When will my 2 month old breastfed baby go longer than 2 hours between feedings?

Question

I'm breastfeeding my 2 month old baby and she's been eating every 2 hours since she was born. I've read that the time between feedings should be expanding now. When will she start to go longer? BTW she eats for about 10 minutes when she eats and stops herself, I don't stop her. Thanks!

Answer 1

I felt like a human pacifier for about the first 3 months..I thought the same thing but it was not until he was about 3-4 months old that my son started stretching out the feedings. Good luck!

Answer 2

Each baby is different so it will be hard to say. I have a grandson who will be 4 months old next week. He is being exclusively breast fed. During the day he goes 2-3 hours between feedings while at night he can sleep 4-7 hours. Until recently he was eating about every 2 hours during the day. My own 4 children were breast fed and I seem to remember that the 3 month age was about the time they all began to do more besides eat and sleep (either that or it took about 3 months for me to come out of that "new baby fog" and remember more!). I fed on demand and never really paid much attention to how long in between feedings. Sometimes it seemed like every hour we were nursing and other times 3-4 hours went by before the baby was hungry again. I just mention that because right now it seems as though you have a baby attached to your breast all the time, but it really will get better and you won't remember so much how often, but will have fond memories of the special bond between the 2 of you.

Answer 3

My baby is four months and started going longer between feedings about two weeks ago. I think this happened not because I introduced solids but because there are more fun things to do than eat. She can play longer without getting bored. I hate to say it's going to be that long before you might get a break from the frequent feeding. Besides, I think that all the stuff they write about how often a baby should eat is for formula-fed babies. I always just feed my baby when she wants even if that means she just ate an hour ago. It's what's best for them...in my opinion.

Answer 4

My baby usually gets fussy about the breast for two reasons: 1. She has tummy pains (gas, etc.). You can try extra burping or mylicon to fix this. 2. She is very tired or otherwise just not feeling well. He may just be changing his eating pattern though. My 3.5 month old still feeds every 2-3 hours during the day, but she sleeps 10-12 hours at night (and has slept 6+ hours since five weeks when I was allowed to stop waking her). Babies can go quite a while without nursing if they have matured enough and are growing well. I would call the doctor/advice nurse if he keeps it up for another day, especially if he starts to get lethargic. As for the bottles, my baby has had bottles (with slow-flow nipples) since the beginning. I had to pump and feed her extra to get her weight back up, because she lost 10% in her first three days (at the hospital). She takes about one pumped bottle every day or two, but still eagerly nurses from the breast. I think my flow is faster than the nipples I use, so that really helps. You can also try spoon or syringe feeding, if you are worried about the bottle, but he might be a little old for that.

Answer 5

My dr. told me to start spreading the time out myself. Start with 2 hrs and 15 min for a few days, then switch to 2 and a half hours for a few months, maybe 2. Then adjust by 15 min until 3 hrs, but babies should not go longer than 3 hours between feedings no matter how busy you are(except during night). Better digestion and better metabolism. Once they are 14 lbs, they can go 7 hours or so at night between feedings, but you should still feed them every three hours or so after that during the day.

Answer 6

My baby nurses from one side for about 10 minutes and then she is done. I've tried burping her and offering the other side but she does not want it. She is 3 months old now and nurses every 2 1/2 hours during the day. At night time it's every 4-6 hours.

Answer 7

Yeah thats a hard one cause I fed my boy every 4 hours and he was bottle fed tho. Maybe cause she is stopping herself thats why, cause I know with bottle feeding he had to take 20 minutes per drink so it sounds like your little one is halfing her drink but drinking more often. Ill keep an eye out for answer its an interesting question.

Oh I just remembered something when my little boy wanted adrink every 3 hours the midwife suggested a bottle of warmed water in between to stretch him out to 4 hourly feeds.

How fast we forget he is only 5 months and I nearly forgot that already lol.

Good Luck

Answer 8

My bestfriends son started going longer around 4 months when she introduced cereal feedings at bedtime and in the mornings but before that he was 1-2 hrs between feedings. Babies eat when they are hungry and some babies need to eat smaller meals more frequently especially with sensitive stomaches

Answer 9

i would make sure to burp her after nursing on each side, she might just be filling up with air a little too quickly. then she's hungry again so soon. it sounds simple but i had the same problem. my daughter is 6 months and has been nursing every 3 waking hours from about 3 months. before that i was nursing every 1 1/2 to 2 hours and i know how draining that can be

Answer 10

Each baby is soo different, Ive had 5 all up, and it was my 5th baby that slept the best, he came home from the hospital sleeping 5 hourly. I was gobsmacked.

Most babies do start to sleep longer as they grow bigger, some go backwards, and others are angels till their teeth start coming through... since youre already at 2 hourly, it cant go backwards, so she will have to start sleeping longer soon.

I personally dont think theres anythign you can do to make them sleep better, especially since youre breastfeeding, dont be thinking that formula will make her sleep longer (Ive had friends who stop breastfeeding and put their babies on formula becuase they want a better night sleep and get highly disapointed) she will start to sleep longer hours.

Theres a slim chance your breastmilk may not be filling her enough, (how many wet nappies does she have? still 6 or more?) if she has very few wet nappies chances are shes waking up more often because she is thirsty, if so, I would ring your midwife and tell her your concerns to see if they have any ideas to help get your breast milk production up.

But to be honest it sounds like youre doing everything right, you just have a snacker :)

goodluck!