Distracted 4 mo teething, waking, sending me potty!

[mandler]

This might turn into a ramble as I am knackered! My lovely 4mo ds is a very nosey baby and nestling into my boob during the day is not his idea of fun. He gives me no feeding cues any more, never cries for food, and pops on and off like a yoyo.
So he has also started to wake more at night, I assume to make up for day time adventures
He has also been showing teething symptoms and today (only when feeding from the right) has been moaning and crying when sucking.
I am sure it is all yet another phase, but his weight gain has slowed a bit and he hasn't pooed in a few days.
Anyone suggest something I haven't already desparately tried?! I am shattered and getting a bit stressed over his erratic feeding - I am sure he can;t be getting enough....

big bottle of calpol for him
big bottle of wine for you

have you tried writing down when he feeds?

I thought ds was erratic until I wrote it all down and it turned out he had a bit of a routine going but I was too sleep-deprived to notice!

Mandler, my ds did exactly this to me. He got himself so muddled up he was going 6+ hrs without feeding - during the day! - and feeding every 2hrs at night!

You have ALL my sympathy!

I got some good advice from a La Leche League leader. She said: get him when he's sleepy, either just before or after his naps. As he was going off, I would hold him in my arms and then, just as his eyes were drifting shut, I would jam a boob into his mouth! Or, I'd put him to sleep on my bed and then, at the very first peep as he was waking - boob!

The other thing she said was, as much skin-contact as possible. I started to take ages over his nappy changes; to pull his trousers/sleeves up/down so I could touch his legs/arms while he was feeding; to pull my shirt up so he was more likely to touch my tummy skin while feeding.

Gradually we turned it around. They say it takes as long to fix as it took to get messed up - for us it was a looooong month but we did get there in the end.

good luck, hth

bf babies usually do get 'enough' over the day; if he has recently had a growth spurt then he may just have slowed down for a bit, their appetites do vary. Are you demand feeding? [er, theoretically...] If his 'demand' has reduced for now, it's ok! surely if he gets hungry he'll remember how to ask you for it, won't he? You sound like you're getting exhausted, so how about you start to make sure that every time baby chills out / sleeps, you do to. It is the only way to stay sane.
Tiktok and co might wander in soon they are the queens of bf round here

Seems quite common then! Little monkey has also stopped sleeping well during the day. He really loves the world around him, which is fab, but god it's tiring! His dad is a journalist, so taht's where he gets his inquisitiveness from

Oh my god this is almost exactly what is happening to me.

Have you had any improvement?

Not much hillbilly, it really is soul destroying! The only advice I got is that it is just a phase, but I can't helpworrying that he will get into a habit/routine. Getting to the stage where I can't go out in the day as I know he will skip feeds. What is happening with your dc?