[JoMarch]

Hi all,

I hope this doesn't come across as incredibly stupid, but now that DS (4 months) no longer has the "rooting reflex", I think I'm having trouble distinguishing between his hungry and tired signs. I've been feeding him 2 hrly in the day but I think hes in a cycle of snacking because hes still feeding so frequently. Apart from crying, what hunger signs should I look out for? His hands are constantly in his mouth so thats unreliable.

You would think I would have it worked out by now LOL

[SarahM72]

Hunger signs and tired signs may be one and the same because when babies are tired they may want to breastfeed to help them go to sleep.

Tired signs at around 4 months (as far as I can remember in my experience with my kids) mostly included rubbing their eyes and staring into space. They would also want to breastfeed.

Is the weather hot where you are? That might be the reason for increased indications of wanting to feed more, as baby might be thirstly more often. Although I also had one hand sucker as well, who was always sucking her hand, so yes I agree this is not always indicative of hunger/thirst.

This post has been edited by SarahM72: 04/12/2012, 02:25 PM

[KRT]

It was around this age that I found the feed-play-sleep routine to be most helpful. I had so much trouble reading DS's signs, that I needed to look at the clock to have some sort of idea of what was most likely.

At 4 months, DS could be awake for up to 90 minutes before needing a sleep, so I'd assume that grizzling or nuzzling at that point was a tired sign and see if he would settle for a sleep. If he didn't, he must be hungry instead

I found that so much of what I had been interpreting as hunger signs were actually tired signs, and if I put DS down in his cot when he showed them, he'd go to sleep. Initially I worried that he might be hungry and that I was starving him, but by that age babies are unlikely to settle if they are hungry.

[Loz07]

Hi, I have a 3.5 mo and old have similar issues... Like the PP, DD is normally awake for about 90 mins before getting tired, so if she's drizzling then I try sleep. The thing is she only naps for about 45 mins, so feed, play, sleep doesn't quite work coz I'd be feeding every 2 hours...

As it is at the moment, she generally feeds about every 3 hours during the day. Sometimes 2.5, sometimes 4. I tend to find she can tolerate longer awake times and time between feeds in the afternoon (I then cluster feed before bed).

In terms of hunger signs, there is a bit of crying, but it's more of an impatient, intermittent squark than a real cry. Also she seems to get fidgety, and suck on everything that she can

Hope that helps