How long between feedings for a 6 1/2 week old

Hi All --
I am wondering how long my DS should be going between feeding. Sometimes it will get to be 4 hours (sometimes 5 hours) and I feel like I should wake him up after about 3 hours... but usually let him sleep. I suppose he will wake up and let me know when he is hungry, but I thought I would get advice from you, in case I am supposed to be waking him up.

I BF and formula feed... it doesn't matter what method the feeding was, he will go 4 hours from BF and FF.

Thanks! I love these boards and enjoy the advice I get.

Julie, Mommy to Ben 8/7/03

Hmm... I remember that by 6 weeks, Colin was going at least 5 hours at least once during the night. But I didn't let him go that long during the day (I woke him every 3-4 hours) because I didn't want him to get his days and nights mixed up. I believe that the guideline is 8-12 nursings (for an exclusively bf'd baby), and Colin was always on the low side of that. In fact, by 6 weeks, I believe he was nursing about 7 times a day.

The most important thing is to count his wet and dirty diapers. If there is enough coming out the back end, then there is enough going in the front end!

what a cute baby! What great eyes!

At that age, I was waking her to eat at least every 4 hours. She was eating probably every 3 hours, but if she didn't wake up I would not let her go longer than 4 hours.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

You're talkin' to a mamma of a 15.5 pound 4.5 month old...so I have to tell you that Kayla ate every 2-3 hours...sometimes less during growth spurts! All the babies are different. But, as Lori said, you just want to make sure you have wet and poopy diapers. Ben will have his 2 month appt soon, so as long as he's gaining weight, then your'e just fine. He certainly looks happy and healthy from the picture. Congratulations on the baby!

BTW...copy the url from the attachment of your pic into the spot where it says avatar on your profile and cute little Ben will pop up with each of your posts!

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5/1/03

I was still waking my babies every 3 hours during the day at that age. :) At night they would go 4 or 5. HTH!

Ahh -- Thanks Jamie, I was wondering how to attach a picture like you guys do! And thanks for the advice.

Julie, Mommy to Ben 8/7/03

Hi Julie,

For a 6.5 week old, you might find your baby's feeding schedule quite irregular. (and actually, even now at 14 mos old!) Especially if you're breastfeeding. Breastmilk digests so quickly and completely, and sometimes it might seem like it's only been 2 hours, and other times it might stretch to more than 4 hours - which is fine if it's nighttime. The one thing to be careful about is that sometimes a baby can be so tired that they truly will sleep rather than wake to eat. Most of the times though, if a baby is hungry, he'll wake up, but as others have posted, that's not always the case.

You might find that your baby likes to eat more frequently in the mornings and in the afternoons/evenings. I found that the dinner hour through bedtime was almost a constant feed. That's partly because toward the end of the day, the rich and creamy hindmilk is working its way through and it actually takes longer to manage its way through the ducts (as opposed to foremilk which is higher in protein and much thinner). Plus, it's so yummy to the baby that they want more and more, so cluster feeding at night is perfectly natural.

Another reason why babies clusterfeed at night is because they are all worked up or stimulated from their busy and eventful days that nursing (or bottlefeeding) brings great comfort to their active daytimes.

I know this doesn't help pinpoint a schedule. Are you home with your baby? or are you working? If you're working, then a schedule will be alot more helpful to you during the times you're with your baby. If you're home, then it's safe to say to let your baby nurse / bottlefeed as often as he wants. Keep in mind that even a breastfed baby will not refuse a bottle when offered, so you might want to coordinate your bottle feedings around your breastfeedings so that he's getting a good blend of your fore- and hindmilk, and not just the foremilk.

The other thing, from one mom to another, is that one you think you have it all figured out, it all changes! So what works this week may need to be adjusted next week. That's the beauty of trusting your instincts though, because mother (and baby) knows best!

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help!
Good luck!


susan

twin girls 7.20.02
charlotte + else

http://home.earthlink.net/~sunger1/b...lash/year.html

I don't have anything helpful to say except that it's true what they say about all babies having different eating schedules. DS is 9 weeks old and he still eats every 1-3 hours, but he'll have one or two 4 hour stretches without eating per day. I guess he got ds' crzy metabolism. My mom had to set a timer to remember to feed me as a baby.
Anyway, I think the advice the other moms gave you about counting wet and poopy diapers is good. I just had to join this thread because reading about other babies' eating habits always makes me laugh that ds eats all the time :)