Hi:
Our girl Nisha is 5 months old. We got her on EASY at about 3-4 months. Suddenly at about 4 mo, she had a rapid personality growth spurt, becoming extremely interested in everything around her and in interacting with our faces. After that point, she began fighting breastfeeding when she woke up. She also stopped the pattern of getting obviously hungry and crying, then immediately suckling earnestly when put to boob. Now she quirms and fights.
She also stopped eating regular amounts at feedings. Now when we think she should be hungry 4 hrs. after a last feeding, she just doesn't eat. Maybe 2 minutes, then squirms, cries, and fights. In fact, she almost never cries from hunger anymore. What happens now is she basically won't take a good meal until she is ready to sleep. Then she may take a large feeding, 20-30 minutes.
Fortunately, she still can fall asleep in her crib by herself (she often wakes just when put in the crib, but then goes to sleep on her own) since we had taught her to sleep previously.
So there is very little pattern left, where we can count on her eating well every 4 hrs. or so. Instead it seems we must wait until she is ready to eat. She just wants to goof off all the time, and there seems to be nothing we can do but wait it out until she's ready.
Any suggestions?
I don't like this because I feel the baby often gets overtired. So even if she is hungry sometimes she fights and cries for awhile before accepting the boob. I feel terrible for my wife when this happens. For the first 3 to 3.5 months it was very smooth. Now it seems very difficult. Trouble is, she doesn't feel there's as much of a problem as I do.
Is there a straightforward algorithm to get an AESY baby back to EASY, who seems to have developed an extremely playful personality that makes her uninterested in eating from the moment she awakes?
Thanks for input.