DS is 13 weeks old. He has always been a quick feeder (usually 10 mins max from birth).
He currently feeds approximately 3 hourly during the day, around 6:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, then 5:15pm, then I give him a bottle of formula (up to 150ml) at 6/6:30pm (bedtime) and he has a DF bottle of formula (150ml) at 10pm and usually a NF (BF) around 3am - for ages he has been going between 1 and 2 night feeds but we've had at least 4 or 5 days of only 1 NF and I have successfully resettled him if he has woken earlier. I only actually started trying to resettle him over the last few nights and it has gone well and I don't think he "needs" to NF so I will continue with this.
The problem is that during the day he's inconsistent as to whether he will take a "good" feed and I feel it really affects his demeanour and how settled he is during his awake time, even how long he can stay awake. Sometimes he is perfectly happy to lie on a rug and look around for half an hour but other times nothing makes him happy. I know this is pretty normal baby behaviour but I think it seems to be related to whether he has a full tummy or not!
When feeding, he gulps and gulps down initially but then within a few minutes doesn't want more. I don't think it's a supply or flow issue because even if I offer him the second side he doesn't want it, or might suck until letdown and then pull off (with milk spraying everywhere!)
I initially started the DF bottle of formula so that DH could do one of the feeds (which he continues to do), and then added the BT bottle because he was just so fussy and difficult to feed at this time - bobbing on and off, crying etc. He sometimes has a bit of a BF after the BT bottle but I think it's more of a comfort suck than a feed as such.
I wonder whether he could possibly need to go longer between feeds so more hungry? His overnight feed is definitely his longest (often 20 mins, 1.5 or 2 full sides, but it's also a slow feed as he is so sleepy). This afternoon his 3:30pm feed was after 3.5 hours and he took a really good feed and was really happy, whereas he had only taken little feeds before that all day and had been quite grumpy. He sleeps pretty well - usually 1.5-2hr naps, 2 in the bassinet and usually 1 in the carrier plus the late afternoon catnap in the carrier. A lot of the time he transitions through sleep cycles without a peep, sometimes cries out then resettles himself, and sometimes I have to resettle him but that is definitely getting less frequent. So I don't think he is actually waking from hunger but it is a struggle to get him to 1hr20min awake time most of the time so it would be hard to stretch his feeds because he always wants to feed as soon as he wakes up - I haven't tried really hard to distract him when he wakes though.
He's a skinny little fellow (below 25th percentile for weight and 75th for length) and I'm sure he would be happier if he had a fuller belly most of the time! An "easy" solution might be to switch to formula but I would prefer to continue breastfeeding until 6 months at least. I'm open to suggestions!
