How long can 5-6 weeks old baby go without feeding?

[katerose2022]

Our baby boy is 5 weeks old. He's been bottle fed formula during the night and pumped breast milk during the day. He usually wakes up every 2-3 hours screaming for feeding. Occasionally it gets to 4 hours and we would wake him up for a feed. Last night he went for 5 hours without waking up despite us trying changing him, cold wet towel, etc. I panicked a bit and called 111. They were not too concerned and even said that not waking up for feeding at this age is normal?? Did offer a useful tip that worked which is to open the window and let him get some fresh air... just wondering do we still have to wake him up every 4 hours to feed? Obviously we'd love longer sleep but don't want to do any harm to the baby! Thanks!

If he has regained his birth weight and is still gaining weight then I'd leave him to wake when he is hungry. If he isn't gaining well then maybe you need to still wake him.

I agree with pp - if baby is well and gaining weight I’d just feed responsively. Sounds like baby cries for food when he wants it.

Both my babes slept through from midnight to 6/7 am from 6 weeks old.

If baby is hungry they will wake.

I'd be more concerned if the baby wasn't very heavy. (The hospital sent me home with an under 4lb baby and I had no idea then that if she didn't feed very regularly trouble would ensue.)

Also, one missed feed probably isn't a worry but if baby continues to be sleepy with long gaps between feeds get advice quickly as a lot of baby illnesses present like this.

You called 111 because you baby slept well? 😳

Just enjoy it whilst it lasts. My first would happily go 7 hours at night at that age. It soon reverted back to 2-3,hrly after the 4m regression and took her until 3 before she slept that well again. A few will sleep for even longer.

You know the saying - don't wake a sleeping baby!

Honestly, of baby isn't premature, is healthy, has reached their birthweight and isn't on a feeding plan which says different, just be led by the baby.

My son had various health problems including issues with feeding and vomiting. He spent a lot of time in NICU and then hospital and several times he needed to be given IV fluids and nutrition as even tube feeding didn’t work.

Generally speaking they didn’t seem overly concerned until we got to the 6 hour point.

So I imagine providing he’s healthy, seems well and there’s no concern over his weight and rate of weight gain it’s fine. But do speak to your HV.

Thank you all! He's regained his birth weight but we had some bad experience in the early days when he lost 9% of weight in a few days due to him not waking up for feeding as we were feeding him on demand... a bit concerned that he may get low blood sugar and too lethargic to feed. Also his weight is only on the 20th percentile so we do want him to catch up a bit. Will watch a few more days to see how it goes.

I breastfed responsively so ds did wake a bit more than that during the night but by around the 6 week mark he seemed to fall into a wee routine where he'd sleep for a bit longer and wake up when he was ready for a feed. I just tried to make sure he got plenty during the day and I would have lifted him around the 5 hr mark for a dreamfeed purely because maintaining his weight was a big priority for us as he wasn't gaining quickly enough. I asked my hv about it and she told me to take the sleep and he would wake me if needed. So if your wee one is over their birth weight, at least 6 heavy wet nappies a day, isn't overly constipated and is gaining consistently then it sounds like you're doing great!

If he’s getting good feeds in during the day, I wouldn’t wake him at night.

My youngest was doing 7/8 hour stretch around 6/7 weeks. I’d always feed her around 11 so I could get a 7 hour stretch too!