41/2 Month Old Snacking at Breast

Have you talked to the doctor about starting solids? See what he said about trying rice cereal (that normally the first one to try) If she hungry, she hungry and probably needs more to fill her tummy.

Good luck. My last child was a snacker....well he still is (8months) He would only eat a few minutes each side and fall asleep and not sleep. Finally I stopped giving into his demand to snack. I would only feed him when he was truely hungry and not just ready to fall asleep. For the most part it worked, now he goes longer between feeds and feeds longer, but occasionally likes to snack (esp during a growth spurt) Try a nap time routine too. Make sure she is good and hungry, get her a good feeding. Wake her up if you need to, and let her nurse a long time, then put her down for a nap. She will be tired and want a longer nap, not just cat naps. Good Luck!!

HI K., I'm curious to know how long she is nursing at a time. By this age she should be able to go longer than 2 hours between nursings and should be taking two 2hr naps, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. She should nurse about 10-20mins at a time. Is it possible you're stopping her too soon? If she is pulling away too soon then maybe she needs to burp or poop or fart. If she doesn't burp for you lay her on her back and pump her legs up and down gently putting pressure on her stomach. Once she releases gas from either end offer your other breast to her. If she's falling asleep before she's done eating take her off the breast and sit her up and allow her head to gently fall forward, that should wake her so she can keep eating. Also she is old enough to try some Infant rice cereals and you can mix them with breast milk. Make them really soupy at first until she gets the hang of being spoon fed, she will fight it, keep your patience. Another thing you can try is when she wakes after her 30mins to eat again, try giving her a pacifier and see if she'll go back to sleep, maybe she's not hungry she just wants to suck on something, that is very normal. You will have to try out several different styles of paci's to see which see likes best, make sure you get the smaller sized ones though. Make her wait until she is really good and hungry before nursing again, say 3-3 1/2hrs, then she ought to eat really well and be on a better routine from there. I have gone through this with 2 of my children and at first its hard because she may cry to be fed or she may not like the paci but keep your patience and you can do this. Best wishes!

C.

Our son did the same thing and we found out later it was because of GERD. We had no idea. His only symptom was not gaining weight. The reason he didn't nurse well was it was hard for him to swallow because of a sore esophogus. It was easier on a bottle or cup because of the position he was in. I hope you figure it out!

This is a very normal feeding pattern for a baby! Here's an article called "Frequent Nursing" that may be helpful. There are some coping suggestions and links to many other articles that may be helpful also: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/frequent-nursing.html You'll notice that they mostly refer to the "early weeks" -- but the pattern you describe is quite normal for an older baby as well. Nursing every two hours can be a long stretch for a lot of little ones :-)

Your baby will outgrow this before you know it. Many experts believe that more frequent, smaller meals are heathier for everyone.

As far as getting ready for work goes, needing more than 30 minutes seems like a long time to me (and as I am anticipating a return to work, I've done trial runs myself and found that for an amateur like me, it takes less than 30 minutes to shower, do hair and makeup, and hunt down clothing and get dressed, so that would be less time with better planning). Can you streamline your routine at all?

Don't stress....enjoy your snuggling time. My little one is doing the same thing right now and he just turned 5 months. It goes so fast and won't be long before it's gone so enjoy it as much as you can...plus it forces you to take a break :)

K.- it may sound mean, but I let my twins cry fuss and cry until it has been two hours- then they seem to eat a full meal. I am a mother of five kids- I homeschool three of them and I don't have time to feed my twins evey 30-60 minutes. ND- if it takes youlonger than 30 minutes to get ready- then that is you. Maybe you have long hair, maybe you wear more makeup than others, maybe you like to take your time... you take the time you need to feel good about you. Especially after having a baby- we moms needs to feel good about us- so if you have to take time for you to look good and feel good, then I say- Take All the Time You Need!
I am not sure how you personally feel about letting your baby fuss and cry for a while- it has worked for all 5 of my kids!
-V.

The reason I have found, once they get a taste of how easy it is to get milk from a bottle, they want that more, if you start giving bottles more often, they get lazy and don't want to work that hard to get milk anymore cause they know they dont have too. With my first, he gave up on brst feeding and I was in tears thinking I did something wrong!! I was persistent with brst feeding and backed off the bottles and he went right back to brst feeding just fine. My second, does the every two hours fussy, her dad gave her a bottle this afternoon as a matter of fact, and she passed right out too!! So I understand completley, maybe continue to bottle feed full time cause u are working, my milk dried up when my first was 5 months old cause I went back to work. Good luck, its hard sometimes to figure out the right thing to do. I hope I have helped u some.