fb tracking
No Result
View All Result
BellyBelly
  • Home
  • Getting Pregnant
    • Conception
    • Two Week Diaries
    • Conception Calculator
      • Conception Calculator
      • Ovulation Calculator
  • Pregnancy
    • Pregnancy Articles
    • Pregnancy Week By Week
    • Pregnancy Symptoms
    • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Reverse Due Date Calculator
    • Pregnancy Journals
      • Irene’s Pregnancy Journal
      • Pregnancy Diaries
      • Diary of Ambah article
      • Diary of Belinda article
      • Diary of Rachael article
      • Diary of Sherie
      • Diary of Janelle
      • Diary of Sharon
      • Diary of Lucy
      • Diary of Kathryn
      • Diary of Julie
    • Prenatal / Perinatal
  • Birth
    • Birth Articles
    • Doulas
    • Midwives
    • Birth Diaries
  • Mothers
    • Mother Articles
    • Post Natal/Post Partum
  • Baby
    • Baby Articles
    • Baby Week By Week
    • Star Signs For Baby
  • Sleep
    • Sleep
    • Conception Sleep
    • Pregnancy Sleep
    • Infant / Baby Sleep
      • Infant Sleep
      • Baby Sleep
    • Toddler Sleep
    • Weaning / Feeding Sleep
      • Feeding Sleep
      • Bottle Sleep
      • Formula Sleep
      • Weaning Sleep
    • Child Sleep
    • Adult / Family Sleep
      • Mothers Sleep
      • Fathers Sleep
      • Family Sleep
      • Cosleeping
  • Baby Names
    • Baby Names
    • Baby Boy Names
    • Baby Girl Names
    • Gender-Neutral Baby Names
    • Unique Baby Names
  • Breastfeeding
    • Breastfeeding Articles
    • Breastfeeding Week by Week
    • Lactation Cookies
  • Toddler
  • Child
  • Men/Dads
  • Parenting
  • Health Lifestyle
    • Health
      • General Health
      • Cooking & Recipes
      • Meal Planning
      • Exercise
    • Lifestyle
      • Family Travel
      • Relationships
      • Men/Dads
  • General
    • Forum
    • Product Reviews
    • Competitions
  • Advertise
  • Home
  • Getting Pregnant
    • Conception
    • Two Week Diaries
    • Conception Calculator
      • Conception Calculator
      • Ovulation Calculator
  • Pregnancy
    • Pregnancy Articles
    • Pregnancy Week By Week
    • Pregnancy Symptoms
    • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Reverse Due Date Calculator
    • Pregnancy Journals
      • Irene’s Pregnancy Journal
      • Pregnancy Diaries
      • Diary of Ambah article
      • Diary of Belinda article
      • Diary of Rachael article
      • Diary of Sherie
      • Diary of Janelle
      • Diary of Sharon
      • Diary of Lucy
      • Diary of Kathryn
      • Diary of Julie
    • Prenatal / Perinatal
  • Birth
    • Birth Articles
    • Doulas
    • Midwives
    • Birth Diaries
  • Mothers
    • Mother Articles
    • Post Natal/Post Partum
  • Baby
    • Baby Articles
    • Baby Week By Week
    • Star Signs For Baby
  • Sleep
    • Sleep
    • Conception Sleep
    • Pregnancy Sleep
    • Infant / Baby Sleep
      • Infant Sleep
      • Baby Sleep
    • Toddler Sleep
    • Weaning / Feeding Sleep
      • Feeding Sleep
      • Bottle Sleep
      • Formula Sleep
      • Weaning Sleep
    • Child Sleep
    • Adult / Family Sleep
      • Mothers Sleep
      • Fathers Sleep
      • Family Sleep
      • Cosleeping
  • Baby Names
    • Baby Names
    • Baby Boy Names
    • Baby Girl Names
    • Gender-Neutral Baby Names
    • Unique Baby Names
  • Breastfeeding
    • Breastfeeding Articles
    • Breastfeeding Week by Week
    • Lactation Cookies
  • Toddler
  • Child
  • Men/Dads
  • Parenting
  • Health Lifestyle
    • Health
      • General Health
      • Cooking & Recipes
      • Meal Planning
      • Exercise
    • Lifestyle
      • Family Travel
      • Relationships
      • Men/Dads
  • General
    • Forum
    • Product Reviews
    • Competitions
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
BellyBelly
No Result
View All Result
Home Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Times | Important Guide To What To Expect

Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc
by Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc
Medically Reviewed by Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc on
Last updated January 28, 2023
Reading Time: 5 min
Breastfeeding Times Guide What To Expect

Breastfeeding Times

In the early weeks of your baby’s life, you might not notice any particular feeding pattern. Most babies nurse for different amounts of time at different times of the day.

Your baby might have a longer feed early in the morning and shorter, more frequent feeds later in the day.

It’s normal for each day to be a bit different, however there is a breastfeeding times guide for you to know.

How long should I breastfeed my baby each time?

There is no set amount of time you should breastfeed your baby at each feed. Very young babies generally take longer to finish a full breastfeed than older babies.

If your baby’s latch is comfortable and you can see or hear your baby swallowing while he is breastfeeding and if your breasts feel softer and your baby seems content after most feeds, then you do not need to time your baby’s feedings.

If your baby is feeding for a very short amount of time at each feed, or an excessively long amount of time at each feed, in addition to not meeting his expected growth milestones, your baby might not be getting enough milk.

If this is the case, seek help from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

How long should you breastfeed on each side?

In the majority of cases, you should aim to feed your baby from each breast at most feeds. In the early days, this helps establish full milk production and ensures your breastfed baby is getting enough milk.

You do not need to time your baby to know when to switch breasts. When babies are breastfeeding effectively, they should come off the breast on their own, when they have finished feeding.

Depending on your baby’s age, he might fall asleep towards the end of a feed, when the milk flow slows. Watch your baby’s cues to see when active suckling slows down or stops completely; then you can offer the other side.

If your baby is very sleepy, try doing a diaper change or have some skin to skin time, to help get him interested in feeding from the other breast.

If you have an over abundant milk supply, feeding from one breast at each feed might be sufficient for your baby. If your baby only feeds from one side at every feed, you might find you need to express a small amount of milk, to avoid engorgement in the other breast. In this case, its best to stick to hand expressing rather than expressing milk with a breast pump, as this can contribute to an oversupply.

For more information on, you can read BellyBelly’s article Too Much Milk? Managing Oversupply of Breastmilk.

When can you stop feeding baby every 3 hours?

If you gave birth to your baby in a hospital, you might have been given a feeding schedule. If your baby’s bilirubin levels were high in the days after birth, or if he was born early or exposed to medications during labor, this might make him too sleepy to initiate feeding.

In these cases, a breastfeeding schedule usually consists of waking your baby every 3 hours around the clock to breastfeed. This kind of feeding schedule is usually put in place temporarily until it’s clear your baby is breastfeeding effectively and getting enough breast milk.

Most breastfed babies feed more frequently than every 3 hours. Your baby’s stomach is very small and breast milk is easily digested, so it makes sense that breastfed babies eat more often than 3 hourly.

Watch your baby for early feeding cues, and be aware that crying is a late sign of hunger.

For more information, you can read BellyBelly’s article Baby Hunger Cues | How To Tell If Your Baby Is Hungry.

When can I stop waking my baby to feed?

Generally speaking, once your baby is back to his birth weight, you no longer need to wake him for feeds.

However, if your breastfed baby is sleeping for several hours at a time, your breasts might take a while to adjust to the increased time between feedings. It’s important to make sure your breasts are emptied regularly, particularly in the first few weeks postpartum when your breast milk supply is still regulating.

Frequent removal of breast milk helps prevent engorgement, blocked ducts and mastitis. It also ensures your breast milk supply stays at the level it needs to be to meet your baby’s needs.

It’s also worth noting that most babies who sleep through the night in the early weeks become more wakeful at later stages. Night waking is normal in breastfed infants and it protects a breastfeeding mother’s milk supply.

How long does the breast take to replenish milk supply?

Milk production works on the principle of supply and demand. Put simply, this means that the more milk that is removed from your breasts, the more milk your body will make.

Some mothers mistakenly believe that they need to wait until their breasts ‘fill up’ again before they can offer their baby another breastfeed. In fact, the opposite is true. The emptier your breast, the faster the breast milk is replenished.

This is due to a protein in breast milk that tells your body to start making milk more rapidly when the levels are very low.

You can read more about this in BellyBelly’s article Is My Baby Hungry? Do I Have Enough Milk?

Can you over breastfeed a newborn?

When new parents are still getting to know their newborn baby’s hunger cues, they might worry they are breastfeeding their babies too often or potentially overfeeding them.

Newborn babies feed very frequently in the first few weeks of life.

From birth, their tiny tummies only have a maximum capacity of around 5-7ml. This, along with the fact that breast milk is Mother Nature’s perfectly designed first food and therefore very easily digested, means that babies need to feed frequently.

The actions of breastfeeding differ from those involved in bottle feeding; your baby needs to use lots of muscles in his face and jaw to stay attached to the breast and feed effectively from it. For that reason, is is possible to overfeed a bottle fed baby but the same does not apply to a breastfed baby.

How to tell if breastfed babies are getting enough milk

It’s common for breastfeeding parents to wonder exactly how much milk their baby is getting at any feed or over the course of an entire day or night.

Although breastfeeding might make it hard to see exactly what is going in, you can definitely monitor what is coming out. Breastfed babies should be having at least 5 heavily wet diapers and at least a couple of dirty diapers every 24 hours. Your baby should also be gaining weight regularly, growing in length and meeting all developmental milestones.

Remember: cluster feeding is normal. Your baby will cluster feed when they are having a growth spurt, and there will be several growth spurts in the first year of your baby’s life.

If you have questions about breastfeeding, see your baby’s doctor or a lactation consultant.

Previous Post

Stomach Bugs: 10 Ways To Prevent Them When Travelling

Next Post

Should I Postpone My Flight If My Child Is Sick

Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc

Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc

Emily Brittingham is a qualified International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) with more than 7 years of experience in the profession.

Next Post
Should I Postpone My Flight If My Child Is Sick

Should I Postpone My Flight If My Child Is Sick

Featured Articles

how to conceive a boy

How To Conceive A Boy | 6 Special Tips to Have A Baby Boy

Last updated 4 months ago
endometriosis stage

Endometriosis Stages | Understanding The 4 Critical Stages

Last updated 7 months ago

Authors

  • Amy Cameron, RM, IBCLC
    Amy Cameron, RM, IBCLC
  • Anne Macnaughtan
    Anne Macnaughtan
  • BellyBelly Ed
    BellyBelly Ed
  • Carly Grubb B.Ed (Primary) Hons.
    Carly Grubb B.Ed (Primary) Hons.
  • Darren Mattock
    Darren Mattock
  • David Rawlings
    David Rawlings
  • David Vernon
    David Vernon
  • Dawn Reid, EEPM CNCM MMID
    Dawn Reid, EEPM CNCM MMID
  • Deborah Cooper
    Deborah Cooper
  • Desiree Spierings
    Desiree Spierings
  • Sarah Buckley
    Sarah Buckley
  • Dr. Jack Newman MD FRCPC
    Dr. Jack Newman MD FRCPC
  • Dr. Thomas W. Hale
    Dr. Thomas W. Hale
  • Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc
    Emily Brittingham, IBCLC, BHSc
  • Emily Robinson
    Emily Robinson
  • Fiona Peacock
    Fiona Peacock
  • Gloria Lemay
    Gloria Lemay
  • Graham White
    Graham White
  • Heather Hack-Sullivan CPM, LDM, BS in Midwifery
    Heather Hack-Sullivan CPM, LDM, BS in Midwifery
  • Christopher Tang
    Christopher Tang
  • Irene Garzon BSc (Hons) Midwifery
    Irene Garzon BSc (Hons) Midwifery
  • Janet Powell
    Janet Powell
  • Jared Osborne
    Jared Osborne
  • Jennifer Block
    Jennifer Block
  • Joana Camato
    Joana Camato
  • Jordan Gray
    Jordan Gray
  • Kara Wilson
    Kara Wilson
  • Karen Wilmot RM, RYT, MAEd
    Karen Wilmot RM, RYT, MAEd
  • Kelly Rennie
    Kelly Rennie
  • Kelly Winder
    Kelly Winder
Tools and Features

Tools and Features

Get your birth education video

Get your birth education video

Join our Week by Week emails

Join our Week by Week emails

Get your free ebook

Get your free ebook

Belly Belly Logo

We’re passionate about women and men feeling informed, confident and prepared for pregnancy, birth and early parenting.

  • Home
  • Getting Pregnant
  • Pregnancy
  • Birth
  • Mothers
  • Baby
  • Health Lifestyle
  • Product Reviews
  • Pregnancy Symptoms
  • Pregnancy Week by Week
  • Baby Week by Week
  • Sleep
  • Baby Names
  • Breastfeeding
  • Toddler
  • Child
  • Parenting
  • Sleep Education Series
  • Breastfeeding Week by Week
  • Toddler Week by Week

OUR NETWORK

  • Belly Belly Logo
    bellybelly.com.au
  • Around the World Plus Kids
    www.aroundtheworldpluskids.com.au
  • Doula Training
    www.doula-training.com.au
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise

© Copyright 2002–2025 BellyBelly, All Rights Reserved.

BreastFeeding 101 - 

Learn Everything You Need Know 

 

Close
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Getting Pregnant
    • Conception
    • Two Week Diaries
    • Conception Calculator
      • Conception Calculator
      • Ovulation Calculator
  • Pregnancy
    • Pregnancy Articles
    • Pregnancy Week By Week
    • Pregnancy Symptoms
    • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Pregnancy Calculator
      • Reverse Due Date Calculator
    • Pregnancy Journals
      • Irene’s Pregnancy Journal
      • Pregnancy Diaries
      • Diary of Ambah article
      • Diary of Belinda article
      • Diary of Rachael article
      • Diary of Sherie
      • Diary of Janelle
      • Diary of Sharon
      • Diary of Lucy
      • Diary of Kathryn
      • Diary of Julie
    • Prenatal / Perinatal
  • Birth
    • Birth Articles
    • Doulas
    • Midwives
    • Birth Diaries
  • Mothers
    • Mother Articles
    • Post Natal/Post Partum
  • Baby
    • Baby Articles
    • Baby Week By Week
    • Star Signs For Baby
  • Sleep
    • Sleep
    • Conception Sleep
    • Pregnancy Sleep
    • Infant / Baby Sleep
      • Infant Sleep
      • Baby Sleep
    • Toddler Sleep
    • Weaning / Feeding Sleep
      • Feeding Sleep
      • Bottle Sleep
      • Formula Sleep
      • Weaning Sleep
    • Child Sleep
    • Adult / Family Sleep
      • Mothers Sleep
      • Fathers Sleep
      • Family Sleep
      • Cosleeping
  • Baby Names
    • Baby Names
    • Baby Boy Names
    • Baby Girl Names
    • Gender-Neutral Baby Names
    • Unique Baby Names
  • Breastfeeding
    • Breastfeeding Articles
    • Breastfeeding Week by Week
    • Lactation Cookies
  • Toddler
  • Child
  • Men/Dads
  • Parenting
  • Health Lifestyle
    • Health
      • General Health
      • Cooking & Recipes
      • Meal Planning
      • Exercise
    • Lifestyle
      • Family Travel
      • Relationships
      • Men/Dads
  • General
    • Forum
    • Product Reviews
    • Competitions
  • Advertise

© Copyright 2002–2025 BellyBelly, All Rights Reserved.