Is it problematic for a 4 week old to sleep for an 8 hour stretch?

[arewethereyet]

Just wondering... it's great for us, her parents, but is it ok for our 4 week old DD to sleep all through the night? She didn't when exclusively breast feeding but now we're giving her a bottle of formula at about 10 and she sleeps through til 5 or 6. She seems healthy and is alert and happy during the day but I'm a bit worried she's going too long without food.

In my opinion its not something to worry about, at about 6 weeks my kids started doing about the 8 hours, breast milk is digested much faster than formula so the bottle of formula is probably filling her up a bit longer as it taking that bit longer to digest. If she was hungry she would wake. Once she is well and alert I would just enjoy!! You have a content baby who is starting to get into a routine! Well done.

Both of mine (formual fed) did this on odd nights from 3-4 weeks and slept 11pm-6am every night from 6 weeks old. I did monitor how much milk they took during the day - so I could check they were drinking enough, but also so I knew how much they needed per day so I cd arrange feed times so they drank it all during the day, rather than night feeds. So long as she is feeding well during the day I wouldn't be worried.

do you want to swap for a few nights? my DS has reflux so you can stay up for a few hours at a time with him.

lucky you. how much does yours weigh and how much formula do they take per day?

Poor you, moocow, I'm not sure how I would cope with that. She weighs 3.9kgs and takes 4 ounces (in about 12 minutes, which seems quick to me since she breast feeds for up to 70 minutes at a time). I have trouble latching her on, and am not sure how much milk she's getting there, hence my worry. Thanks for your advice, all.

I don't know the answer to your question but if you want to continue BF you may find you have problems if you are going such a very long stretch between feeds. If you do want to carry on you might need to consider getting some advice from a helpline/BF organisation.