Breastfed babies need to feed frequently. Young babies will generally need at least 8 feeds and may have as many as 12 or more feeds in 24 hours. Your baby may also 'cluster' feed, having a few of his breastfeeds close together then the rest spaced out a little more - this is normal. The important thing to remember is that the more often a baby suckles at the breast, the more milk is produced.

At times during the early weeks, your baby may appear to be more hungry than usual. He will be"asking" to build up your supply in preparation for a spurt of growing and developing. Occasionally a very placid baby who regularly sleeps for long stretches may need to be woken to be fed.

Don't be tempted to make comparisons between how often your baby feeds and a bottle-fed baby's patterns. Breastfed babies have a totally different pattern of feeding.

Download this page (together with the other questions), as an information sheet entitled ´Questions New Mothers Ask´ on our leaflet downloads page. You can also download and read this information in Spanish on the leaflet downloads page.

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