My 4 1/2 Month Old Son Just Wants to Play All Day Long-not Interested in Eating

after raising 4 children, my opinion is to just let him be. when he is hungry, he WILL eat. they find that there is so much more to do out in the world than eat, that they get sidetracked. offer him food occasionally to be sure he has the choice, if he says no, let him be. i truly feel that forcing people to eat when they really are not hungry is what causes many obese people/children. i am raising my two biological children full time (one 17 and one 6) and they still get to busy to eat. life is more fun than eating sometimes (wish it were that way for adults huh), but when they are hungry, as long as there is food there, they WILL eat. as they get older you will have a bit more control over it, for now, i think you should let him discover the world and have fun . hooe this helps.

Hi MariaMao,

What your son is going through is pretty typical for babies as they start to explore their environments more. It usually passes, but you do want to make sure that you try to get him to eat more than twice a day. I would suggest going into a dim lit room with little distractions and trying your feedings that way. I would also suggest that you might want to pump to make sure that your milk supply doesn't get adversely affected by his decreased nursing. He should go back to being more interested in nursing. Make sure that you aren't giving him anything other than your breastmilk because you don't want him to be getting full from other sources. I don't know if you have started him on solids, but if you have, make sure you always nurse first, then feed solids.

Congrats on your new baby!

J.

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The only thing that comes to mind is that he could be teething. This is around the time they get their bottom two front teeth. If that were the case though, he'd be drooling and probably more irritable. Don't worry. It sounds to me like you are doing a great job and enjoying it very much. It's all good! :)
N

Unless he starts losing weights or starts showing signs of a bad illness, meaning high fever, vommetting etc he will be fine. Babies and kids go through stages of doing diffrent things. I'm sure your child is fine, be sure to call your child's ped to be sure but it doesn't sound like anything is wrong at this point. Good luck!

My son did this around that same age. He now weighs 23 lbs at 8 months, so needless to say, he didn't starve to death. I agree with previous posters about nursing in a quiet, dimly lit place to minimize distractions. Sometimes I even had to put my son down for a nap unfed, wait for him to doze off, then pick him up and nurse him while he was basically asleep. You can definitely check with your ped. about starting cereal. You might also make sure he's not teething and avoiding the breast because of jaw/gum discomfort.

Hi!
I breast fed my daughter for her first year. I did find it alittle humorous when she would try to look around WHILE she was nursing.
At 4 months you can start giving him baby cereal mixed with breast milk. Feed him with a spoon. If he is curious, he will probably love this new way of eating. Also, it is a good way to get some calories into him. Although, when babies first start eating solids, most of the food ends up ON them and not IN them!
When nursing him do it in as quiet a place as possible. Do you have a room in your house that is boring... not a lot to look at or do? That may discourage from looking around, if there is nothing to look at!
He sounds like a delight! Enjoy him, it goes so fast.