5 month old feeds mostly at night and only for 2 mns during day

[Dsushee]

Hi
I have no idea what to do - my 5 month old started decreasing how much he ate during the day about 3 weeks ago - he now feeds between 3 - 5 minutes every 3 or so hours. But he's making up for it at night time by feeding every 2-3 hours for about 20 minutes at a time.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do to switch him back round?
I have tried feeding in a dark room, where its calm without distractions but he gets upset if I want him to nurse for anything longer than 3 minutes.
All help gratefully received
thanks
D

[Erin M]

Have you tried something like breast compressions to keep the milk flow going -- sometimes they'll get distracted and bob off when the flow slows, if you can keep it going, it might help.  The distracted age is not a whole lot of fun.

[Dsushee]

thanks - I definitely don't have a problem with that - I have a strong let down which lo has managed to cope with well... but its more to do with the fact he's getting distracted. Last night was pretty bad - he was awake 6 times for a feed.
Does this naturally stop?
is he perhaps going through a growth spurt?

[Erin M]

He could be going through a growth spurt -- they don't always happen at the "regular" times -- my ds had a monster one at 5 months where he ate nonstop for days and then grew out of all his clothes.   

It should eventually stop, but you really want him to be taking in more of his calories during the day than at night.  Have you had any luck resettling him by any means other than feeding at night?