4 month old starting to refuse my breast!

[linsayevie]

Hi
Evie is now 4 months old and has been exclusively bf since birth. At around 8 weeks, we started to give her a bottle of ebm a day, which has been a struggle, but she now takes it well. over the last few weeks though she's started to change her feeding habits from me - she'll feed from me for 5 minutes or so, then break off crying (and she's not really a cry-baby). I really struggle to get her to latch back on to finish off, as she arches her back and strains her neck to get away from my breast. If i can fool her into coming back onto my breast, she usually feeds fine after that, but this all takes about an hour! it doesnt happen at all feeds, just the day ones. Any ideas whats going on here? I thought it might be the flavour of my milk, but my diet hasnt changed and this affects probably 2 out of 5 feeds a day. sometimes she looks like she's distracted by other things (e.g. dh talking), so i try to keep the room quiet, but it still sometimes happens and is driving me mad!
Thanks in advance...
Lins & Evie

[HunkerMunker]

Hi Lins

This happened to me when DS was about the same age - as they get older they realise the world is an interesting place and they want to look at it. DS used to get distracted by (and this is a short list...) people walking past, people talking, the TV, my arm, a bit of wall, the edge of the sofa, his hand, my bra strap (still twangs that...!) - basically anything that caught his attention.

He has settled to feed better when we're out now, but he will still want to check out his surroundings several times. I figure it's fair enough - it might just be the same old thing for me, but for him it's the first time he's seen a lot of things.

These links might help - this one is about distractible babies

and this one is about babies fussing at the breast

I'd say you're doing the right thing by trying to keep her surroundings quiet when she's feeding - she may wake more for feeds at night now, but this isn't a sign she needs solids - it's a sign she's four months old and has become aware that the world is a hugely interesting place. Feeding at night is her way to take on board the calories she's missing out on during the day by wanting to study a particular pattern on something she's caught sight of. Just go with it - she will settle soon.

HTH a bit xxx

[linsayevie]

Thanks HunkerMunker, will check those links out, but its reassuring to know this is fairly 'normal'! she's sleeping through still at the mo, but I'm expecting that to change soon, since I've heard most 4-month-olds tend to do this. All my NCT friends with babies the same age have started weaning over the last couple of weeks, hoping that their babies will sleep better, but I'm going to try and hold off for at least another 6 weeks...
Thanks again!
Lins

[HunkerMunker]

Weaning...that's a whole new issue! I'd say hold off as long as you can (DS was 26 weeks before he tasted, then about 7 months before he got the hang of eating! Only now is he eating any kind of amount though - but he is very good at finger food because he went straight to that!).

But the main reason for holding off IMO is that it's MUCH easier to be able to feed your baby with your boobs, rather than having to give them food. And there's such a limited choice of things to have when they're four to six months - makes it really hard!

[cloudy]

Feeding solids didn't make mine sleep noticeably better. I started 3.5-4.5 months. Learning to walk, that was the biggest help to me getting more sleep (meant they tired themselves out more).

[vicdubya]

Hi lins

My ds did the same thing too at about 4-5 months.

It started when we were on holiday with my sis & dn who is 3 and he was so interested in what dn was doing he just would not feed. He had also just started solids which probably didn;t help either.

Anyway it soon settled although I do find now I have to find a quiet place to feed because otherwise he plays about. Feeding rooms in town with other babies are the worst, ds just won;t feed at all, too busy looking to see what everyone else is doing!

Also I find since introducing a cup he has worked out you don't always have to feed in one continuous stream and so bobs on and off, which wouldn;t matter excpet if my milk is letting down fast it goes all over the place

Hope she settles down soon!