Hi all, first time posting about my LO--I may be giving more info than you need, so forgive me for rambling!
I don't think it's a major issue yet, as it's only been happening for a short time, but I want to know if my instincts are on the mark or if there could be something going on I haven't considered.
Gabriel will be 10 weeks old on Monday. He's 12 pounds 5 this week and has been on a 3 hour EASY since about week 2 or 3. I breastfed initially, but had a very low supply due to severe anemia after the birth, so transitioned onto formula by week 4. He takes SMA Gold, 5 ounces at each feed (7/10/1/4/6:30, dreamfeed 11) and about 2 ounces between 3/4 am. Temperament-wise, he is pretty much an Angel but gets Touchy when overstimulated/overtired.
The past few days, he's not particularly interested in feeding. After 2/3 ounces, he stops sucking and just grins at me, letting the milk dribble down his chin(s). He seems perfectly awake, cheerful, and alert at these times and not bad tempered about it in the slightest. If I try to encourage him to take more, he does get annoyed and refuse, jerking his head away, arching his back, and doing a very whiny shout through his nose. He sometimes seems to shove the bottle away with his hands and arms, but to be honest I'm not sure how much of that movement is voluntary yet.
The problem doesn't seem to be temperature--he makes it very clear if the formula is too hot or too cold, and I'm not getting those reactions here--nor has he been unwell.
I haven't tried a next-stage teat yet, because I don't think that's the problem. He has always been a relatively slow feeder (even his first bottle in the morning when he's hungriest takes about 25-30 minutes) and a relatively messy one: when he is tired while feeding he tends to let the formula pool in his mouth and then swallow it in one big gulp, letting some of it trail out the side of his mouth...it seems to me like a faster flow would just overwhelm him.
A few other things to note...
He hasn't been crying for food at all the past couple of days, though we are offering at his usual times anyway. Sometimes taking a break and winding/changing seems to bring back his interest, but not for long. He does seem to be taking a full bottle first thing in the morning, but that's it.
He isn't napping well during the day. My husband and I agree we need to strengthen our routine here and put him in his cot with proper transition for every nap--at the moment he's taking his morning nap upstairs, but later in the afternoon in a Moses basket downstairs, which he's getting too long and heavy for, anyway. He is generally not fussing about the short naps, however, until late afternoon when he's gotten overtired. When he does get overtired and start to melt down, we either spend some sensory-deprivation time (dark, quiet room with sh/pat) until he settles or, if it's less extreme, take him through his night routine as usual and it calms him fairly quickly.
He has been spitting up more the past couple of weeks--it tends to happen now about twice a day, sometimes immediately after a feed and sometimes about an hour later. He does not show any other signs of gastric upset and winds very easily.
He had his first vaccinations last Tuesday and was less interested in food that day, as well as crabby for the two days after. He did have a weekend of normal eating, however, before this 'boredom' started to be noticable around Tuesday this week.
Developmental stuff: he's learning the past couple of weeks how to use his voice, doing a lot of babbling to himself in his cot as he winds down for a nap, 'talking' and gurgling at my husband and I, and he seems to find at least one new and interesting way to scream horror-movie style every day. He can roll over onto his side, but doesn't seem to do it very often. He can't quite hold his head up on his own; he can manage a few seconds, but then bobbles. Most of his activity time lately is spent trying to cram his fist into his mouth, with limited success--he can only manage about 3 fingers at a time, and if he only catches one finger or a thumb, he doesn't find it particularly satisfying. He will bat at toys and has started to grab at things from time to time, as well.
***
My first thought, assuming this behaviour continues and doesn't magically disappear because I've posted about it
, is that despite his age, he's needing to move to a 3.5 or 4 hour routine. What do you think?
