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.
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.
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.
Some babies rouse themselves on schedule to feed, while others will sleep through feedings if you don't wake them up. Neither tendency is cause for alarm. If your baby doesn't wake up to eat, try being a bit more forceful with your nudges.
E (EAT): When your baby wakes from nighttime or nap sleep, you'll want to immediately feed them. The purpose of the EWS cycle is to break the association that “feeding time means sleepy time" and to encourage full feedings. To do this, make sure the baby is fed as soon as they awaken.
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.
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.”
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.
Should we let sleeping babies lie? New parents are often told never to wake a sleeping baby. While this advice is undoubtedly well-intentioned, it can, if followed, lead to substantial nighttime sleep disturbances which in turn can have a really negative effect on the sleep of the parents and the rest of the household.
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.
Short nursing sessions are normal – and perfectly fine unless your baby is having trouble gaining weight. Some babies are snackers – they nurse for a minute or two, take a break, and then go back. Other babies can drain the breast in two minutes and be satisfied for a few hours.
If your baby is healthy, gaining weight, and seems content after most breastfeeds, they're getting what they need. Babies who are feeding well can take anywhere between five minutes and 40 minutes at each feed.
Signs Your Baby is Hungry
Fists moving to mouth. Head turning to look for the breast. Becoming more alert and active. Sucking on hands or lip smacking.
Cues That Tell the Baby Is Hungry
turn their head toward your breast. Calm and wide-eyed after a nap. Rooting with a strong, nutritive suck. Continuous crying after comforting them with cradling, rocking, or a diaper change (this is a late hunger cue)
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.
During deep sleep, babies are very still and do not move much. Their breathing becomes more regular. They are harder to wake up. They may still make sucking movements and might startle, but this will not wake them.
Smile, stick out your tongue, and make other expressions for your infant to study, learn, and imitate. Use a favorite toy for your newborn to focus on and follow, or shake a rattle for your infant to find. Let your baby spend some awake time lying on the tummy to help strengthen the neck and shoulders.
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.
It means the baby will eat 4 times a day, 4 hours apart and once you reach the 4-hour feeding schedule it stays that way, like forever. It's the last change in eating times until the baby is old enough to eat when the family eats!
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.
Newborns may nurse for up to 20 minutes or longer on one or both breasts. As babies get older and more skilled at breastfeeding, they may take about 5–10 minutes on each side.