4 month old doesn’t seem to want to bf anymore

[Starlight52]

I guess this has been going on for about 2 weeks now but dd will not stay latched for more than a few minutes at a time. She started having really green poops and when I got her weighed and she hadn’t lost any weight but not put on as much as she should. As she is already very little on the second line up on the chart this has really worried me and I gave her some formula yesterday when she was being particularly fussy and she seemed much happier and we’ve given her a couple when she’s been really ratty. Only thing is I am so so so sad every time she rejects me and takes a bottle I can’t stop crying about it. I don’t want her to be hungry but I love feeding her myself and It took an awful lot of work to get breastfeeding started in the first place. Don’t know what to do.

It sounds horribly familiar, I think with hindsight it might be called nursing strike. We got through it eventually. There might be some help here.
httpww.llli.org/faq/strike.html

My LO is 4 months and he's just he a very fussy feeding period too! He's great at night and easily does 10 minutes on each side (he has always been a both boobs per feed baby).

He used to do 10 per side in the day as well but lately I'm struggling to get him to do 5 on each, and he's pulling off and fighting me all the way, even if we're at home in the calm and peace.

It's super frustrating but as yet he seems to be ok, some greenish nappies but he does have a cold right now and they're not foamy.

I've read that babies can get the hindmilk within two minutes of being on one breast so it doesn't have to be a mammoth draining session - BUT it's the draining of a breast that encourages it to refill so there is something in the idea of trying to get them to finish one breast before offering the other.

I was in a similar position to you about 18 months ago, our daughter was actually falling off the weight charts she was so tiny. She was having green foamy poos too. I stuck at the breastfeeding and only gave her the odd bottle of formula as I also didn't want to formula feed. She breastfed until 13 months in the end. I actually had issues from the start (she had a tongue tie but I didn't have it snipped) so I had lactation consultants and all sorts around. What someone suggested about the hind milk and feeding from one boob more than once was actually suggested by one of them so it isn't completely wrong too.

Our daughter was ok, just hung onto the chart but looking back we should have been topping her up with formula more to get her weight up. I hated the formula though and the whole feeling like I was failing, so I hardly did this, silly really. I feel bad now looking at the pictures of how tiny she was.

We've since had another baby, he's now 5 months, I can't believe the size difference!! He too is exclusively breastfed but he's at the top of the chart. The last few days though he's been very fussy and is having slimey green poos. I think it might be the start of teething in his case, although he only had his 16 week jabs this week and seems to have been off since them. He seems to be nibbling feeding too, I'm only not concerned because he's so huge he's probably got enough fat reserves for a month!

If I was you I'd maybe try pumping a little to keep your supply up and if she is losing weight keep topping up with the formula. You don't have to stay on formula, it might be a short term blip. Just don't start dropping feeds for formula without pumping if you intend to keep going.

My 4 month old is doing this too - I combi feed but only give top up bottles in the evening and BF the night and the rest of the daytime.

She seems to only have a decent feed when she is dozy or really ravenously hungry, like first thing in the morning! Any other feed she is on and off, distracted easily and often drinks, then comes off and spend a minute looking around before going back on for a couple of sucks then looking around again.

I also time feeds and have found that she has dropped feeding time too.

I am posting to reassure you more than anything as I am not worried at all... She is still doing the approximate same duration of feeding every day, is alert and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies. I think the feeding time has reduced as she has got better at feeding - she used to be on there for 40 minutes as a newborn, then it reduced to 20, now it's 10 - 15.

I am putting it down to a developmental thing... I think she has discovered new things about the world and is really interested in those at the moment. As she is not showing any other signs of anything not being right I am just waiting to see whether it changes, or whether this is the new feeding pattern!

By all means seek help from a lactation consultant or breastfeeding support line etc to check everything is ok - I am sure they will reassure you that it is normal. DD always finishes her bottles too but that's because the flow is faster than from the breast so she get a quick, easy feed and not because she prefers the bottle. My DD gets especially grumpy in the evening... Does your DD get grumpy and fussy at the same time each day?