Fussy feeder at 4 1/2 months

[smurf31]

My 4 1/2 month is bottle fed and has been since 2 months old, has always gone through the night, i was very lucky but now she is not bothered about her milk in the day, i will stick to her every 3 hour feeds and give her a 4oz bottle and she will only have 2oz most of the time, sometimes only 1oz, she will then start to play with the bottle. she is very happy and has wet nappies still but she is now also waking at night for 2 feeds, both times she will gussle down 4oz no problem.
She is chewing her hands alot and very dribbly but never cries.
Any advise

Probably teething, which can make them go off their feeds. At this age i introduced baby rice to all my 4dc (age range 15 yrs - 3 yrs), however this is not the done thing nowadays! Everyone frowns on introducing solids early, but there is no way any of mine would have only drank milk til 6 months old!
Try feeding her 4 hourly, see if it makes her drink anymore? If she seems content and healthy then i can't really see a problem, however it doesn't sound like she's getting enough really.

Is she easily distracted? My DS was at this age - I had to feed him in a quiet, darkened room (he was BF) and couldn't get him to feed at all when we were out. He did the feeding-all-night thing as well.

Not sure what the solution is, but he did grow out of it after a couple of weeks!

Hand chewing and dribbling sounds like teething. You could always try a bit of Dentinox on the gums before a feed in case the pain is putting her off drinking.

Thanks for the advise, i think she is definatly teething but since my last post she is drinking less, i am thinking of changing her formula, only because as soon as im putting the teat in her mouth she has a taste and will grimase and push it out with her tongue and spit the milk out. what do you think?

Is she initiating the feeds or are you? It might be worth waiting until she is really hungry and then offering her the bottle.

Well im feeding on demand, so when it seems she is hungrey she will have 1oz if that then push it away, but i am also initiating it when she has gone a long time without a feed

Is she sleeping much in the day? If you manage to et her to sleep she might go a bit longer and wake up hungry. Otherwise I have no ideas. Feeding in the dark sounded like it was worth trying.

well she has a long sleep in the morning, usually around 3-4 hours but can wake up and not want a thing... and then have the odd 20 mins throught the day, then will fall aslepp around 730 for the night, i am giving her dream feeds and can get most of the milk down her, having 2-3oz but then she wakes for 2 feeds anyway. Its thrown me cos i just cant see what she wants but does seem like she does not like the taste anymore, i will try feeding in the dark, thanks for advise.

Waking after 3-4 hours sleep and not being hungry? - I'm mystified sorry.

exactly, thanks anyway

At that age most babies are going 4 hours between feeds. Maybe try that for a while as well as the quiet darkened room. I think the feeding more during the night is often due to them 'waking up' more during the day in that they are so much more interested and stimulated by life that they don't want to stop playing long enough to eat sometimes. They then make up for it during the night. I think it usually sorts itself out.