The pontine parabrachial nucleus is a hindbrain nucleus that is ideally situated to contribute to feeding behavior. Receptors for hypothalamic feeding-related peptides have been identified in the lateral PBN (lPBN), including neuropeptide Y (NPY) Y1 and melanocortin-4 (MC4R) receptors. We evaluated whether direct lPBN injections of Y1 and MC3/4R ligands (NPY and SHU9119) affected the consumption of water and sucrose solutions, using a sensitive microstructural analysis of licking. Rats with bilateral cannulas aimed at the lPBN were offered water, 0.1 M or 1 M sucrose solutions. Rats were injected with either vehicle or NPY (100 pM/side in 0.4 μl), or the MC4 antagonist SHU9119 (30 pM/side), 15 min prior to testing. These doses are below feeding-effective threshold doses for 4V infusions of these compounds. NPY had no effect on intake or numerous measures of licking microstructure, for any solution tested. SHU9119 significantly increased 4 h intake of 1 M sucrose with more variable increases for 0.1 M sucrose. Microstructure analysis indicated effects that varied by concentration. SHU9119 increased meal frequency for 0.1 M sucrose but not 1 M sucrose, while average meal size for 1.0 M sucrose was increased by SHU9119 but reduced for 0.1 M sucrose. For both solutions, however, SHU9119 nearly doubled the mean ingestion rate and it significantly reduced the mean pause time. There was no effect on the mean burst size or initial lick rate, suggesting no change in gustatory evaluation. No significant effects were observed for water. Overall, results suggest that lPBN SHU9119 enhanced intake by producing a more temporally dense consumption pattern within meals, consistent with a diminution of inhibitory postingestive feedback. In addition, SHU9119 appeared to enhance appetitive processes by initiating more meals for solutions that were less caloric. Supported by NIH DC07389.