Breastfeeding questions at 4 months

[FiresideTreats]

I wonder if anybody could offer some advice or words of wisdom please?

My 4 month old DS is exclusively BF but has recently started to fuss while feeding. Unless he is really hungry (3-4+ hours without a feed), he will arch his back and pull away or unlatch every few seconds. He has gained weight very well since birth and we've never had any latching issues that I know of.

In the last couple of weeks he's only happily accepted the breast (both sides) while drowsy or as a dream feed. During the day I have to rock him to drowsy, at which point he will latch without a fuss and usually feed to sleep.

His night time feeds have gone mad, I feel partly due to the 4-month regression/development but also because he is choosing to feed less in the day. He also seems to prefer feeding lying down at the moment.

I am not sure if it's developmental, if he's more distracted by his surroundings (going to a calm, boring room doesn't help) or something else. Does anybody have any ideas?

Oh! I forgot to add that he now seems to be sticking his tongue out to sort of find and suck in the nipple which he never did before. Not sure if it is relevant! Or maybe his tongue is just bigger so I can spot this happening now?!

Sorry, not sure on this one sorry. A lot of it could be normal 4 month behaviour but I think it’s worth giving one of the Bfing Helplines a call. Let us know how you get on

I had a weird phase like that with my DD at around 3 to 4 months I think. She'd only feed when drowsy, during the day I used to have to stand up and rock her, with the hoover running, to get her to feed. I fed like that for weeks until she eventually settled. She also woke up and fed a lot at night to make up for it.

My nephew is now around 5 months and has just come out of a similar phase. I think it's just developmental.

Thank you both. I'm going to pop along to a local BF support group next week and see what they think. I'm happy he's getting plenty of milk, it's just a pain in the bum to get him to feed during the day and I'm absolutely broken from the 4-5 night feeds! I'll let you know if they've any suggestions.

Teething? Unwell? Maybe developmental milestone. Sometimes they drop feeds too as growing, so maybe that. If truly hungry they don't fuss, so maybe look at the cues. Also could be something you ate/drank that has upset the stomach, or even the beginning of a sore bottom due to teething as that can cause discomfort. Do you use a dummy? Would that help at all? Have you ever tried a bottle of expressed milk? Does it get accepted for you to see if it's just the breast causing the fussiness at the moment? Let us know how you get on and well done for all the hard work!

Thank you @Immigrantsong. It really helps to have a few fresh thoughts on it.

He has been teething, and has cut one tooth but I can't yet feel any others.

He point blank refuses both a bottle and a dummy (never taken either) and just chews the teat or pushes it out or turns his head away.

We have just got back from being out and he hadn't fed for 4 hours. He latched fairly easily so I wonder if he's just not hungry enough and I'm misreading his signals. I find it harder to read his hunger cues now, as he's often chewing his fist or sucking his fingers - sometimes when he's tired for comfort or I'm guessing if his gums are bothering him.

I will see how we get on over the weekend and report back! Thanks again.