How long should breastfed babies eat

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. The time it takes to breastfeed depends on a few things including your baby's age and your breast milk supply.

An average feeding can last 10 to 20 minutes, but a baby can breastfeed anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes at each session. Here's a guide to help you get an idea of how many minutes babies spend breastfeeding, what changes breastfeeding times, what short and long feedings can mean, and when to call the doctor.

Some breastfed babies can take a full feeding in 8 minutes. Others need 30 minutes or more to get the same amount of breast milk. Age may have the greatest effect on how long it takes to breastfeed. Newborns need time to practice and learn, while older infants become old pros who can empty a breast in no time.

Here's some general information on age and feeding times. A newborn should be put to the breast at least every 2 to 3 hours and nurse for 10 to 15 minutes on each side. An average of 20 to 30 minutes per feeding helps to ensure that the baby is getting enough breast milk. It also allows enough time to stimulate your body to build up your milk supply. During the first few months, feeding times gradually get shorter and the time between feedings gets a little longer.

By the time a baby is 3 to 4 months old, they are breastfeeding, gaining weight, and growing well. It may only take your baby about 5 to 10 minutes to empty the breast and get all the milk they need. With the start of solid foods and drinking from a cup at approximately 6 months along with the ability to move around more freely, older infants may only take quick feedings at the breast then head off to play.

But, they may spend more time breastfeeding to sleep at night. While breastfeeding continues to be beneficial for older children , it should not be the central part of a toddler's diet. Toddlers should be eating and drinking a variety of foods. One of the main needs infants have at night is to feed. Until that point, the concept of sleeping for an extended period of time is not something that babies are physiologically designed to do — and even then it can take a while to get into the habit However, society continues to sell us the myth that babies should start sleeping through the night after the first few weeks, and that getting them to this stage is an achievement.

Aside from evidence to the contrary, given that around a third of adults report at least mild insomnia, should we really believe that babies who cannot meet their own needs if they wake should be able to sleep all night? How many adults when they wake have a drink of water? Waking at night is also thought to be protective. Babies want to be close to their mother at night and sleeping close to them helps babies maintain their temperature 28 , heart rate 29 and have steadier breathing Sleeping too deeply may be a risk factor for SIDS.

Babies who have died of SIDS are more likely to have longer periods of uninterrupted sleep and moved about less in their sleep Although sleep problems in older children can be an issue, waking at night as a baby has no link with later sleep problems or development Feeding at night is also common — and important — in supporting breastfeeding.

Firstly, the body takes into account feeds at night when establishing milk supply. Feeding at night is an important step in developing a good milk supply. Although it may be dark outside, the body still considers frequency of feeds at night when establishing milk supply. Feeding at night is also an essential part of providing a high level of contraceptive cover through the Lactational Amenorrhea Method.

Feeding at night is an important part of this Additionally, feeding at night is important from a hormonal perspective. Prolactin is linked to milk supply; generally the higher prolactin levels you have, the more milk is made. Prolactin levels are already higher at night but also rise further when your baby feeds, so feeding at night is a great opportunity to really drive those levels higher and help your milk supply Sometimes parents worry about their baby continuing to breastfeed at night based on the myths that a babies should sleep through the night and b breastfeeding stops babies sleeping through the night.

However, rather than being something breastfed babies do more, breastfeeding at night should be recognised as something that is very normal. In countries where night-time infant care and co-sleeping is the norm, babies breastfeed around four times a night Some studies do show that very young babies who are formula fed start sleeping for longer at an earlier age 37 and have longer periods of deep sleep However once babies get a little older, this difference disappears.

One study found that for babies aged 6 — 12 months, babies who were breastfed did feed more at night than babies who were formula fed. However they did not wake more, suggesting that breastfeeding was likely used as a tool to encourage the baby back to sleep quickly However, sleep training can have a negative impact on breastfeeding success. One intervention to reduce night waking in babies aged 6 — 12 months found that although babies started sleeping for longer, breastfeeding rates dropped far more rapidly than expected during the course of the study Feeding responsively is therefore a critical element of establishing and maintaining milk supply, supporting weight gain and promoting positive longer term eating behaviour in children.

More importantly, it is the norm and biological expectation of young babies, and a central element of a responsive parenting relationship however a baby is fed. Feeding responsively can be demanding for mothers though and as a society, rather than trying to normalise routines and scheduled feeding, we should be looking towards how we can value and support our new families better.

Mothering the mother so she can breastfeed her baby, and more widely, supporting the new family and a unit makes the new responsibility of caring for a young baby that little bit easier. Landry, S. Responsive parenting: establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental psychology , 42 4 , p. Gaertner, B. Focused attention in toddlers: Measurement, stability, and relations to negative emotion and parenting.

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