how often do you nurse

I breastfed, and we never went by a schedule. We just nursed on demand. I recognized  her hunger cues, and nursed he when she was hungry. It was always at least every 4 hours, but during a growth spurt, it was every 20 minutes for 20 minutes. LOL.  Every baby is different, but if you nurse on demand, you wont have to worry about losing your milk supply or your baby not thriving.

my daughter was just feed when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, and held when she wanted to be.

She's 2 months now and sleeps through the night from 10 p.m. to 8-9 a.m. Eats every 3-4 hours during the day. (Formula)

She usually takes a nap in the morning and afternoon.

Both of mine nursed every two hours. During growth spurts its  more often. Your baby will make his or her own schedule for you :)

Quoting mamalinzie:

I breastfed, and we never went by a schedule. We just nursed on demand. I recognized  her hunger cues, and nursed he when she was hungry. It was always at least every 4 hours, but during a growth spurt, it was every 20 minutes for 20 minutes. LOL.  Every baby is different, but if you nurse on demand, you wont have to worry about losing your milk supply or your baby not thriving.

Thank you for that answer. I tried with my daughters but did so every 3 hours like the hospital said and then my milk was going away! I had to end up giving them formula I didnt know what I was doing wrong. My son was born 29 weeks and I pumped about 30 min every 3 hours for 5 months....it was hard to get enough milk when he got older to feed him since he got big and wanted more so I quit. this one (hopefully I can keep her in long enough) I am going to brestfeed there will be no bottles in the house and I was wondering how to keep my milk coming in. This was a great answer thank you. Oh and to Ycnim good luck with nursing also!!!!

Thanks!  This is so helpful.  I hope mine sleeps 10pm - 9am!!! 

When my first was a newborn he nursed every 1-2 hours around the clock.  He napped basically after/during every feeding and would wake whenever I tried to put him down.

My second was born 5 weeks early.  If left to his own devices he would have nursed just about every 3 hours and he'd only stay awake about 5 minutes after that before passing out again.    I woke him more than that to nurse, though (every 1-2 hours) and he still slept basically all the time.  He started doing a 6 hours stretch at night around 3 weeks (of course, that didn't last long... teething and separation anxiety and all that). 

Some babies nurse all the time, some don't.   Expect constant nursing and little sleep the first 6 weeks and be pleasantly surprised with anything different.

I agree, as usual. (Nice to see you around again, Leanne LOL.)

Most newborns will nurse CONSTANTLY...though there ARE exceptions to that. But since your milk will come in only as soon and as much as it is demanded, nursing practically 24/7 until it does is just the baby's natural way of letting your body know "Hey, get crackin' cause I'm hungry!" They're also often fussy during feedings for the same reason, and alot of mamas make the mistake of thinking "Oh no, I'm not making enough milk!" and give a bottle to try to fill them up. This is sabotage LOL. Your body will stop producing when the baby stops trying to get milk from it....so if they fuss and struggle, and you cave and give them a bottle, you are silencing the cue to make more milk. It's the first step on the path to failure. So I guess what I'm getting at is that if you have a baby that seems to want to nurse on the hour, every hour, and just can't get enough, LET THEM! It's normal, because not only are all babies different, but all boobs are different too. Fussing over your boobs is the baby's way of communicating their increasing needs.

Same with the night feedings. Most babies will eat during the night because that's when they grow. There are exceptions, but generally, it's expected for most of them to. The best thing I ever did was stop trying to discourage it and just stick him on my boob until he passed back out. That phase was over with before I knew it. I think that if our culture wasn't so sold on "sleeping through night=good baby" we wouldn't feel so tired the next day because we wouldn't be stressing all night when they didn't, ya know? We'd just expect, feed them, go back to sleep, and not care LOL.

Quoting LeanneC:

When my first was a newborn he nursed every 1-2 hours around the clock.  He napped basically after/during every feeding and would wake whenever I tried to put him down.

My second was born 5 weeks early.  If left to his own devices he would have nursed just about every 3 hours and he'd only stay awake about 5 minutes after that before passing out again.    I woke him more than that to nurse, though (every 1-2 hours) and he still slept basically all the time.  He started doing a 6 hours stretch at night around 3 weeks (of course, that didn't last long... teething and separation anxiety and all that). 

Some babies nurse all the time, some don't.   Expect constant nursing and little sleep the first 6 weeks and be pleasantly surprised with anything different.

My first was bf on demand, my second was every 2 hrs as was my third ( they both had very bad jaundice.  When this went away I feed every 4 hrs unless they became hungary earlier.

There is info on my page about BF. Pleae check it out.

I nurse on demand. Pretty much whenever the baby fusses I nurse them.