My DS is 16wks old and EBF. Just recently he's started to become more of a snacker and I find it very difficult to get him to take a full feed. Part of this is my fault as I only recently started trying to implement an easy routine and I always used to feed him to get him to nap, and now I'm at a loss as to how to break the habit.
I've been using the shush pat techniques with some success and most naps he goes down with success, but our routine is all over the place timewise, because he doesn't take full feeds. Whilst I know that BF babies can typically follow a more EAEASY pattern (and I would be happy with that) the fact that he will only feed for a couple of minutes at time is becoming a practical problem. For example the other day we were travelling home with him and timed our stop at the services with when he should be due a feed, but he'd only take a couple of minutes feed from me (I was feeding him in the car where it was quiet and he's very used to being fed here so it isn't too exciting). Needless to say, 20minutes later in the middle of the motorway he realised he was still hungry! This morning he woke up and would only feed for 2-3minutes on each breast before he refused. I tried some activity time, and offered him it again maybe 30minutes later and he literally fed for a minute before refusing. However, 15minutes later he was asking for food but then still only fed for a few minutes!
He does suffer with silent reflux, but this is under control with his medication, and I'm fairly sure it's not pain related when he stops. He just unlatches turns his head away as if to say 'Finished' and then if I don't move him away from breast starts to get grizzly. With his reflux I know that they sometimes prefer to take smaller feeds, but he always used to have longer (10-15minute feeds) and he would happily go every 3 hours between feeds, but now he just wants to snack! I really want to get away from so much snacking as it makes it difficult for us to stick to his EASY routine (and sometimes I think he's woken from a nap early because he didn't eat enough before hand!) and also because I don't like feeding him too close to the sleep time because of his reflux. The only time he usually takes a longer feed is at bedtime and in the middle of the night (usually he only feeds once in the middle of the night and this can be anything from 15-20mins).
A few times I've wondered if it's because he's too distracted by the world, but most of the time I'm feeding him somewhere quiet and its where I've always fed him. I've tried covering him with a muslin when feeding but he just got frustrated by that! However, most of the time I don't think he's doing it because he's particularly distracted.
How can I encourage him to take longer feeds?