How many times do babies breastfeed in each month?

When it comes to breastfeeding, many young parents have misunderstandings. For example, women nowadays will greatly shorten the breastfeeding period for the sake of their figure. This practice is wrong, especially for some babies who are relatively weak, in which case the breastfeeding period must be extended. Breastfeeding is extremely beneficial to the baby and even plays an irreplaceable role. So how many times should babies of different sizes be breastfed?

Number of times babies breastfeed at each month:

How many times a day should a baby eat? This is a question that new mothers are very concerned about. Everyone knows that it is better to feed on demand, but how many times a day should you feed your baby? What is the feeding frequency for each age group? Is there any reference basis?

How many times a day should a newborn be fed? How many times do babies of different ages need to breastfeed?

Frequency of feeding for babies at different ages

At this time, feed it two or three times an hour, sometimes once every 2 or 3 hours. Newborn babies in the first two weeks are small and have small appetites, so they don't need much each time. Breastfeeding is a strenuous job, especially in the early postpartum period when the milk letdown cannot accurately save the baby's energy, and it is very common for the baby to eat and sleep at the same time.

In addition, breast milk digests quickly, so the interval between two feedings may be only one hour or even shorter. Babies usually feed 8-12 times a day, or even more. Sometimes they can sleep for 2 or 3 hours in a row before feeding. After all, newborn babies need enough sleep. Even if it’s irregular it’s normal.

2. Two weeks after confinement

This stage begins to become a little regular, but the regularity is still not enough. After the third full month, you may find that the baby's sleep pattern is a little regular, and the feeding interval is gradually transitioning to 2 hours. At this time, the baby's physical strength is obviously better than the first two weeks, and he gradually begins to adapt to this new world. After feeding, he can sleep soundly for a while. But if the baby starts crying and is difficult to comfort, things may get messy again.

Many mothers will find that starting from the third week, the baby seems not as easy to take care of as before. There is more crying and more situations where the child cannot be comforted. This is not because the mother's milk has decreased, but because the baby is growing up and the time spent awake begins to lengthen.

The alternation of day and night, the discomfort of bloating after feeding, the unfamiliarity and uneasiness of the surrounding environment, and even the warmth or coldness of the temperature can easily make newborns anxious and crying. This is the most frustrating period for new mothers, and they are on the verge of collapse at any moment.

3. 2-3 months old

It is common for babies to feed every 2-3 hours during this stage. For many children around 2 to 3 months old, the intervals between breastfeeding become significantly longer, and most of the time they can eat every 2 or 3 hours. Generally speaking, at three months old, if parents can arrange a rich and reasonable life for their baby, most babies can eat milk every three hours or so.

If a 3-month-old baby often eats less than every 3 hours, and the intervals between breastfeeding are very short and irregular, then parents should pay attention to whether there is a problem, such as a disordered schedule. If so, it is not that the baby's breastfeeding behavior is wrong, but that the adults do not take good care of the baby's sleep and do not arrange their daily life well.

Children often cannot sleep well because they are not comforted enough. Mothers have no choice but to frequently use milk to comfort them. Children also get used to asking for milk when they want to be comforted. Every time the baby looks like he really wants to breastfeed, so the mother will think that the baby is really hungry. But your baby may need to be comforted more at this time.

4. 4-5 months old

During this stage, the baby mostly eats once every 3 or 4 hours, and is not a well-behaved eater. The intervals between feedings can even be extended to 3 or 4 hours, and the duration of a single feeding is also shorter. He may be full in 5 minutes, and will be very full after eating for 10 minutes.

At this stage, the mother's lactation can match that of the baby, and the supply and demand balance can generally be achieved. If the baby doesn’t eat, he won’t produce milk. Once he eats, he will produce milk. He will have better physical strength and become more skilled at breastfeeding, so his breastfeeding efficiency will also be improved. Efficient breastfeeding can better meet the developmental needs of babies of this age. They always want to observe changes in the surrounding environment, eat quickly, and then go play. Their full curiosity makes them temporarily lose their previous enthusiasm for breastfeeding.

Luo Yu, a lactation consultant in Changsha, reminds mothers that it is easy for them to make mistakes if they cannot figure out the truth about “not enough milk” at this stage.

For example, if you don’t understand the characteristics of breast lactation, don’t know how to balance supply and demand, and don’t know why your baby suddenly “doesn’t want to breastfeed”, you may take measures that are not suitable for your baby. For example, some people think that if their breasts are not engorged it means that they have too little milk, so they add formula milk. Or, in order to make their baby "feel fuller", they press their baby's head and force the baby to feed. However, they do not realize that these methods actually make the situation "worse".

5, 6-9 months

Children at this age are easier to coax, but they eat less milk because they have fallen in love with complementary foods. Starting from 6 months, the baby is already very familiar with the surrounding environment and is less likely to look around for trivial matters. He is more obedient when feeding and feeds longer. At the same time, it is the period when complementary foods begin to be added. Both the family and the baby have a strong interest in various complementary foods, so the complementary foods are eaten happily and to the satisfaction of both parties.

At the age of seven, babies start to crawl, and most parents are happy to let their babies crawl fully. With so many delicious and fun things to do, the baby obviously feeds less often, sometimes only 2 or 3 times a day. Mothers who are worried that their babies will wean themselves off breast milk should not be afraid. This situation will only last for a short period of time, and the period of being unable to stop will soon come......

6, 10-11 months

At this stage, the baby either has milk tuberculosis or refuses to eat. By the time many babies are 10 months old, they have become accustomed to eating complementary foods, and some begin to gradually lose interest. Crawling becomes the favorite and most proficient activity for babies of this age.

If the baby has activities that can devote energy and physical strength, such as crawling, exploring everywhere, various games and playing, it will not be easy for him to remember to breastfeed temporarily. On the contrary, when there are no new activities to provide the baby at this stage, and the baby's curiosity and desire to explore cannot be satisfied, the baby will choose to breastfeed in the mother's arms to pass the time. At this time, eating every 2, 3, or 4 hours is quite abnormal.

Play and solve the problem of difficulty in eating and sleeping.

Some parents do not restrict their babies from crawling and playing. Such babies enjoy crawling more and have a wider range of activities. There are always new things to attract their attention. Babies will be keen to explore everywhere and forget to breastfeed. However, some parents restrict their babies from crawling and playing anywhere because they are afraid of getting dirty or tiring their babies. Or they often use "holding the baby and walking around" as the main activity for the baby in a day.

In this way, the baby's mental input and physical energy consumption are very limited, and insufficient consumption cannot meet the growth and development needs of babies of this age. If the baby is in this state of ambition most of the time, the only thing that makes the baby feel interesting is breastfeeding in the mother's arms.

7. 1-2 years old

This time may be the time when your baby feeds most frequently. Babies will experience many growing pains as they begin to learn to speak, walk, and interact with more people, so they always want to return to their mother's arms for a mouthful of milk to calm their nerves. Mothers are accustomed to calling it the "milk attachment period" (there may be several periods of milk attachment of varying degrees throughout the breastfeeding process, but this time it is more obvious and longer).

Before the age of one, babies develop physically very rapidly, so they are generally very interested in milk and complementary foods and have a relatively large appetite. After one year old, the body's development rate will be significantly slower than before one year old, which means that the body does not need to consume so much nutrition, so many babies' appetite after one year old will be significantly smaller than before one year old.

Baby's love for milk can easily cause mother's anxiety

If you don't take some inappropriate reinforcement actions for your baby to eat more milk and less food, such as forcing the child to eat, forcibly limiting breastfeeding, and family members showing strong anxiety, the milk craving will gradually pass, and the baby will gradually return to the state of "playing when it's time to play, eating when it's time to eat", and will no longer maintain interest in breast milk.

If you are a full-time mother raising your child alone, then make a rule for both your baby and yourself: do not drink "calming milk" half an hour before meals. In order to avoid a fight between mother and child, the mother should have prepared games that can distract the baby's attention from breastfeeding. In short, to balance eating well and not doing things against a baby who is nursing, you need to be smart and pay with both mental and physical effort. Fortunately, it was only half a year at most.

How many times a day should a newborn be fed? How many times do babies of different ages breastfeed?

8. After 2 years old

Chances are your baby will only eat a few bites a day. At this time, when the baby is breastfeeding, it is mostly an emotional exchange with the mother. As the baby grows up, his physical and mental strength develops by leaps and bounds, and his life experience becomes richer. Although he is still very immature, his thinking and ability to communicate with the environment have been qualitatively improved, and it has become normal for him to communicate with his mother through language, body language and other means.

In this way, the baby will naturally consume less milk. Once your baby is emotionally satisfied and his sleep associations have changed, it's time to wean him.

In short, how many times a baby feeds will also be related to the baby's personality. Luo Yu, a lactation consultant in Changsha, reminds parents that for twins with the same feeding method, one may breastfeed more often while the other may breastfeed less often, which is normal for both babies. Environmental changes, family changes, separation anxiety, etc. may all affect the frequency of baby's breastfeeding. Once the mother knows herself and the enemy, it will be easier for her to face it calmly.