4 months: how long's a feed?

[alittlebitshy]

Yeah yeah - probably a case of how long is a piece of string? But ds is getting really short on feeding sessions. He can be done on one side in 5 mins (less perhaps) then whinges (one suck on, come off, moan type of thing) til I put him on the other side. He then does a similar thing though often then comes off annd exclaims in that 4 month way (like " a a a a a" or "aaaaah" , you know what i mean, baby chatter ) which suggests he's done. He is feeidng very often though. When he's awake sometimes we don't make it to 1.5 hours.

He's always been a frequent feeder (1.5 hours ish when a nap isn't involved) even when he was smaller and on for longer, so that may not be an indictaion, but i keep wondering if he's "snacking".

He seems ok but does get cry-ey but that is prob just a 4 month old baby thing .

He is gaining weight well - 2 weeks ago he was 17lb 7 (at 16+ weeks).

Tia.

Don't know what the official line is but DS (17 weeks) is getting faster and faster, often finished in under 10 minutes now, sometimes a lot less. But he is still gaining and seems to be getting enough so I assume they just get more efficient with age?
He is also getting a lot less focussed on the job though! Wants to come off, look round, go back, quick suck, off again etc.

Will be interested to see other comments though!

oh yes -the distraction thing. ds is a sucker for neighbours and eastenders (god bless sky plus - patron saint of breast feeding mothers )

Sounds like the 4 month distractible thing to me. At that stage DD was feeding for 5 mins or so, having a look round then feeding again about an hour later. She loved ITV news Think it was the musc rather than an intelligent interest in current events! Bear in mind he could also be having a bit of a growth spurt too.

lol at itv news. My dh has noticed that ds isn't overly fussy about tv but when you stop tooo long on the sky plus menu he cries!!!! And when I've paused it before now he's staring at it waiting for it to move. Lord I am turning my own thread into a runing commentary about what my ds likes on tv .

charchar Did feeds get longer again? Or is this how it's to be for ever now?

hello ALBS DD3 is 4 months now and doing the exact same thing, one of the girls posted a good article on fussy 4 month olds and how is a developmental thing theya re starting to realise theres a world beyond Mummies boob so BFing becomes too distracting for them so they tend to feed less in teh day when theres more going on and make up for it by having more quiet feeds at night.

Actually wait a minute I will find it for you

here

DD3 is the exact same bobs on and off looks around latches back on again few sucks comes off again, I do find she will settle down and have a good feed if she's tired though so feeds can be 5 mins or 35 mins.

I can't remember at what age it kicked in with DS but there is a point where they suddenly really really speed up. He went from taking 45 mins a feed to less than half that. Was taking the same amount of milk, just suddenly much more efficient!

5 mins does sound very quick though, especially if he is hungry again very soon. Maybe try to distract him for an extra 10 or 15 mins to lengthen the gaps in between and see if he then feeds for longer.

Hello Sweetkitty* long time no "see".

thanks - wlll look at article...

Hmmmm trying to remember. She was quite distractible up to about 10 months I think (sorry!) It was a lot worse at first so by 10 months it was only occasional popping off and slightly longer feeds. Now at nearly 16 months her feeds are about 20 mins, with occasional snack feeds. She doesn't hardly ever get distracted either.

Hello, we have the same problem. I usually change dd's nappy after a feed (which can be over in 5 min), then put her back on the same side. If she isn't interested (or rather, is too interested in other things) I switch sides. Sometimes sitting in a darkened room helps, but then she watches the shadows! For us, a good feed is 7 min, 4 min and 5 min within about half an hour. Sort of 1.5 boobs worth of milk.

Both my boys averaged at 15 minutes. As I used to express at the same time in the morning, I discovered that 15 minutes = 4floz of milk from the other side. This helped hugely second time round, now that DS2 has self-weaned. I know exactly how much he can/should take in.

My DD is a speed feeder too - so really glad to see this thread! She's just on 4 months, and for the past couple of weeks it's been two or three minutes a go - if we hit five minutes I celebrate. I try and put her back and she'll fight like I'm poisoning her! So now I'll try a couple of times within an hour or so, and just leave her after that and wait for the three to three and a half hour mark (unless she whinges of course). She is having a good bottle of EBM in the evening (up to 5 oz now), and is gaining weight, producing plenty of wet nappies etc, so I guess she's just decided that feeding's taking up valuable looking around time! So looking forward to getting her onto real food in a couple of months' time and teaching her how much fun eating can be.

Blimey - thank god for MN! I thought it was just my 16 week old.

He feeds so much better in the night (at least twice!) but then it is dark and quiet. I can't seem to stop him smiling at me if I look at him while he is feeding. Very sweet but we both end up covered in milk and if you are out and about as I was at coffee with friends the other morning he hardly fed at all.

In answer to the question though about 10 mins on one side is good for us. He will then go 3-4 hours.

HI FenLondon my DS( 14 wks) sounds exactly like your DD he also pushes away like im poisoning him! so i do the same as you. He has lots of wet/dirty nappies and is gaining weight really well so is obviously getting enough
Again its good to know that its not just us!