How long do babies nurse every 2-3 hours?

ajella1016

FTM questions here. I was talking to my DH earlier, and explaining that the baby will have to nursed every 2-3 hours for a while, and he asked me how long, and I didn't know. I tried looking up a schedule, but figured there would definitely be someone on here that could help me out.

 

neko621

I nurse the twins for about 20 minutes or so every 3 hours.  The nurses at the NICU gave us the 20 minute ballpark and it's shown to be pretty accurate with my LOs. 

ajella1016

Sorry I guess that was a little confusing, but for how many weeks/ months etc. do they nurse that frequently?

ShawMich

When they are really little, maybe 20 minutes.  My boys would fall asleep every single time and we would have to try to keep them awake to nurse.  When they are a little older, I'd say 10-20 minutes each side.

KAmandaK

Babies go through different cycles with needing to eat more. With DD I nursed every 2-3 hours for the first 6 weeks and then when she'd go through a growth spurt we might end up nursing that often again for a week or so.

With this LO, who's only a week old, she nurses for 10-20 minutes on one side then sleeps for about an hour and then eats on the other breast for the same amount of time. She'll then sleep for a few 2-4 hours and then we start again.

I'm a huge supporter of nursing on demand but I know other people will have their LOs eating on a schedule. That was too stressful for me last time and BF became much more enjoyable when I went to feeding on demand.

 

Pina

The OP is aking "How many months do they breast feed that often?"

overlapped with last two posts who answered the question.....

elynds

My baby is already back up to birth weight and she now sleeps 2 4-5 hour stretches (she's only a week old).  She does still nurse every 2-3 hours when she's not on a long sleep.

ajella1016

I guess I was just a little confused because I have read that when they are so young you have to wake them to nurse even when they are sleeping. What point is it ok to let them sleep, and just let them feed on demand

babyAutumn

Depends on the baby.  With DD she nursed for 45 minutes every two hours for the first six weeks then stretched it to every 4 hours.  She did sleep through the night though.  Her last feed would be at 11:00 pm and she would wake for her next feed between 6 and 6:30 a.m at six weeks.  DS, on the other hand, nursed every two hours for about 20 min until he was 4 months old...around the clock.  He finally started sleeping six hour stretches at night when he was almost 5 months old.  This probably doesn't help much.  I would guess that the 2-3 hours would last on average until baby is about 2 months old.

babyAutumn

ajella1016:

I guess I was just a little confused because I have read that when they are so young you have to wake them to nurse even when they are sleeping. What point is it ok to let them sleep, and just let them feed on demand

I never woke my children up to feed them even as newborns.  They always woke up about the time they needed to be fed.  I also believe in feeding on demand and they do tend to set their own daily routine quite easily.  The nurses suggested I set an alarm  to wake myself up to feed the baby but my pediatrician advised against it.  He said that they usually wake up when they are hungry.  A good book that helped me a lot was "Secrets of the baby whisperer" by Tracy Hogg.  It might help shed some light on this subject for you.  She actually has a full chapter on feeding baby that touches on this exact topic.

ajella1016

Thanks ladies! I guess I was just a little confused, because I have read that you need to wake the baby up to make sure they are feeding enough.  I know there has to be a point when they start sleeping longer periods throughout the night, but how do you know the difference when to wake them or not.....sorry FTM, feeling anxious all of a sudden!=)

KAmandaK

ajella1016:

I guess I was just a little confused because I have read that when they are so young you have to wake them to nurse even when they are sleeping. What point is it ok to let them sleep, and just let them feed on demand

It really depends on the LO. My pedi this morning said to feed on demand because LO is gaining weight again (she lost nearly a pound after birth) and is average weight. I was already feeding on demand but it is nice to have the ped tell you to as well.

You really just need to wait and see what your LO needs.

ajella1016

Thanks, I will just focus on getting this baby out first=)

lmjt

Like always, it depends on the baby, but somewhere past the 12lb mark babies can sustain themselves for longer periods of time.

FortMyersBride

Honestly, we BF'd on demand and DS nursed pretty much every 2 hrs during the day until 6 mos (when we started BLW solids). He did spread it out a bit longer at night, more like every 3-4 hrs hrs. I'm just planning on this next baby being attached to me at all times as well, and if he/she wants to space it out more then it will be a pleasant surprise

kar5162

Generally they "have" to nurse every 2-3 hours until they've regained their birthweight or are at least 8lbs or at to 2 weeks past their due date depending on your pedi.  Then most pedis are ok with you not waking them to eat.

After that, they're all different.  DS nursed every 1.5-3 hours during the day until he finally dropped to 5 nursing/bottle sessions depending on whether I was working or not around 10-11 months.  That was finally parent led, not baby led - he still wanted to nurse 7 times a day.  He also went through periods of being a quick nurser (10-15 minutes) and periods of being a longer nurser (30-45 minutes).  That said, he also slept really well at night, so for me, the inconvenience of the frequent feedings during the day was well offset by the fact that he slept 10.5-12 hours or so regularly from ~3 months on.