Most newborns sleep for around 8–9 hours during the day and 8 hours at night. Most also wake up at least every 3 hours to feed. However, this timing varies widely. Some newborns may only sleep for 11 hours per day, while others may sleep for up to 19 hours per day.
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.
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.
Newborns don't yet have a sense of day and night. They sleep around the clock, and because their tiny stomachs don't hold enough breast milk or formula to keep them satisfied for long, they wake often to eat — no matter what time of day or night it is.
4 months old
At this age, babies can sleep for a solid seven or eight hours, which constitutes sleeping through the night, though it may happen gradually. That's because most 4-month-old babies have reached that magic weight of 11 to 14 pounds, which means they don't metabolically need a nighttime feeding.
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.
Newborns generally sleep for two to three hours before waking to eat, day and night. As they get older, babies are usually able to sleep for increasingly longer stretches of time at night without waking to eat. Between the age of 2 to 3 months old, healthy babies are often able to sleep for six hours without feeding.
Chronic sleepiness, though, can sometimes be a cause for concern. If your newborn is regularly sleeping for more than 17 hours a day and it's interfering with her ability to eat at least eight times per day, you should let your pediatrician know. Frequently missing meals could hurt her weight gain and growth.
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.
Once your newborn establishes a pattern of weight gain and reaches the birth-weight milestone, however, it's generally OK to wait for feedings until he or she wakes up. Most newborns need eight to 12 feedings a day — about one feeding every two to three hours.
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.
It's normal for newborns to sleep almost constantly in the early weeks, waking only long enough to eat and then fall back asleep. All that rest plays a critical role in their rapid growth and development. But if you're worried your baby may be sleeping too much, talk to your pediatrician.
7-Week-Old Baby Sleep
Your 7-week-old baby should be sleeping really well (in SNOO babies often have 5, 6, or even 7-hour stretches of continuous sleep). And all that rest is helping them make the most of their awake periods.
All babies are different, but it's very common for babies not to feed all that much in the first 24-48 hours, and some don't attach at all. However, from day 2-3 days babies should become much more awake and feed in more frequent (but probably irregular) bursts at least 6 times in 24 hours.
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 typically lose between 5 and 10 percent of their body weight, depending on delivery method, in the days after birth. They need to spend the first few weeks gaining it back. Not eating enough in the first few days can also lead to complications linked to jaundice and low blood sugar.
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.
What are the symptoms? SIDS has no symptoms or warning signs. Babies who die of SIDS seem healthy before being put to bed. They show no signs of struggle and are often found in the same position as when they were placed in the bed.
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.
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'.
For example, babies of an age range of 0-4 weeks can sleep for 4 stretch hours maximum without any essence of food. 2. In the same way, babies older than 6 months of age start to sleep for longer hours without feedings. Over time, mothers can start to wean their babies from feeding in the middle of the night.
Do not let your newborn sleep longer than five hours at a time in the first five to six weeks. Thereafter, you can keep the following general milestones in mind: By four months, most babies begin to show some preferences for longer sleep at night.
Listlessness or Lethargy
Lethargy may be a sign of infection or other conditions such as low blood sugar. Talk with your baby's doctor if your infant becomes lethargic or isn't as active.