HOW LONG SHOULD A BREAST-FED BABY NURSE, AND HOW OFTEN?       About 3 to 5 minutes on each breast for the first few feedings. Then add 1 minute on each breast every 2nd day until a maximum of 15 minutes per breast is reached. The baby gets protein-rich colostrum while the pure thin-bluish milk is getting ready to come in, which it will do at exactly the right time for your baby. Then the baby can nurse longer, often falling asleep when he has had enough. When the milk is flowing freely, a baby can nurse from both breasts or alternate ones … emptying at least one breast per feeding. A complete breast feeding may take as few as five minutes or up to twenty-five minutes. For the first few days the baby will want to nurse frequently and doesn’t get as much at a single feeding. This is fine. Frequent nursing stimulates milk production. As time goes on the baby may sleep for quite a while between feedings. Letting the baby set his own feeding schedule usually works out best.