How often should a 4 month old breastfeed?

Question

I have decided to stop trying to get my baby on a schedule and just do baby led feeding, but how often on average does a 4 month old nurse?

How many times a day, and when can i excpect him to not need milk at night?

Answer 1

my baby is now 7 months. when she was 4 months I breastfed her about 6 to 7 times a day. but each feed too about 10 - 15 minutes. one night feed took 30 - 60 minutes every night. I prefer to breastfeed on demand. i also realised that depending on what your day is like such as going out or staying at home - babies may need less feeds when out.

now at 7 months my baby feeds are 5 times a day with food but it often diefferent times depending on her day.

so there is no correct number of times a 4 month needs to be breastfed just do 'baby let feeding'.

Answer 2

Your baby sounds pretty normal. Anything from 2-4 hours (or any combination there-of) would be typical. Most babies this age are going a longer stretch or two at night, but some are still nursing every 2-4 hours around the clock. I nursed on demand, so don't remember how often she ate -- but probably about every 2 hours, with 2 3-5 hour stretches at night.

Answer 3

Usually about every 2-3 hours, but the 4 month growth spurt is probably coming up so I wouldn't be surprised if your baby fed more frequently for a while. My daughter is 2 months old and she feeds every 1-2 hours, but during a growth spurt she feeds pretty much constantly with 10 min cat naps. I found the best thing to do was to stop watching the clock and just feed when they cue for it. That eliminated a lot of stress for me. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

'Getting' your baby on a schedule just really isn't compatible with breastfeeding which should be on demand, but they often get themselves into thei own routine, with the odd moment needed for flexibiltiy, of course!

At 4 months, my daughter was still feedinng roughly every 2 hours; sometimes still less and sometimes going a bit more, and just a bit longer through the night so i was still doing a couple of night feeds.

Now she is 7 and a half months, she is feeding every 3-4 hours and still once or twice at night - there is no magic age to 'expect' them to go through the night, I'm afraid - it can be anything from a month or so to a year or so...!

Answer 5

All 3 of mine fed every hour and a half to 2 hours at first then gradually got to 3 hours. All babies are different though and it did make a difference if i was eating a healthy diet or not, they seemed to need more when my diet was crap! Also they go through growth spurts and need more frequent feeds approx 12wks, 6months and 9 months, then they settle into their own routines again. If you start introducing solids by about 9 months you will find they cut down on milk feeds then.

Answer 6

The whole point about baby led feeding is that you shouldn't be asking about schedules. There is no such thing as normal. If you are giving no other fluids then you can expect the baby to nurse more frequently than one who is having drinks of water. Also more frequently in hot weather. My babies had stopped wakening in the night by that age but they are all different. Mine were both still feeding very frequently during the day at 4 months - about every 3 to 4 hours, but that doesn't mean yours will be the same. The clock has no place when it comes to feeding babies.

Answer 7

Good on you, breastfed babies rarely take to a schedule, and trying too hard to keep them on one can affect your supply badly.

Ok, I've got a four month old at the moment, and she probably feeds at least 12 times in a 24 hour period. Sometimes she just snacks for five minutes at a time, then goes for a while without, sometimes she drinks for a LOOOONG time at once and shortly afterwards wants a top up, sometimes she will want to be held and will snack for 30 secs, look around for a minute or two, then snack again for another 20 secs, and so on.

All my other babies (four others) were the same at this age too.

Answer 8

Hello and congratulations, not only on your new baby but also that you have decided to feed yourself. Firstly I have three children and breastfed all of them and I can tell you that schedule's when breastfeeding just do not work. My eldest needed feeding every two hours during the day and every three at night, My middle child was fantastic and fed every four hours during the day and slept through at night and my youngest was a tiring one. He was fed every hour on the hour night and day. Your see your milk depends on your diet. With my first and last my diet was not always adequate because of working and money. But with my middle child we had money and I had given up work so I was eating good food and was not stressed. Also drinking fennel tea helps boost the quantity of milk so more milk at feeds means more time in between. Your baby will let you know when he or she is hungry, just make sure you don't give water to stretch out feeds because it fills the babies tummy and they will go without a feed and not put on weight. Good luck, I'm afraid it is all trial and error.

Answer 9

There's no easy answer for this. Sorry. My first still fed every couple of hours. She sometimes had a four-hour stretch.

About the night feedings--expect them to continue for the foreseeable future. Just bring him into bed with you for feedings. When he's done, you can return him to the crib or not. There is a book that can help you with this. It's called The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. It's genius.

Answer 10

Every 4 hours is a good guide. When it comes to breastfeeding though, demand feeding during the day (to a certain extent) is usually a good idea. Any less than 2 hourly for a 4 month old is probably a bit excessive and I would start to check if you have enough of a milk supply. You can start introducing basic solids from now on but only after a breastfeed till she/he is 6 mths+
Night feeds at 4mths should be no more than 2-3, by 6-7mths they should be able to sleep through without a feed.

Best of luck