Not very hungry

[Jenny_Jen]

My LO is 3.5 months old (15 weeks) & has decided he's not really interested in the bottle anymore.  Yesterday he ate 6 oz at 9:30 am & didn't eat again until 4:30 in the afternoon.  I tried numerous times to get him to eat but he wouldn't.  I have tried different bottles & nipples & nothing is working.  He had 4 bottles in a 24 hour period 2 were 4 oz & 2 were 6 oz so he only had 20 oz yesterday.  He's never been a big eater but this is odd for him.  Today he had 6 oz at 5 am this morning & another 2 oz at 9:30.  Is it normal at this age to cut their food intake?  He seems happy & alert & is pooping regularly & everything seems fine.  I'm not sure how much he weighs but I'm guessing around 14 lbs.

[Grace's Mom]

My lo is the exact same age and once in awhile she will cut back on food as well.  It usually only lasts for a day or two and then she is back to normal.  She also doesn't eat very much normally.  On a good day she eats 22-26oz in a day and that's it.

I heard that teething can make them stop eating because it hurts, but I also heard that it is pretty normal for them to do this if it's too hot or aren't feeling too well.  I think a lot of different things can contribute to them not eating as much.  If your lo keeps it up I would definitely call the Dr just to make sure everything is ok.

Melissa

[Jenny_Jen]

I'm not super worried but it makes me feel better that I'm not alone.  So far from 5:00 am this morning he's had a total of 10 oz.  I thought about the teething aspect & he does drool a lot but he has also just discovered his hands lately so they are always in his mouth.  I feed him in his room with the light off so he doesn't get distracted but that doesn't always work either.

He's at the Dr in a few weeks for his 4 month checkup so I will ask here then if it's still continuing.

[SallyDom]

My little boy is almost 17 weeks old and has been doing exactly the same recently. He did have german measles a few weeks ago so wasn't very well but since then we have been having a heat wave here and he was hardly eating anything. He was only getting up once in the night and that was getting later and later (had a couple of 6am which is practically sleeping through) but for a while it went back to 2 or 3 times a night. I think it was a combination of being hungry cos he hadn't eaten much in the day and also it was slightly cooler at night so he felt like eating a bit more.

I gave up making his feeds for a while until he cried for it cos I felt like I was forcing him to eat and was worried I was going to make him scared of the bottle or something but he has been eating a little more so I'm making him reduced feeds, maybe 5 or 6oz every 3.5 hours instead of the 8oz every 3 hours (hungry baby!) that he was on.

I would basically say as long as your little one is still bright, happy and alert then don't worry too much unless it goes on for days and days. Obviously at any point if you are really worried it's always better to go to a doctor than to sit at home and worry like mad!

Sal
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