Sorry this is long, but I am bamboozled!
My son is five months old and is essentially exclusively breast fed. He feeds at 7am, 10:30, 2, 4:30 and 6:45/7ish and I have started giving him an ebm top up after 7pm feed as I think my supply was low - I always offer boob until he won't take any more or is agitated, crying out, at which point I offer him the ebm. He will take 4-6oz usually (see below re night time feeds). I then offer him boob again.
For the last five days / week, he has been what I thought was distractable when feeding. He would suck a few times then pull his head away and look around, doing this repeatedly. He would eventually settle down for a few minutes on one side, and then would push back as if to be sat up and e feed would be done. Seemed contented afterwards. He has always been quick at feeding but recently his feeds have been 7-10 mins of on/off on/feeding as opposed to usual 10-14 mins of him 'applying himself' (!!). He has slept from bedtime at 7, would give him a dream feed of ebm at 22:00/22:30 ish (would take at 4oz but see below re dropping this when he started taking less), and then he would sleep til 7ish. Has been doing this for about a month now.
I am not sure if the following is relevant or not. He also would have a dream feed of ebm at 22:00/22:30 ish (I express after the 7am feed when I get anywhere between 1 and 3 oz, usually 2 and at about 22:00 or 23:00 when I get 4-5.5oz) but hestarted to only take 1-3 oz at this and so two nights ago we stopped waking him for it. The first night he slept til 5:40am before he woke which was amazing. However last night he woke at 1:10 and would not settle - I gave him 4oz of milky rom bottle and it took a further half hour for him to settle which is unheard of - usually he settles v quickly after milk. Also he was spluttering quite a lot when he took it.
Tonight, at the bedtime BF, he was pulling off and crying after only few mins on each side so I offered him the ebm. After an ounce or two he was coughing and spluttering a lot and seemed to be chewing the teat a bit. After a cuddle / burp, I offered him the rest and he took it all (6oz total) without incidence. I offered him boob afterwards and he would. It take the left side at all (also unusual as he will usually suck even if just for comfort) and had a go at the right but again only a few suck and pulling away. He went down to sleep without incidence.
SO.
What is going on with the fussing??
- is supply low? Sort of doesn't explain it in the day as especially in the mornings boobs feel full (he is least fussy at 7am feed but still feeding for less time than usual). Tonight I tried expressing after bedtime feed out of curiosity and got an ounce out of each side though took quite a while(5-10 mins each side maybe?)
- could it be teething?? He is chewing EVERYTHING constantly and his gums are very hard. Also might explain the random waking at 1am last night? Though will see what happens tonight.
- could he be going on strike?? Do babies ever just decide they don't like BF that much?? Not sure if it is this as he is usually keen to feed and paws at my shirt when I start unclipping bra etc.
Teething coupled with low evening supply??
I want to keep EBF him to six months at least, which is about three weeks away. Would like to do longer but am worried my supply just isn't going to cope - it is quite stressful esp at bedtime feed when he seems angsty. I wonder whether at 6m I would be able to do morning and evening feeds only with some formula in the day? At least then I would know he is satisfied and getting enough?? I am keeping an eye on his weight during this fussy period (he is within same centile gap tho closer to 25th line than the 50th when I got him weighed today).
Thoughts / advice very welcome. I am for some reason feeling really emotional about the whole thing...