Help with feeding

[SJPfan]

Please can someone advise me on feeding my nearly 4 week week old baby.

He is completely bottle fed now (has been for about 2 weeks now).

I keep being told not to wake a sleeping baby, so at night he will go from his last feed (between 10 and 11pm) until I get him up in the morning, which could be 6 am to 9 am. Which to me sounds a bit strange for his age to go that far, so because I have been told that he should be having 6 feeds in a 24 hour period I have been trying to fit these in through the day, which means I need to stick to watching the clock - but according to the books they say not to and wait for him to tell me he's hungry. Well he was fed at 2.15pm and is sitting quite happily in his chair gurgling away and not telling me he's hungry...I would have fed him at 5.15pm if I stuck to my schedule.

He finishes his bottles - all measured at 4fl oz (120ml) so should I be increasing this already and trying not to fit the 6 feeds in.

My next health visitor visit is not til next week and I'm getting myself worked up as different books etc are telling me different things...hence why on here to ask the experts!!

One thing I should say...if you haven't guessed I am a first time mum!!!

Any advice greatly appreciated

Xx

There should be a phone number for your Health Visitor, maybe she wrote it in the red book?
Can't help you with bottles I'm afraid, but I'm sure someone will be along.

Hi, I had a similar experience with my ds when he was a baby. he would have his last feed at 10pm/10.30pm and then sleep until 6/7am. due to an undiagnosed cleft palate it also took him over an hour to feed each time for the first three months of his life. I woudl try increasing the amount in his bottle by a little. If he's sleeping right through DONT wake him. you'll only suffer the consequences later. Every child is different and I found reading different books just confused me more. If he is hungry he will let you know I am sure. If he doesnt drink the extra then dont worry about it. as long as he gains weight its fine.

Hi SJP not sure if ill be much help as it has been 2 years since dd was that age. However at 6 weeks my dd would sleep for 12 hours at night having last feed at 7pm and morning feed at 7 am i never worried about how many bottles she was getting through the day. I fed her when she was hungrently empty and when she was consistying the bottle i would increase the amount. I understand that all the books are confusing, I had the outlook that all babies are going to be different and i could judge my own baby better than the author aof a book who had never met her. Hope this helps