Hi there, Misty! It is fairly normal for a new starter to become less active around this time — your starter is just working to balance things out and will become more predictable in its behavior as time goes on. Using whole wheat flour to maintain your starter will also speed up the fermentation process, so this may be the cause of the off smell. We'd recommend sticking with the feeding process and the starter should balance itself out soon. If we can chat further with you about your sourdough starter, please feel free to reach out to our Baker's Hotline folks at 855-371-BAKE (2253). Happy baking!

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