Newborn Feeding Schedule: How Often & Long Your Baby Will Eat

Bringing home a newborn comes with many questions, and one of the biggest is how often your baby should eat. A feeding schedule can offer guidance and peace of mind, helping you understand what’s normal and what to expect in those early weeks.

As a mom of 3, I know how helpful it is to have an idea of what to expect to make feedings less stressful and ensure your little one is getting the nutrition they need to grow. In this post we will explore what a newborn feeding schedule looks like and review some sample schedules for breastfeeding, formula feeding, pumping, and nighttime.

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How Often Do Newborns Eat?

Newborns typically eat every 1.5-3 hours. This type of schedules equates to an eat-on-demand situation. During the newborn stage, your baby will need to feed 10-12 times per day.

It’s true that this is a very demanding and time consuming schedule, but the good news is that as your baby grows and gets stronger beyond the newborn phase, the time between feeding sessions will increase and also the number of feeding sessions will decrease.

How Long is a Newborn Feeding Session?

Newborn feeding sessions typically last anywhere from 20-40 min. Especially for nursing moms, there are times a feeding session could even go a little longer than 40 minutes too. As your baby grows and gets stronger you can expect the time for feeding sessions to slowly decrease.

How Much Do Newborns Eat?

This question is more aimed at bottle feeding parents since you can visually see and track what your babies are eating. You can expect your newborn baby to drink about 1.5-3 oz per feed, and by around 1 month old babies drink approximately 3-4 oz per feed.

How To Count the Time Between Feeding Sessions

Unfortunately, the time between feeding sessions starts when your baby begins eating. It is NOT when your baby is finished nursing or finished with their bottle.

With a newborn baby needing to eat every 2-3 hours, this means if your baby takes 30 minutes to feed and then needs to eat again after 2 hours, you would have a 90 minute break before needing to feed your baby again.

Sample Newborn Breastfeeding Schedule

Now that you have a good understanding of how often and much a newborn eats, plus how long a newborn feeding sessions takes, let’s start looking at sample newborn feeding schedules. First up, in the chart below you will see a sample newborn breastfeeding schedule.

If you are nursing your little one, this is a good sample of what to expect. The most important thing to pay attention to is the time between nursing sessions. The times on this schedule and your own personal schedule will not always overlap – use the schedule as a guideline.

You might also want to check out this post on newborn breastfeeding schedules for an even more detailed review of what to expect.

Newborn breastfeeding schedule help: Printable Breastfeeding Tracker

Sample Newborn Formula Feeding Schedule

If you are formula feeding, then the schedule below is the one you will want to use. For a more comprehensive review you can also check out this article about newborn formula feeding schedules.

Newborn formula feeding schedule help: Printable Bottle Feeding Log

Sample Newborn Feeding Schedule When Exclusively Pumping

You will want to follow this pumping schedule: 8 pumps/day @ 6am, 8am, 10am, 1pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, midnight.

You can adjust the times as needed, but make sure you are pumping at least 8 times per day. If you find yourself needing more milk, you can add another pumping session or pump for longer during each session.

Your baby’s bottle feeding schedule will be what was shared above. They will drink from their bottle every 1.5-3 hours, with the bottle feeding session lastly approximately 20-30 min.

Exclusive pumping schedule help: Printable Pumping Schedules by Baby’s Age

Newborn Nighttime Feeding Schedule

Feeding a newborn at night can definitely add quite a bit of stress for new parents. Here is a sample schedule of what to expect. The good news is it WILL get easier and less demanding as each month goes by.

Check out this article on newborn nighttime feeding schedules for more tips and help on this topic.

Newborn Feeding Schedule Help

Feeding a newborn takes a lot of time and energy. Any little things you can do to make the process go smoothly will help reduce your overwhelm. I recommend clicking the links below to see items that will you help stay on schedule, track feedings, and learn how to feed your baby correctly and efficiently.

• Newborn Feeding Log & Tracker
• Printable Sample Baby Schedules
• Breastfeeding & Pumping Classes from Milkology – learn how to breastfeed or exclusively pump and boost your milk supply

Understanding a newborn feeding schedule can help reduce overwhelm during those early, unpredictable days.

Every baby is different, so be sure to watch for hunger cues and stay flexible as their needs change. Whether you’re breastfeeding, formula feeding, pumping, or a mix of those things consistency and patience will make the process smoother. Over time, you’ll find a rhythm that works for your family and helps your baby thrive. Good luck!