How offen does your 6 week old baby eat?

Question

My daughter eats about every 3-4 hours during the day time (2 1/2 ounces every time she eats) and at night she sleeps about 6-7 hours and then eats. Does your baby sleep through the night that long without eating? Is it okay to let her sleep through the night that long? She wakes up when she is hungry. She is gaining weight, she now weighs 8 pounds 1 ounce. At birth she weighed 6 pounds 1.7 ounce. The doctor told me that she needs to eat every 3 hours on the dot. She is formula fed. She will let me know when she is hungry, I hate having to force her to eat.

*She has a cleft palate, and cant finish all of her bottles all the time, sometimes she will eat an ounce and other times she will eat 2 1/2 ounces by bottle, when she doesnt finish her bottle I have to feed the rest to her by feeding tube.

Answer 1

When my son was 6 weeks I was getting a decent amount of sleep too!  Count yoruself lucky!  I never forced my baby to eat but when he was 6 weeks he would eat every 45 min during the day and then sleep 7-8hrs at night eat and go back to bed for another 4 hrs

Answer 2

Our doctor told us it was ok to feed on demand once they gained back to their birth weight

Answer 3

My son's pediatrician said that as long as he is gaining weight then I can let him sleep as long as he wants during the night. He will sometimes sleep over 8hrs. When he first wakes up he eats a full 8oz bottle of breastmilk and then eats between 2 and 4 oz every 2-4 hours. (Or he fully empties one breast and then eats from the other a little... depending on how I feed him) He has been doing this since he was 4wks old. They say for formula fed babies to multiply baby's weight by 2.5 oz and that is how much they need in one day. Breastfed babies eat between 19 and 30oz a day (generally closer to 25oz) no matter how much they weigh.

Answer 4

Every baby is different. My nephew is 4 months old and eats every 2.5 hours on the dot, and never sleeps his nights, while my neighbor's baby has slept his nights since he was 5 weeks old. The baby generally knows what's good for her, and it seems like she's putting on weight at a healthy pace (half a pound a week is average). You're lucky for having such a well behaved child, and congratulations.

Answer 5

my 6 week old eats 2-2.5 oz every 2-3 hours...right now we have a thrush issue so i am feeding formula and breastmilk but she still feeds like if she was on breastmilk.  about 2 weeks ago she ate in one day 6 oz in 2 feedings...but she started getting reflux so i started scheduling her and making her eat the right amount at the right time and it solved a load of issues...she is 10 lbs 2 weeks ago...

Answer 6

Congrats!  I also have a 6 week old baby girl!  She eats about 3 to 4 oz. every 3 hrs. and at night she has been sleeping about 5 to 6 hours and then wakes up to eat anywhere from 2 to 4 oz.   She usually takes about a 3 hour nap during the day and catnaps the rest of the day. good luck!!