How Long Should a Baby Be Breast Fed

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The time it takes to breastfeed depends on a few things including your baby's historic period and your breast milk supply. An average feeding can last 10 to 20 minutes, merely a baby tin breastfeed anywhere from five to 45 minutes at each session.

Hither's a guide to assist you get an thought of how many minutes babies spend breastfeeding, what changes breastfeeding times, what brusque and long feedings can mean, and when to telephone call the doctor.

Factors That Affect Breastfeeding Fourth dimension

Some breastfed babies can take a full feeding in 8 minutes. Others need xxx minutes or more to get the same corporeality of breast milk. The things that influence a baby's feeding time include:

Age: An older baby can typically get enough breast milk in a shorter period.
Alertness: A sleepy baby may not breastfeed as well or as fast as a baby who is awake and alert.
Menstruum: If your breast milk flows quickly and you have an active let-down reflex, at that place is more milk available for your baby right away. However, if your catamenia is slow and your permit-downward is difficult or delayed, it can accept longer for your baby to become enough milk.
Health: A premature babe or a baby born with a health issue may tire out hands while breastfeeding; frequent breaks tin prolong feeding time.
Latch: A proficient latch helps a baby more finer remove breast milk and therefore get a full feeding in less time.
Milk supply: If you have a low chest milk supply or your baby is going through a growth spurt, your infant may spend more time breastfeeding to endeavour to get more breast milk.

Breastfeeding Time by Age

Age may have the greatest effect on how long it takes to breastfeed. Newborns need time to practice and learn, while older infants go sometime pros who can empty a breast in no time. Here'south some general information on historic period and feeding times.

Newborns

A newborn should be put to the breast at to the lowest degree every 2 to three hours and nurse for 10 to fifteen minutes on each side. An average of 20 to xxx minutes per feeding helps to ensure that the baby is getting enough breast milk. Information technology as well allows enough time to stimulate your body to build upward your milk supply.

The post-obit are signs that your newborn is breastfeeding long plenty at each feeding:

Your baby has at to the lowest degree six wet diapers a day later the 5th twenty-four hours of life.
Your babe is gaining weight well.
Your breasts feel softer and less full after each feeding.
Your child appears satisfied after each feeding and sleeps well between feedings.

3 to 4 Months

During the first few months, feeding times gradually go shorter and the time betwixt feedings gets a little longer. By the fourth dimension a baby is 3 to iv months erstwhile, they are breastfeeding, gaining weight, and growing well. It may only accept your babe about 5 to 10 minutes to empty the chest and get all the milk they need.

6 to ix months

With the outset of solid foods and drinking from a cup at approximately vi months along with the power to move around more than freely, older infants may only take quick feedings at the chest and so head off to play. Just, they may spend more time breastfeeding to sleep at night.

Toddlers

While breastfeeding continues to be beneficial for older children, it should not be the central part of a toddler'southward diet. Toddlers should be eating and drinking a variety of foods.

Your toddler may only breastfeed occasionally and chop-chop. All the same, they may spend more time at the breast if they are looking for security or comfort particularly during an illness or after an injury.

Adjustments to Your Routine

Experts recommend post-obit your baby's atomic number 82 when it comes to breastfeeding time and not worrying well-nigh the clock. When latched on properly and actively sucking, your baby should be left to nurse for every bit long as they want.

Once the baby stops sucking or falls asleep, you can suspension the suction of the latch, remove the baby from your breast, burp them or change their diaper, and offer them the other chest.

During certain times, you may experience variations in the time it takes your baby to breastfeed. You lot may need to adjust your routine to arrange the changes to your baby's needs.

Growth Spurts

Babies need more chest milk during and subsequently a growth spurt. So, during times of rapid growth, a child may breastfeed more oftentimes and spend more than time than normal nursing at each feeding.

The increase in breastfeeding fourth dimension is to attempt to get more diet and energy to support their growing bodies. And, by breastfeeding for a few minutes longer, information technology sends a signal to your torso to make more than chest milk.

Growth spurts can happen at any age, but they are common around 2 to 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and iii months of age.

Growth spurts only last a few days, so the baby usually settles back into a more normal breastfeeding routine.

Very Short Feedings

It tin accept a few minutes for your milk to let-down and begin flowing well. If your infant falls asleep or stops nursing before the allow-downwards, they won't go plenty milk. Plus, the content your breast milk changes from foremilk to hindmilk every bit your baby breastfeeds.

Information technology's important for your baby to nurse long enough at each breast to get to the hindmilk, which is higher in fat and calories. This milk helps your infant gain weight and remain satisfied between feedings.

Ending a nursing session before let-down besides leaves your breasts full of milk. It tin put you at risk for painful breast engorgement, plugged milk ducts, a decreased milk supply, and some of the other common issues of breastfeeding.

Endeavor to continue your baby awake and actively sucking at your chest for equally long as possible. If your baby is only nursing for a short time (less than 5 minutes) at about feedings, contact the pediatrician. Poor nursing could indicate a health issue, and yous will want to accept your babe examined right abroad.

Very Long Feedings

During the first few days of breastfeeding, it's not uncommon for a baby to nurse for a more than extended period, or to nurse very oftentimes. However, by the 5th day, your milk supply should increase, and your child should be able to get all the breast milk they need within 45 minutes.

If your infant is actively sucking at your breast for over 45 minutes at each feeding, information technology could mean that they are not getting enough milk. Call your doctor, your infant's pediatrician, or a lactation professional to evaluate the problem and assistance to resolve information technology as soon equally possible

Breast vs. Bottle Feeding Time

Babies suck differently on the canteen compared to at the breast. At present, some babies have a hard time with the bottle and feedings tin can take long, besides. But, since the flow of infant formula or breast milk from a bottle nipple is steady, a bottle-fed infant with a regular, consistent suck can generally finish a bottle in about 10 minutes.

The catamenia of milk from the breast is non steady like a bottle. Chest milk may start out slow then flow faster once the milk lets down. The period slows downwards again as the milk empties the breast.

Breastfed babies adjust their suck speed to the menstruum of breast milk. They suck approximately once per second or slower when the milk is flowing rapidly, and speed up the sucking when the milk flow slows downwards. Then, the time it takes to breastfeed depends on the amount and flow of breast milk and the baby'south suck.

Breastfeeding Challenges

If you are worried nearly how long your baby'south feedings are or if you have any questions nearly breastfeeding your baby, you should talk to the baby's md. You lot should as well telephone call the medico if your baby shows sure signs.

When to Telephone call the Doctor

Reach out to your healthcare provider if your babe:

Has very long or very short feedings
Has less than six wet diapers daily after day v
Is irritable, crying, and does seem satisfied later on about feedings
Is not breastfeeding well
Is too sleepy for well-nigh feedings

A Give-and-take From Verywell

Every infant is dissimilar, so is every mom. Your baby may latch on and breastfeed well from the first feeding or take a while to take hold of on. You may take no trouble at all with your permit-down reflex and building upwardly a healthy chest milk supply, or you may accept a difficult let-down and a delay in your milk production. There are so many things that can bear upon how long a feeding will take.

In the get-go, patience is the key. Yous and your baby need time to learn together. It tin can definitely be tough and exhausting if you're breastfeeding for 40 minutes every two hours. But, don't give upwardly.

Before you know it, you'll accept a healthy breast milk supply, your baby will get the hang of breastfeeding, and feeding times will be quicker and easier. Of course, if you're worried about feeding times that are as well long or too short or if you accept any questions, your doctor or your baby's md is the best source of data.

Thanks for your feedback!

Verywell Family uses only loftier-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to back up the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to larn more than about how we fact-check and proceed our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. FAQ: Breastfeeding Your Baby.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Your Guide to Breastfeeding.
American Academy of Pediatrics. Settling In: The First Few Weeks of Breastfeeding.

Additional Reading

American Academy of Pediatrics. New Mother's Guide To Breastfeeding. Runted Books. New York.
Lawrence, Ruth A., Doc, Lawrence, Robert M., MD. Breastfeeding A Guide For The Medical Profession Eighth Edition. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Protocol AB. ABM clinical protocol# 7: model breastfeeding policy (revision 2010). Breastfeeding Medicine. 2010;5(4).
Riordan, J., and Wambach, K. Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Fourth Edition. Jones and Bartlett Learning.

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