getting any sleep..no joke with an active 2 yr, work plus two teenagers!
Love to chat further on this/..just about to try to feed him!! xx