Hi Helen

I have a wonderful boy, 2 1/2 months old, and I am pretty sure that he is thriving well. He sleeps and eats really well. Maybe he sleeps too much. He has a 45 minutes' nap 4 times a day. I settle him for the night at 09pm, and he sleeps until 08am the next morning ... My question is whether he sleeps too many hours without having a milk feed. He is bottle fed, and has a bottle every 3-4 hours.

Best regards
Nanna

Answer

Dear Nanna

Congratulations on your boy, I am delighted to learn that he is thriving. It seems as if everything works just fine, he eats from the bottle, he sleeps well and for a long time during the night. According to his age, his daily milk intake is covered when he has a feed every 3-4 hour throughout the day.

I do agree that his night sleep is very long, though, and you have to consider his total daily milk intake. Under normal circumstances, I would not recommend that a 2 months old baby should sleep more than 6 hours without having a milk feed. Your son sleeps for 11 hours which is too long, and I therefore recommend that you give him an extra bottle feed in the late evening.

Be aware that he needs 1/6 of his body weight a day, which means that if he has a total body weight of 6 kg, he needs approx. 1000 ml of formula a day. If he is able to eat the required quantity during the day, it is all right that he sleeps the entire night. However, should this not be the case, you have to give him an extra bottle feed during the night in order to reach the required daily milk intake.

I hope this is helpful and I wish you and your son the best of luck:o)

Kind regards,

Helen Hansen