Slow Eater

[pilarmupe]

Hello Everyone!

My almost four-old-month Jeronimo eats in about 45 minutes or so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I recently put him on EASY and everyhthing else seems easy but the eating part is the one that's still loose. Sometimes I am tempted to remove him of the breast but I can see clearly that he is still eating and swallowing. He is only breast-fed. I know (for Tracy's books) that he should be eating in 20 minutes or so. My pediatrician says that he is gaining wait just a little bit above the line... next month if he does not gain the sufficient weight we are going to try to give him formula. He doesn't seem hungry for me, after he eats. I also gave him the dream feed at 11:00 p.m.

He sleeps well at night from 7:30 to 4 or 4:30 and then until 6 or 6:30. The first time I give him a pacifier and the second time I fed him because I can see that he is hungry. I have tried to make him wait until 7 (to start the day) but he seems miserable and hungry. Sometimes he naps the hole hour and a half and other's he wakes one or two times but I always try to get him to sleep a little bit more.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much!

[Violet's mom]

Has he always taken that long?  There is a growth spurt right around 4 months that I remember - my dd took forever at that age but I think she was just stimulating my milk supply.  I would let him bf for as long as he needs - he is awake right?  Before you know if he will be on shorter feeds but I wouldn't push it at this age. 

Also, the nightfeeds sound awesome.  Before giving him formula, however, you might want to try feeding him at 4 when he gets up at first (it might push him to sleep til 7 too) - most BF LO's need that 4am night feed for several months.  Mine didn't drop hers until 11 months.

Hope that helps!

[*Ali*]

It is completely normal for a 4mo to be having at least one feed at night. Some are still on 2 or 3! Even in Tracy's "perfect" routine she mentions as a goal in the book LOs would be having a dream feed 10-11pm until 8-9mo. If he wakes hungry then you should definitely feed him, especially if he is having growth issues. I would feed him for both wakings to get more milk into him as that is the most important thing.

BFing research has moved on significantly since Tracy passed away but we like to think she would have updated her advice on actively stretching EBF LOs between feeds.

Has he dropped centile lines on the chart drastically then?

[pilarmupe]

Hi!

Thanks very much for all your help. I will follow your advise to see if there is any improvement!