12 week old feeding less -is this normal?

[Vmama]

My 12 wk old breastfed ds has always taken a long time to feed at first it was up to an hour then around 45 minutes and more recently 30 minutes on average. the last few days he is only taking around 10-15 minutes at some feeds though still doing 30 minutes at others. He's also been spitting my nipple out frequently during feeds and looks at times like he's gagging on the milk. He seems to spill more milk out of the sides of his mouth too. This all seems to co-incide with him sucking his fists/thumbs/anything else he can find

Is this normal -could there be something wrong with him? I wondered if he could be teething maybe as he drools a lot too now.

I was expecting him to have a growth spurt around now but it seems to be the opposite which is freaking me out!

He weighs 14lb 1 at last weigh in and was born 8lb9 and gains an average of 7oz a week.

He still has several dirty and wet nappies a day.

Also he's sleeping for longer stretches at night now bed at 7 dreamfeed around 10.30 then sleeps til 3/3.30 then 6.30/7. My DH reports that he's only taking half his usual 5oz of EBM in his 3am feed

any advice anyone? Mears or Tiktok are you guys around?

[tiktok]

This is normal - babies beyond the newborn period often become efficient at getting what they need in a shorter time and behave exactly how you describe. The smaller ebm feed shows he is probably getting ready to go through the night without needing to feed.

Absolutely nothing wrong with him, on what you say...the fists etc sucking is nothing to do with hunger, either, it's just a normal oral phase of development.

[Vmama]

thanks tiktok -re the nightfeed should we try to stop the feed by getting him back to sleep or will he just drop this in his own time? i have to say it doesn't bother me at all getting up to do that feed but will be amazing if he starts sleeping through!

[tiktok]

12 weeks is too young to be trying to get him to drop the feed, Vmama. Waking up is normal at this age

[thais]

Vmama, my ds is 9 weeks old and although she is bottle fed I seem to have the same worries. She use to take 120-130ml every 3 hours but now she is only taking 60-100 ml depending on the feed. She seems to spill milk out of the sides of her mouth and sometimes she looks like she is gagging on the milk but at the same time she seems to be hungry after her feed as she sucks anything that comes to her mouth but wouldn't take the milk. Therefore I changed from SMA gold to Apatamil but hasn't made any difference.
I talked to my HV about it and she doesn't seem to be worried as she is still gaining weight. She said to try to feed her little and often but she doesn't want to be fed before 3 hours from the last feed.
I am very worried about it. Any suggestions?