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.
Breastfed babies feed often, about every 2–3 hours. Bottle-fed babies tend to feed less often, about every 3–4 hours. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
A baby occasionally sleeping for longer than usual is not a cause for concern unless there are other symptoms. In general, it is uncommon for a newborn to consistently sleep through feedings or to sleep for longer than 19 hours per day unless they are ill or are having feeding difficulties.
For the first few days you may need to wake them to feed if they are still sleeping by 3 hours from the last day feeding and 4 hours at night. If baby still won't eat, allow baby to sleep another hour and try again to wake and feed them.
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.
Not feeding often enough can slow down your milk production if you're breastfeeding. Right now, you're only just establishing the demand-and-supply cycle that keeps pumping out the perfect amount of milk to meet your baby's needs. If you go for long periods without being tapped, it might reduce the amount you make.
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. Or it may just be that your baby was enjoying the sleep and took longer to wake up.
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.
Other symptoms: Babies who are extra sleepy, are difficult to wake, or seem too tired to cry, may also show other symptoms of illness. These symptoms could include a fever of over 100.4F (38C), jaundice (a yellow discoloration of their skin), vomiting, or difficulty or disinterest in feeding once a child is awake.
Wake to Feed, But Don't Schedule
You should still be feeding your baby on demand and when they show hunger cues! La Leche League writes, “Scheduling feedings for a baby who is exclusively nursing frequently throughout the day and night, especially during the first six weeks has been correlated with slow weight gain.”
To help prevent the milk from coming back up, keep your baby upright after feeding for 10 to 15 minutes, or longer if your baby spits up or has GERD.
As a rule of thumb, a truly hungry baby will rarely choose sleeping over eating. So, if your baby falls asleep in your arms without taking a full feeding, it's likely he was tired — not hungry.
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.
This can be a sign of illness, infection, or low blood sugar. Infants dehydrate easily and not eating can quickly turn into a medical issue. Generally, they shouldn't go without feeding for longer than five hours for their first 12 weeks.
Because there's a lot of normal. A newborn should feed a minimum of 8-12 times in 24 hours. That means some might be going every 3 hours and others will be feeding more frequently than 2 hourly. Some babies may feed every 10 minutes every hour.
What happens if a newborn goes too long without feeding? Waiting too long to feed your newborn can lead to rapid weight loss, jaundice, and other health issues down the road.
Some newborns sleep for up to four hours at a time. Newborns wake frequently to feed because they have tiny tummies. Your newborn might go straight back to sleep after feeding or they might stay awake long enough for a short play. Some newborns get tired after being awake for 1-1½ hours.
If your little one isn't sleeping for more than three hours at a time at night, don't panic: This is actually completely normal. “In general, from birth to 3 months, babies will sleep 14 to 18 hours per 24-hour day,” explains William Sears, M.D., pediatrician, professor of pediatrics and infant sleep specialist.