Feeding cues at 3 months

[Imeg]

I am bf on demand, and have generally looked for handsucking as a guide to hunger. He has fallen into a bit of a pattern of every 4 hours during the day, and variable times at night (was sleeping for 6hrs regularly but now usually waking after 3hrs max). However he now seems to suck his hands a lot, and I think it's often for fun/exploration/comfort/tiredness rather than hunger. I've kept to the every 4 hours pattern, and he naps well during the day and is gaining weight well, so I think he's feeding enough, but I just wondered if there are any other cues which will help me tell when he's hungry?

My four month old constantly has his hands in his mouth, but Iv noticed that when it is accompanied with a little twist of the head sideways, that's when it's hunger. A bit like the rooting motion he did when he was littler.
Or he'll be fussy.

I offer whenever the baby is fussy/grumbly.

Same, I whip a boob out at the slightest whimper (that I know is neither nappy nor tiredness related)

He feeds pretty much every hour to hour and a half - he rarely refuses when offered. I think he'd be beside himself if 4 hours went without a feed.

Hand sucking is only one of a number of feeding cues. By the time a baby is 3 mths, you are quite right - a lot of the time, this is exploration and doing it just 'cos he can :) Just as he puts other stuff in his mouth, to explore taste and texture and to practise hand-eye co-ordination, to enjoy the mouth sensations and so on.

Mood changes - just as fledermaus says - are as good a cue as any.

I tend to pick the baby up and if he turns his head towards my chest and opens his mouth I assume he wants to feed! Although I do offer a boob if he is whingey, hasn't fed in a while, seems sleepy and I want a nap, or if we're going out and it might be a while before I can feed him again. He also got hand-sucky at 3 months as it was the only thing he could reliably get in his mouth to chew on!

Thanks everyone - I decided to try offering more often to see if it would help him sleep better at night and he slept 8-3! Could have been coincidence but he's very interested in everything around him so I think maybe he was getting distracted during the day and not really focusing on food and then making up for it at night. We'll see what happens tonight...