How Often Do Newborns Need to Eat?

On Demand

Advocates of attachment parenting believe a baby should be fed on demand or whenever she is hungry. This can be beneficial to not only the baby, who will have her needs met, but to the mother, who can engage in bonding frequently with her newborn child. Frequent feedings also help a breastfeeding mother build up her milk supply during the first few weeks of feeding. Feeding on demand will ensure you baby is not going hungry for any period of time, but it can also leave you feeling like all you do is nurse or make bottles.

Some parents choose to put their baby on a feeding schedule immediately after birth to provide some routine and predictability to what can be a maddening endeavor. Newborn babies who are fed on a schedule may cry more frequently than babies fed on demand--at least initially--because they may go for periods of time being slightly hungry. It is recommended to feed on demand until your baby is around one month of age, when he can go longer periods of time without feeding, according to Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway, authors of "What to Expect the First Year."

Breastfed babies tend to eat more frequently than formula fed babies because breast milk is more easily digested, leaving the baby wanting more food in a shorter period of time. Most breastfed babies will go anywhere from an hour to three hours between feedings, meaning they will feed an average of 10 to 12 times per day. Attempting to feed your baby more at each feeding will not lessen the time span and may actually give your baby an upset stomach or lead to spitting up.

Formula fed babies can generally go longer periods of time between eating (i.e., three to four hours) due to the large curds formed by the digestion of infant formula. These curds take longer to digest and leave your baby feeling full for a longer period of time. For this reason, formula fed babies are usually fed six to eight times per day, although it may be less if your baby can go for a longer period during the night. You should never let your baby go more than four hours without eating in the first month of life, even if you need to wake her to feed.