5 month old not bf properly. help!

[nataliereed1990]

My 5 month old boy is exclusively bf. He has always fed every two hours 20 minutes to half and hour on one breast each time. He has been ill with bronchiolitis and in that time i had to express milk as he couldn't feed. Now two weeks after being ill he will feed but only for about five minutes at a time and when I try to offer him more he will arch his back and push away.At first i tried feeding him little and often but this didn't work at all he would scream every time I offered him the breast. I would make sure he hand no wind and try him again but still the same. Now i try every two hours and he will do exactly the same, feed for not even five minutes then pull away and not latch on. He doesn't moan or wine as if he is hungry but i am obviously worried he isn't getting enough. He is more interested in sucking his thumb! Any advice would be grateful.

Hi. It must be really worrying for this to have happened in conjunction with a nasty illness. However if he isn't showing signs of hunger more often than before I would assume it's just a natural change of routine/habits. My DS is now 5.5m and quite often feeds for not more than 5 mins. This started at about 4m I think and practically overnight. Disconcerting to say the least!

The only other thing I wondered was about the frequency of feeds. You mentioned every two hours - is that because he seems hungry then or do you feed thenregardless? If the latter it might be worth waiting until he roots or shows other signs before feeding as hemay just not be that hungry at the two hour mark?

Can understand how this makes you feel anxious, but it sounds normal to me.... older babies often take what they need in a few minutes only, and this is a good thing. They are at an age where other things around them are interesting and worth exploring, and nature allows for this by decreasing the time they take to breastfeed :) They are very efficient and take what they need in that short time (you are also efficient by now, too).

The risk with trying to get the baby to stay on longer than he wants to is that you create an aversion to the experience and you end up with a nursing strike.

Just respond to what he is telling you he needs and trust him :)

I think the fact he was poorly and is now feeding like this is coincidence only...but of course his illness makes you worry eve more about his well-being.

Your HV should be able to reassure you more.

Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your posts. Before he got ill he started going longer before feeds but this was because he went from having ten minute naps during the day to having two hour sleeps.

Feeding him every two hours was because he would cry for it, you know the hungry cry lol. He was like that from day one. I couldn't complain though as he has his last feed at 7pm and slept through til 8am.

My main worry is that i expressed for two weeks whilst he was ill and wasn't getting much out at all(maybe 2oz per breast max) and am now worried my supply has decreased and with him not feeding properly wondering if it will decrease even more? As selfish as it sounds I'm not ready to stop breastfeeding yet.

I think as you've said its worrying me more as its happened after he's been ill. I've got hv tomorrow so shall speak to her then.

Bit he is feeding properly....or you have no real evidence he isn't :) Everything you say is normal for an older baby.

By now, your supply is not fragile - far from it. It might have suffered a dip when he was poorly but that doesn't matter because by now, you make milk very responsively to his demands and any drop will have more than recovered now.

Hope the HV reassures you :)

you are right. i just obviously like to worry. lol.

Thanks again