Length of time between feeds - 5 wk old

[caggimedicine]

I breastfeed our 5 week old and he is currently still feeding every 2-3 hours (day and night). We've tried giving him a bottle of formula milk before and he still only slept 2 hours. Is this normal and when can we expect the length of time between feeds to increase?

 

[MaryJ]

Completely normal.

Sorry I can't give you straight answer as every baby is different. Danny started sleeping more through the night at 8 weeks - only waking once per night to eat. I think around 10-12 weeks he started going a little longer during the day.

 

[marley2580]

Every baby is different. Kaya fed this often for a good few months in the beginning. Just hang in there, it should start to settle down a bit in the next few weeks.

 

[Samantha675]

sounds normal to me hun.

 

[claire1978]

My LO is bottle fed, hes on aptamil, he goes 3 hours in the day and was the same at night until last week when he was really unsettled at night and wanted a bottle every 2 hours in the night

I decided to put him on hungrier baby milk for just the night time feeds and now at night he goes 5 hours then 4 hours and in the day Ive been giving him water to try and space his feeds out to every 4 hours and it seems to be working well for him at the mo

 

[Ell87]

Could it be a growth spurt? If I remember rightly they have a huge one around 6 weeks.

I was always told when mine were bf'ing what seemed like all the time that it was most likely a growth spurt and would settle down within about a week, and it always did.

At 5 weeks, I'd think that a feeding pattern of 2-3 hours is about normal. My youngest still tries to bf that much now and she was 1 last month, although in fairness it's more of a comfort/snack for her now than a full feed.

How long does he feed for? Maybe he's just a little and often kind of feeder, which is perfectly normal

 

[caggimedicine]

At the moment during the day he "snacks" - has smallish feeds every 1.5 - 2 hours which I don't mind, because at night at the mo he's doing massive long feeds and going 3 hours between feeds (i'd rather him snack in the day so I can sleep at night!) My instinct says that he is going through a growth spurt at the moment. Was just wondering how long it would be before a breastfed baby would sleep through the night.

 

[Gwizz]

At the moment during the day he "snacks" - has smallish feeds every 1.5 - 2 hours which I don't mind, because at night at the mo he's doing massive long feeds and going 3 hours between feeds (i'd rather him snack in the day so I can sleep at night!) My instinct says that he is going through a growth spurt at the moment. Was just wondering how long it would be before a breastfed baby would sleep through the night.

Same here, my LO is doing that routine ..... was wondering the same ... how do you get them to start 'sleeping through' ? (i know he's only 1.4 weeks atm but future planning )

 

[marley2580]

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a failsafe method for getting them sleeping through (I wish there was lol). So much of it seems to depend to the baby's personality - some sleep through right from the start, while others take years to get there. It's just pot luck I'm afraid.

 

[caggimedicine]

Harry is completely BF... apart from 1 bottle of FF at night which my husband gives him at around midnight. I will BF Harry at about 10pm and go to bed... then, when he wakes up at around midnight, my husband will give him a bottle of FF (although quite often Harry will only have about 1/2oz of it in disgust!). Harry then wakes up at about 2.00am/3.00am and I BF him and carry on from there. Going to try the hungrier baby FF tonight though - if he only has 1/2oz again, at least it'll be of something that'll stuff him full up!

 

[Whisper]

sounds normal to me, Amelia was till feeding every 2hours during the day when she was 5mnths old! As they grow they are able to sleep longer periods at night although some nights for me i am still up every 3hours (she is 7mnths old now).

I think it depends on the baby some babies sleep through the night at 2wks old, some don't sleep through until they are over 1yr old.

 

[lauzliddle]

Alfie goes about 3 hours during the day sometimes 5 if he has had a big feed at night he feeds at midnight and sleeps through until 6-7 but at the moment he is going through a growth spurt and wakes at 3 for a quick feed. He has done this from birth and hope he stays like that.