There's no hurry to phase out night feeds. You can choose what works best for you and your child. For breastfed children, night weaning might be an option from 12 months. For formula-fed children, you can consider phasing out night feeds from 6 months.
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.
At this stage, some (but not all) babies even manage to sleep through the night, meaning about six to eight hours in one stretch. Good sleep routines—regular bedtimes and naptimes, and restful sleeping periods—give your 2-month-old a great start in life, contributing to their general health and well-being.
At 1 month old, your baby may begin to sleep for longer stretches at night, perhaps including one long block of three to four hours. It's during this time that your baby's circadian rhythms are forming, and they're getting used to the difference between day and night.
3 - 4 Months
By this age, your baby can start sleeping a bit longer. As long as your baby is growing well, your doctor will probably tell you that you don't have to wake your baby every 3-4 hours to feed anymore. But that doesn't mean that they won't still wake up during the night to feed.
Therefore if your baby sleeps more than four hours it is recommended to wake baby to feed them including during the night for at least the first two weeks, or until they are over their birth weight.
Daytime and night time patterns
In the first few months it is common for babies to wake regularly at night for feeds at least 2 or 3 times. 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.
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.
The first months of a baby's life can be the hardest for parents, who might get up many times at night to tend to the baby. Each baby has a different sleep pattern. Some start to sleep "through the night" (for 5–6 hours at a time) by 2–3 months of age, but some don't.
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.
Can you let your 2-month-old sleep through the night? Baby probably still wakes up a couple of times in the wee hours to feed. But if they're managing to sleep through the night, go ahead and let them. Studies have found that at the two-month mark, baby might start sleeping longer stretches.
A baby who is fed to sleep and has been sleeping all night will likely start waking again after 4-5 months. If the feeding to sleep continues, many babies go back to waking 4-6 times or more every night, wanting the powerful breast milk/sucking/cuddle combo to get back to sleep.
But the fact is, newborn baby's tummies are small, and they need to wake up every few hours to feed. It would be a cause of concern if they didn't! Unfortunately, this means that your own sleep will be incredibly disrupted for the first few months.
Sleep Patterns
If you try to soothe your baby back to sleep, will he go to sleep? If not, he is likely hungry. If your baby goes back to sleep but then wakes up an hour later, he was probably hungry. If, however, your baby falls back asleep and sleeps really well, the waking was most likely not hunger.
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.
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.
Others suggest waking to feed during the first five to six weeks if your baby sleeps longer than five hours at a time. Usually, babies younger than 6 months wake up every three to four hours because they're hungry, so the question of whether to wake them (and lose precious rest yourself) may not be a concern.
At approximately 7 weeks of age, around the time your baby begins social smiling, their sleep pattern will begin to develop. Your baby's bedtime will naturally start to drift earlier and sleep will begin to consolidate in the first third of the night with a predictable stretch of 2-3 hours.
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.
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.
5-Week-Old Baby Feeding
“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.
How long is too long for a baby to sleep? In general, wake your sleeping baby if a daytime nap goes longer than 3 or 4 hours. Newborns need to wake about every two to four hours to eat. Older babies can have trouble sleeping well at night if they sleep too much during the day.