What is he doing??

[ecr319]

DS is nine weeks old (ten on Thursday). Up until the past few days, he was eating about every 2 hours during the day and going for longer stretches at night, maybe 3-4 hours. He received his DTaP and rotavirus on Friday and it seems like since then his feeding has been off. He'll cry like he's hungry, but when I put him to my breast, he'll nurse for maybe 2 minutes and come off. I'm lucky if he'll nurse for 5 minutes. If I try to encourage him to nurse longer he'll fuss and start to cry. He used to nurse to sleep very reliably, but hasn't done that, either (come to think of it, that started last week before the shot). What concerns me about the short nursing is that he's going for 2-2.5 hours at a time without getting anything. Then at night he'll wake up every 90 minutes almost like clockwork and nurse just fine---no fussing or crying at the breast at all.

I pumped when I felt real engorgement, but am wondering if I need to pump more. But then I'm afraid to pump a lot and then have him decide he wants to nurse again.

If it helps, he was getting over the croup last week (he nursed absolutely fine during that, though), and so far his diaper output has been normal.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Erin

[MommaShark]

No advice here just
I'd keep my milk supply up and ask a lactation consultant or doc.

[3girls1boy]

If he's making up for it at night, that's good (although more tiring for you). Could be the start of teething, or he's getting more distracted during the day, watching what's going on. Also could be a bit of a nursing strike (though it's good that he will still nurse at night)--did something happen lately when he was nursing that may have upset him? Could be something like a loud noise or you talking to someone loudly while he was feeding.

If diaper output is good, he is getting enough.

[curious&eager]

My LO does this frequently and it's frustrating. I've not gotten a good meal in him since 9am today when we were in bed. I just finished another five minute feed and that's long on days like this when he will not nurse. He'll suck for a minute or so, let go and cry, suck a bit, let go... then eventually just totally arch his back and cry loud and then we end the feeding.

He is a champion eater at night. Very peaceful. 12am he'll eat for an hour and then he'll eat for 20-25 min every two to three hours. He's three months old. I would say he just got the same shots, but he's been doing this since before the shots.

I've thought about laying down with him in the dark during the day and see if he'll eat better, but I don't want him to get confused and think it's night and not being able to sleep, so I haven't done that.

So, I have no suggestions. Sorry. I'll be curious if someone does. I figure this is just a phase and he'll get over it just as fast as he got in it.

[aricha]

My little guy goes through changes in his eating habits every couple of weeks. He'll seem like he's constantly hungry, then a week later he will go 3+ hours between feedings and only wake to nurse once or maybe twice in the night. Then the next week he is back to normal (every 2-2.5 hours, a little longer at night) until a week or two later when we start it all again. I assume it is just changing needs as he grows.