Day/Night confusion at 5 months

Shoegal36 · October 2013

Hi there,

Wondering if anyone has any advice for me regarding my 5 month old who seems to have her days and nights mixed up all of a sudden when it comes to feeding. She was always fed on demand and ate frequently throughout the day, roughly 1.5 to 2.5 hrs, then would sleep a 5-7 hr stretch at night. She would wake up for a feeding and only take about 5-10 mins then go back to sleep for 3 or 4 hrs.

NOW she seems to have no interest in eating during the day. She doesn't show any hunger cues so I pretty much try to feed her around 2.5 hours. When I feed her, she will eat for a couple minutes then start babbling, try to stick her fingers in her mouth and start looking around the room. At night she has slowly made her way to now waking up every 2 hours, and taking 15 or 20 minutes to eat. I feel like I have a newborn again.

I know this is totally normal at this stage, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it. I've tried feeding her in her bedroom with the blinds closed during the day but she just stares at me and smiles. I've tried feeding her more frequently during the day but she is even less interested since she's not hungry.

Do you think I should try and see if she can go longer between feedings? Like 3+ hours until she gets fussy and is nice and hungry so she eats more? I just worry that less feedings will worsen the situation.

Thanks!

ETA Oh, I should add that there are no weight issues. She has always been above average.

surpriseaddition · October 2013

So sorry to hear you're struggling with this. I recognized you from our BMB so I thought I'd look at your question...but I really don't have many answers. I know my LO pulls off a lot now and is easily distracted, so the same there. But, she'll usually empty me eventually. I just keep relatching her over and over and over. I agree keep feeding her in a non-stimulating environment. GL!

mattandlora · October 2013

My 4.5 month-old is doing the same thing, and now my supply is dwindling from it. His appetite is decreasing during the day. He wakes frequently at night to feed, but falls asleep during each feed. Now we're several days into an over-tired and hungry pattern. He is too tired to finish nursing and falls asleep. Then he is too hungry to get any decent sleep and wakes up 30-45 minutes later. It is awful.

Shoegal36 · October 2013

I tried stretching out her feedings to 3 or 3.5 hours yesterday which she was fine with, and seemed to eat more at each feeding, but it didn't help last night. Still every 2 hours on the dot. *sigh*

Sep5Bride · October 2013

Does she get any milk from a bottle? My daughter went through a stage like this and I found it was easier to pump and give it to her in a bottle during the day when she was distractible.

Shoegal36 · October 2013

Sep5Bride said:
Does she get any milk from a bottle? My daughter went through a stage like this and I found it was easier to pump and give it to her in a bottle during the day when she was distractible.

No, unfortunately she refuses a bottle. It would be nice though to see how many oz she is actually drinking during the day...

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