On average, most exclusively breastfed babies will feed about every 2 to 4 hours. Some babies may feed as often as every hour at times, often called cluster feeding. Or may have a longer sleep interval of 4 to 5 hours. How often your baby feeds might change depending on the time of day.
Most babies start sleeping through the night by 6 months. This means they can sleep for five to six hours at a stretch without feeding. Some babies start sleeping longer even sooner, around 4 months.
If newborn babies aren't fed frequently enough, they are at higher risk for dehydration and underfeeding. So the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises parents to feed infants at least once every 2-3 hours — whenever babies show signs of hunger (AAP 2015).
Breastfeeding: How often should a 2-month-old nurse? About every two to three hours. If your baby is sleeping longer stretches than they used to (lucky you!) there's no need to wake them up to feed.
Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 3–4 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks. After that, it's OK to let your baby sleep for longer periods of time at night.
Generally, newborns sleep about 8 to 9 hours in the daytime and about 8 hours at night. But they may not sleep more than 1 to 2 hours at a time. Most babies don't start sleeping through the night (6 to 8 hours) without waking until they are about 3 months old, or until they weigh 12 to 13 pounds.
3-Week-Old Baby Sleep
Some babies may start to sleep longer stretches at night—up to four hours, if you are lucky. But babies this age are still eating very frequently,9 and unfortunately, that includes at night, she says.
Newborn babies need to feed every few hours until the age of 3 months. After this, it is normal for infants to feed once or twice during the night. Most infants can sleep for 6–8 hours without a feed by the age of 6 months. Once they are 9 months old, most infants can sleep for 11–12 hours without a feed.
First Weeks and Months
On average, most exclusively breastfed babies will feed about every 2 to 4 hours. Some babies may feed as often as every hour at times, often called cluster feeding. Or may have a longer sleep interval of 4 to 5 hours. How often your baby feeds might change depending on the time of day.
Most doctors will agree that you can stop intentionally waking your baby for night feedings around 3-4 months as long as they're showing stable weight gain and staying on their growth curve. However, some babies won't be able to sleep through the night without any feedings until closer to 9 months.
Don't worry, baby will ask to be fed as usual as soon as his stomach feels empty again. Your baby may be constipated and appear less hungry than usual, however once this passes everything will go back to normal.
Newborns should not go more than about 4–5 hours without feeding. Signs that babies are hungry include: moving their heads from side to side. opening their mouths.
It is still normal for babies to have feeds during the night. You could try a 'late feed' or 'sleepy feed' at about 10pm, before you go to bed, and this may help your baby to sleep longer. Disturb her as little as possible. Lift her without fully waking her and feed.
What to expect. Infants sleep between 9 and 12 hours during the night and nap between 2 and 5 hours during the day. At 2 months, infants take between two and four naps each day, and at 12 months, they take either one or two naps. Expect factors such as illness or a change in routine to disrupt your baby's sleep.
If all of those factors are lined up though, it is entirely possible for a baby as young as 6 weeks old to sleep for a solid 6-8 hours, or even longer, overnight. It can, and does, happen!
Feeding Baby At Two Weeks Old
Feedings should occur every 2-3 hours and hopefully every 4-5 during the night. Feeding should take about 30 minutes.
Understanding newborn needs: sleep, feeds and play
Most newborns spend most of their time asleep – they sleep 14-17 hours in every 24 hours. It's common for newborns to sleep in short bursts of 2-3 hours between feeds, both night and day. Also, newborns need to feed every 2-4 hours.
Your 4-week-old baby's development
Newborns up to 3 or 4 months old need 14 to 17 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, usually waking every two to four hours to eat.
Check in with your health professional if your baby is consistently too sleepy to breastfeed to make sure they are not poorly or getting dehydrated. Hand expressing or pumping your milk will protect your milk supply and provide a breast milk supplement to keep your baby fed until they can breastfeed.
1-month-old – “At 1 month, your baby may sleep longer through the night, such as 4-6 hours, but typically wake up to feed every three to four hours at night,” says Lewis. 2 to 3 months – “Some two to three-month-olds sleep through the night,” says Lewis. “Each baby at this age has different needs.
However, after 6 months-of-age, most studies (>65%) reported breastfed infants to sleep less in the night-time and over 24 h compared to formula-fed infants. Furthermore, studies reported no association between the timing of introduction to complementary foods and infant sleep duration (<12 months-of-age).
Most babies are able to sleep through the night – or sleep for at least six hours without waking up to eat – sometime between 3 to 6 months of age. Healthy babies who are born full-term are generally able to sleep through the night without a feeding starting at 3 months of age or when they weigh 12 to 13 pounds.
As long as your baby is growing well, your doctor will probably tell you that you don't have to wake your baby every 3-4 hours to feed anymore. But that doesn't mean that they won't still wake up during the night to feed.