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.
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.
Until your newborn regains this lost weight — usually within one to two weeks after birth — it's important to feed him or her frequently. This might mean occasionally waking your baby for a feeding, especially if he or she sleeps for a stretch of more than four hours.
One-month-old babies slept an average of 8 hours each night, with 96% of babies getting between 6 and 13.3 hours of nighttime sleep. At 3 months, babies spent more time sleeping at night–10 hours, on average.
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.
Your baby is sleeping longer at night—as many as four to six hours at once, if you're lucky—and you're having longer awake and alert phases during the day. Your baby might prefer to sleep for a few hours after eating and then wake up to play for an hour or two before getting hungry again.
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.
You'll want to aim for wake windows around 50-90 minutes. I don't recommend letting your baby's night last any longer than 12-12.5 hours.
Q: How much nighttime sleep is appropriate for a 1 month old? A: At this age, it's common for newborns to be in their nighttime sleep space for 9 - 12 hours at night, waking multiple times for feedings and comfort.
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.
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.
In general, you can expect your baby to sleep an hour per week old they are, starting about 5 weeks old. So, a 5-week-old may be able to go 5 hours, a 6-week-old may be able to go 6 hours, and so on.
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.
Newborns won't sleep through the night because they need to eat frequently. In fact, two to four hours at a time is about as long as you can expect your brand new baby to sleep during those early weeks and months — depending on whether you're breastfeeding, formula-feeding or both.
Four-week-old babies still don't sleep through the night, they often need to eat very frequently, and many have fussy evenings, or even signs of colic. 3 But much of this is outweighed by the fact that they are starting to become more alert and interactive.
Can a 1-month-old baby sleep through the night? It may be too early for your 1-month-old to sleep through the night, as they may still wake up regularly during the night for feedings and diaper changes.
Infants up to 3 months old should get 14–17 hours of sleep over a 24-hour period, says the National Sleep Foundation. Many will have settled into a daily sleep routine of 2-3 naps during the day, followed by a longer "sleeping through the night" stretch after a late-night feeding.
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.
“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.
Here's how often you can expect your baby to eat at night during the 0 - 2 month age timeframe: Breastfed Babies - 3 to 5 feedings per night. Formula-fed Babies - 2 to 4 feedings per night.
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 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.
1) Wake your baby if your newborn (less than 3 months) is napping and hasn't eaten in about 3 hours. One of the ways you can help your babies sleep longer stretches at night is to make sure you get their tummies full during the day.
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'.