Taking long breaks while eating

[Reich]

Hello everyone ,

my baby is 5 months old and about 2 weeks ago he started taking breaks while eating , and they are getting longer and longer , he eats about half the amount he's supposed to and refuses the bottle , only about 30 to 45 minutes later he will accept it again , sometimes to finish everything and sometimes to eat just a little bit more and thats it . i wanted to know if any of you had something like that also , is it a  problem , can it be that something is wrong ?

[Lªuren]

Hi Reich
Jusy found you post, sorry no one has replied 


I think this must be a phase, my DS is doing the same thing, it is VERY frustrating!!  I too have to give him rests between feeds and it takes up to an hour to get 7 - 8oz in him.

Another thing to keep in mind is the teat size, is the one you are using too slow for him, my DS is on a fast or medium flow depending on the type of bottle he gets.

I really don't thing there is anything wrong.

HTH

Let me know how you get on.

[~Angie~]

The same thing happened to us a couple of weeks ago. I switch her to the fast flow nipple. It took her a day to get used to it and now she is fine. She now takes only 15-20 minutes to finish a bottle. Much better than the 45 min. it was taking. 

[teezee]

is your lo on easy?  how much time between feedings?? could it be a snacking problem??

[Lara's Mum]

same problem and my dd is on 4 hr easy.... it takes her ages and ages to finish a bottle she used to finish in 15-20 min....must be a phase though.... HTH

[jessica5]

Is he on EASY?  It sounds sort of like you might want to transition him to 4 hour EASY (if he isn't already on that routine).  My daughter (as it sounds like all of the posters' 4 to 5 month olds are doing) just didn't seem interested in her bottle after three hours.  She'd "snack" on it over the course of an hour and FINALLY finish the bottle.

I have switched to the 4 hour EASY and she's doing a lot better with finishing her bottles.  I feed her when it's time and, if she stops drinking, I throw out the bottle and don't feed her until the next bottle is due.  I think it's helped her to stop snacking for hours and hours.  As some other moms have suggested, I'd switch to a faster flow nipple on your bottle, too, if you haven't already.  My daughter spilled a lot at first, but seems to like the faster flow now and finishes in about 20 minutes.

HTH and good luck getting your little one to eat!

[teezee]

i agree with jessica here - try to stretch out the time u feed even if it's 15 minutes at a time.  i always give my lo a drink of water (not in a bottle - a sippy or straw cup) before naptime so her belly is nice and full and by the time she wakes up for her feeding she will always take a full feeding b/c the water goes 'right through' her as opposed to milk/formula taking longer to digest. just another thought.

[Kimberly®]

Hi there I just found this post and thought I'd give you my perspective on this.
My LO started doing exactly what you discribed when she hit 5 months. She'd be more interested in playing then eating.
As long as its not effecting her sleep or her growth I wouldn't worry to much. Just watch her and continue to offer her more untill she shows you she wants no more. There's no telling how long he'll do this for but my LO stopped doing it as offten t about 5.5 months. She still does it once in a while but she's not being effected badly by it.
If your using an EASY routine you'll have to ajust your routine accordingly. Ours tends to be EAEASY Its confusing at times but it works.

HTH

[Lªuren]

Hi Reich
Just to let you now I think my DS has stopped this agin  the last couple of days have been so much easier to cope with because feeding only take a max. 30mins.
Lauren

[Reich]

wow , Thank you all for answering ,
i will defenetly try the faster flow nipple , i dont think i'll try a 4 hour routine yet because then it will be 4 meals a day and i dont think its enough for him . for the moment it didnt get worse , he's taking breaks of 20 to 30 minutes and after he drinks for the second time he doesnt drink anymore untill the next meal . i  think i'll wait a bit more to see if it gets better .
rachel

[Mom to M&M]

DD does this and I don't think it's anything to worry about. In her case, it's a mixture of developmental (learned to army crawl, close to "real" crawling and it's all she wants to do) and teething. She will often eat 3-4 ounces to sate her hunger and then refuse to eat more until later - often up to an hour later. I don't worry about it and just go with it - offer it to her but don't force it and then let her play and do whatever and offer again when she fusses for it or just wait until she is closer to her naptime. She will often finish the bottle then and I make sure to still make her wait at least 10 minutes after finishing before nap or bed - we then read a story, sing a song, change diaper, etc. Works fine for us!