Bottle-fed babies Newborn: every 2 to 3 hours. At 2 months: every 3 to 4 hours. At 4 to 6 months: every 4 to 5 hours. At 6+ months: every 4 to 5 hours.
In the early months, babies need to eat every few hours, including through the night. Gradually, however, babies need to eat less and less at night – until by 6 months of age (possibly sooner or later), your baby may quit nighttime feedings and go up to 12 hours without waking to eat.
Renee Kam (lactation consultant): Many exclusively breastfed babies feed 8 to 12 times in 24 hours, at least in the early weeks. This usually means feeding your baby every 2 to 3 hours. You might have one longer stretch between feeds, this could be up to 5 hours for a baby under 6 weeks.
By 6 months of age, your baby is developmentally ready to start sleeping through the night without a feeding — or at least for longer stretches.
At about 2 months of age, babies usually take 4 to 5 ounces per feeding every 3 to 4 hours. At 4 months, babies usually take 4 to 6 ounces per feeding. At 6 months, babies may be taking up to 8 ounces every 4 to 5 hours.
As newborns get older, they'll nurse less often and have longer stretches between feedings. Newborn babies who are getting formula will likely take about 2–3 ounces every 2–4 hours. Newborns should not go more than about 4–5 hours without feeding.
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.
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.
As a guide, many babies sleep 14-20 hours a day in the first weeks. By 3 months many are settled into a pattern of longer sleep times – perhaps 4 to 5 hours at night. When a baby sleeps about 5 hours straight, this is considered 'sleeping through the night'.
It is not necessary to wake most older newborns up to eat. However, those younger than 1 month old or so may not wake up when they feel hungry. Babies younger than 4 weeks old should not go longer than 4–5 hours without food. To wake a baby up to eat, try brushing the side of their cheek.
“Babies can still breastfeed on demand—usually they will want to breastfeed every 2-4 hours at this stage,” she notes. “But sometimes they will want to feed every hour and other times will not eat for 5 hours.” All of this is common, she says.
Feedings should be spread out to every three to four hours or so (and maybe even more spread out at night), though demand feeding is still generally the way to go, especially for the breastfed set. Of course, with all that eating comes lots of pooping. Your baby will still be averaging a few bowel movements each day.
Newborns and young babies should be fed whenever they seem hungry. This is called on-demand feeding. After the first few days of life, most healthy formula-fed newborns feed about every 2–3 hours. As they get bigger and their tummies can hold more milk, they usually eat about every 3–4 hours.
The book 12 Hours By 12 Weeks promotes going 4 hours between feedings by 12 weeks old. However, if your baby has a small tummy and you are making them wait 4 hours between feedings, you will likely be up a lot at night. If you are breastfeeding, this isn't always great for your milk supply either.
Most newborn babies cannot go a whole night without feeding. Until they are 3 months old, they may wake often during the night. This may not be at regular intervals, and the pattern is likely to change as an infant grows and develops.
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.
The amount of sleep an infant gets at any one stretch of time is mostly ruled by hunger. Newborns will wake up and want to be fed about every three to four hours at first. Do not let your newborn sleep longer than five hours at a time in the first five to six weeks.
Generally, newborns sleep a total of about 8 to 9 hours in the daytime and a total of about 8 hours at night. But because they have a small stomach, they must wake every few hours to eat. Most babies don't start sleeping through the night (6 to 8 hours) until at least 3 months of age. But this can vary a lot.
While there's a lot to learn as a first-time mom, a baby is only considered a newborn for his first 2-3 months of life. Next is the infant stage, which lasts until your baby turns 1 year old.
0-2 months: babies this age sleep around the clock and have 4 or more naps every day. Bedtime in newborns is naturally late, usually around 9:00pm or later, but it is important to start moving the bedtime earlier around 6/8 weeks. By 2 months, baby's last nap should be ending by 6:30pm.
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.
I love a bedtime between 7 and 8pm, but some one month olds just do better with a nap around that time and a later bedtime (8-10pm). It's all about finding what works best for your baby.
When should I start the Babywise 4 hour feeding schedule? Babywise says that baby's between 3-6 months old will be ready for the 4 hour feeding schedule.
3-Week-Old Baby Sleep
Your baby is still sleeping a whole lot, 14-17 hours a day on average. 11 At this age, your baby should still be waking up in the middle of the night at least a few times to eat, says Verlsteffen. Some babies may start to sleep longer stretches at night—up to four hours, if you are lucky.
4-Week-Old Baby Feeding Schedule
A 4-week-old baby eats about 2 to 3 ounces of milk about every 2 to 3 hours. Breastfed babies nurse about eight to 12 times in a 24-hour period.