Once your baby is past 3 months of age and is in the infant stage, that will slowly stretch into 5-6 hours, and then 7-8, and eventually right up to 10 or 11 hours once your baby is 9 months old or 10 months old.
In fact, in order to maintain your supply, you’ll need to nurse every 2 to 3 hours, on average. In general, if you are exclusively nursing, it’s best to nurse on demand in the first few weeks after birth to ensure that your milk supply becomes well-established. If your baby is breastfed, the general rule is that most newborns need between 20 and 30 ounces of breastmilk (and between 25-35 ounces once they’re past the newborn stage). Simply multiply your baby’s weight by 2.5.įor example, an 8-pound baby would need about 20 ounces of formula in a 24-hour period. How much breastmilk or formula does your baby need?Įvery situation is different, of course, but if your baby is formula-fed, you can use a fairly simple formula to determine approximately how many ounces your baby needs in a day. Breast milk, on the other hand, is digested fairly quickly. So babies tend to feel fuller for longer periods of time. They simply need to fill it up regularly.įormula-fed newborns may need to eat slightly less often than breastfed newborns because it takes a newborn’s tummy longer to digest and break down formula. Newborns feed very, very frequently, but this isn’t a problem that needs to be solved.
In fact, you may start to miss the early weeks of having a super-sleepy newborn!īabies simply cry more often as they get a bit older (depending on temperament), but you will quickly learn how to soothe a crying baby. This is when you will start to deal with more wakefulness. Many newborns also seem extra sleepy in the first week or two after birth and must be woken up to feed or drift off while feeding before getting their fill.Įventually, though, your newborn will definitely “wake up” within three weeks after birth. This is called day/night confusion, and babies who struggle with it tend to sleep a lot during the day and then wake up frequently at night. Some newborns come out of the womb with their days and nights completely mixed up! In other words, the typical day/night sleep cycle doesn’t really apply to newborns. Your baby will sleep in short bursts – anywhere from 30 or 45 minutes to 3 or possibly 4 hours – and then eat between periods of sleep. Skip to the schedules Understanding Newborn Sleep PatternsĪ baby is considered a newborn from birth until about 3 months of age.ĭuring this period, your newborn’s sleep patterns will look nothing like yours. Keep reading to discover what you can do to get started. A newborn sleep schedule is also often based on how long your baby can stay awake (not strictly by the clock), which is usually short in the newborn days. Your newborn’s feeding schedule should be age-appropriate, and you should never withhold food from a newborn just to stay on schedule. In other words, getting him or her on a routine (even if it’s not a strict schedule) can be a life-saver! Otherwise, you may be soothing a crying baby all day.Ī newborn baby cries a lot more when they are over-tired, not sleeping enough, or hungry. While newborns can’t stay on a strict sleep or feeding schedule – mostly due to their many growth spurts in these early months – these sample newborn sleep and feeding schedules can guide you through these stages and make sure everyone is getting the sleep and nutrition they need. When you understand your newborn’s sleep patterns and habits, you can start to establish a little more structure in your daily life and build a little more confidence in your decisions and actions during the baby’s first days.