Slow/ poor eating due to spirited nature??

[jen2b13]

Hi

I read in BW that spirited LO's are usually "aggressive" eaters and glug down their milk. I'm sure my 16week old is strongly spirited and we have been having some 'interesting' feeding issues for past 6weeks

For a month he was taking a little then screaming - he was on meds for possible silent reflux which i have since stopped after speaking with HV (and he doesn't appear to have reflux). I have changed the formula (perhaps he likes the taste better and is more 'regular') and he isn't crying when offerer or during feeds now. We are also now making the transition to a longer EASY so feeding 3.5 - 4 hourly. I'm wondering now if the crying was his way of telling me he wasn't hungary on the 3 hour easy and was saying "NO!!"

He is now drinking, but still not a great eater. He seems to get bored after a few ounces and then becomes amused by attempting to hold the bottle or my hands/ knocking the bottle out of his mouth, squirming from side to side so drinking from different angles. I try to just go with the flow and let him do this as i don't want him to develop any issues about feeding - esp so early. it must look ridiculous,my tactic is to now ensure he's well supported on a cusion and with one hand im holding the bottle, with the other hand im trying to entertain his hands so they dont knock his bottle off course!!

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

xx

[*Liz*]

You could certainly be right about not wanting to feed at 3hrs - there are quite a few FF babies that only want to feed 4hrly as that is roughly how long it takes to digest it (rather than the 2ish hrs for BF babes).

I haven't experienced the same as I was still BFing my LO at 4 mths - but there is a lot said about distractable 4 mth olds. I remember with DS he was constantly bobbing off if he heard and noise or anything, and I used to wear well covered tops as I had little fingers scratching and pinching me all the time  .

Even my 11 week old has started flailing her arms at me during feeding seesions.

I do think spirited LOs suffer with the distractability phase earlier than others.

Do you want to post your feeding routine so we can just see what is happening? And how well is your LO sleeping with this silly feeding?

Have you tried feeding in a dark, boring room after your LO has just woken from a nap and is still a bit sleepy?

Hopefully some other mamas will see this and offer their experiences 

You could also try asking the other mums of spirited LOs - they hang out here
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=175216.0

[jen2b13]

Thanks for your reply - I am finding it difficult to stick to the 'E then A then S' structure at the moment as we are still making that transition to 4 hourly EASY. He can only manage 1 hour 50 awake absolute tops, usually less (inc time it takes him to settle himself to sleep) and also is catnapping at times, which is the spanner in the works at the moment. So i'm feeding 3.5 hourly sometimes still when i think 'E' and 'S' might clash.
I will check out the spirited support thread - thank you xx