4 month old eating less, "dropping" percentiles

azaretsky · October 2014

Hi ladies - my DD has been a great eater, but all of a sudden (for the past 3 weeks or so), she is less interested in eating and she is eating less. In fact, she went from being in the 54th percentile to the 35th. She is EBF and I have plenty of milk (I pump), and I make sure to eat good fats so that my milk is as fatty as it can be.

During the day, she eats for maybe 5 minutes at a time. I started weighing her yesterday and she eats only about 2-2.5 oz per feeding, no matter what I do. Once she is "done", she starts arching her back and turning her head away. She's otherwise happy and content. She also doesn't really take the bottle, so I'm becoming a bit concerned...

We started solids yesterday, but I know that most calories she should be getting from milk... Has this happened to your LO? Any advice?

jannzone · October 2014

my LO used to arch his back as well but when he was closer to 2months. He grew out of it but i think it was reflux. ask your Dr. about it. have u been eating anything different lately? acidy foods bother some infants, or caffeine, chocolate or dairy. Even if u hv had these up until now, maybe just more at a time is bothering her?

jannzone · October 2014

oh also maybe try feeding less more often since she seems to be eating less anyway?

JmeJoLee83 · October 2014

Many people have babies in far lower percentiles-- mine was 17th and dropped to 13th at 4 month check up. My pedi said don't worry although how can I not, he's my baby! Your doc will tell you if/When to be concerned.