Nursing less frequently at 4 mo?

[mrs.t]

My DS is 4 mo and lately he is nursing less frequently. He seems to be absolutely fine, still has 6 or more wet diapers a day. He just went from 11-12 times in a 24 hour period to about 8. He seems happy, I haven't tried to schedule him or anything like that, I was always nursing on demand. He's just not demanding it as much. I'm definitely feeling fullness in my breasts, and when he does nurse he empties one side. He has a BM about every 2-3 days.

Is this ok? How often should a 4 mo nurse? I can't seem to find any info on this. I tried nursing him after 3 hours and he took a few sucks and then refused, so he doesn't seem to be hungry. Do I just wait for his cues? I don't want to force feed him, but we always had a great nursing relationship with good weight gain. Should I be concerned? How many hours should I let him go without nursing? And how much weight should he be gaining at this stage?

[Heba]

Most likely he's developing a new nursing pattern. If all else is well, then I wouldn't be concerned. "As babies grow and their stomachs become larger, they naturally begin to go longer between feedings and develop more regular feeding patterns." http://www.llli.org/FAQ/frequency.html

Info on average weight gain here: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...ight-gain.html
(it does slow down a bit at 4 months or so).

[JessicaS]

He might just be hitting a plateau in his growth like he just finished a huge growth spurt or something.

He will likely pick up again for his next growth spurt.

Babies adjust their nursing according to their needs.

[Llyra]

Four months is a fairly common age for reduced frequency, I think. DD2 did this, where she suddenly just wanted to nurse less often, and if I'm remembering right, it was at four months old, too. They get a lot more efficient-- they get more milk in less time-- and for some babies, the need to comfort-suck declines a bit.

I think you do fine by waiting for her cues. As long as she's not getting any other feeding--- bottles, for example, or early solids-- she can be depended on to know when she wants to nurse. On the other hand, if you're feeling really full and WANT her to nurse, or you're worried, it can't hurt to offer. If she's not interested at that time, I'm sure she'll be able to let you know.

I would think that I'd get mildly concerned if the frequency declined to fewer than eight times in 24, at this age. Then I'd start offering more often, just to be sure baby isn't getting distracted and forgetting to "ask."

As far as weight gain goes, the kellymom link is a great resource.

[PatioGardener]

mine is not yet 4 monts and has recently dropped from about 18 to 8 feeds/day!

[Tattooed Hand]

nak

could he also be distracted by other things? that's about when I had to start nursing in a quiet room.

[mrs.t]

Thank you all.

He's definitely distracted, I found that if I nurse him while he's still groggy from a nap he'll go for it.

I guess the weirdest part is, I used to be able to set my watch by him. It would be almost exactly every 2 or 3 hours. Now it's just whenever he gets around to it, which I guess has to do with the developmental stage he is at where everything is interesting. He's definitely interacting with his world a lot more. He seems to be reverse cycling so he nurses more frequently at night...sigh. I guess this will be beneficial if I end up going back to work in the fall, but by then I'm sure he'll have a new pattern.