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How Often Should I Nurse?

One of the first questions a new mom often asks is, "How often should I nurse?"

The first general rule is to always feed a hungry baby.

How often that occurs depends on the uniqueness of each child. On average (for the first few weeks), babies signal for food every 2½-3 hours. It may be less and sometimes slightly more.

How do you measure the time between feedings?

Feedings are best measured from the beginning of one feeding to the beginning of the next. There are two components involved:

1. The time it takes for a feeding, approximately 20-30 minutes, and
2. The total wake and sleep time, which averages 2 hours.

Add them together and you come up with your 2½ hour feeding cycle. A 3-hour routine reflects the same components but with a longer wake and sleep time.

With these recommended times, you will average between 8-10 feedings a day in the early weeks, which falls within the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Can infants adapt or learn to respond to feeding routines in the early weeks of life?

Researcher D.P. Marquis compared babies fed on a 3-hour routine, a 4-hour routine, and on demand. The study concluded that while all three groups demonstrated a considerable capacity to adapt to whatever the feeding environment required, the preferred period by all the babies, as demonstrated by their collective outcomes, was 3 hours.

Even the babies fed on-demand had a natural inclination to organize their feeding times to reflect a 3-hour routine. Babies who were fed every 4 hours, showed a preference toward 3 hours.

One amazing aspect of this study is the year it was conducted: 1941. Here we are, more than 70 years later and the findings have been duplicated, but never repudiated.

An infant’s natural inclination is to organize his feeding into predictable cycles early in life. One reason the PDF philosophy is so successful is it supports and encourages these natural inclinations of a baby toward routine and predictable feedings.

What to Do If Baby Wakes from Nap Crying

1. Is baby’s crying loud and piercing or soft and whimpering?

Being able to identify the type of cry baby makes is a game changer. A loud, piercing cry during nap time needs to be addressed. Check on baby and see what he needs. Sometimes help re-positioning himself or a pat on the back is enough to help baby fall back asleep.

If baby’s cry is soft whimpering (or even one or two loud cries followed by silence), wait a few minutes. It’s normal for baby to fuss slightly when moving around during nap time.

2. Is crying during nap a normal or abnormal behavior for your baby?

Many babies may briefly cry out during nap times and then quickly return to sleeping. If a bit of crying is normal for your child and the crying isn’t loud or piercing, it’s wise to leave baby to continue her nap.

If your baby doesn’t typically cry out during nap time (and especially if the cry is loud and piercing), check on baby immediately.

3. Is the crying occurring 45 minutes (or so) after baby falls asleep?

It’s quite common for baby to awaken about 45 minutes into their naps, fuss slightly, and then resettle themselves back into a sound sleep. If this is occurring and you baby isn’t crying more than a moment or two, you should let him continue his nap.

If baby cries after 30-45 minutes and shows no sign of returning to sleep, you’ve encountered a waking-early nap challenge. You’ll want to isolate the source of baby’s problem (hunger, discomfort, fatigue) and work to address it. Get baby up and begin by seeing if he’s hungry.

4. Is baby around the age of four months (or so)?

Around four months of age, baby sleep patterns begin to mature and include periods of both deep and light sleep. Throughout this time period, babies often find themselves waking unexpectedly and having a difficult time falling asleep. If this describes your situation, take a look at these Babywise sleep regression solutions.

5. Is baby swaddled at nap time?

Swaddling at nap can be a cue to baby that it’s time for an extended stretch of sleep. Swaddling can also prevent baby from startling himself awake (the Moro reflex). If baby isn’t yet rolling over and is waking early from nap, consider pulling out the swaddle. Experiment to determine if swaddling baby will help him fall into a deeper sleep.

If baby has learned how to roll over, or is consistently getting out of the swaddle, it may be time to break baby from his swaddle.

6. Is baby sick or teething?

If baby wakes up early from nap unexpectedly with loud, piercing cries, it could be that baby is sick or teething. Consider checking baby’s temperature and looking for signs of illness (congestion, runny nose, changes with bowel movements). Teething can also cause these symptoms.