diff --git a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
index 7505f1eb0dbc7..381cb5db9dcb5 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
@@ -640,7 +640,7 @@ describe(`gatsby-node`, () => {
 
     expect(actions.createNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(46)
     expect(actions.deleteNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0)
-    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(32)
+    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0)
     expect(reporter.info.mock.calls).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
       Array [
         Array [
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ describe(`gatsby-node`, () => {
 
     expect(actions.createNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(54)
     expect(actions.deleteNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0)
-    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(72)
+    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0)
     expect(reporter.info.mock.calls).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
       Array [
         Array [
@@ -883,7 +883,7 @@ describe(`gatsby-node`, () => {
 
     expect(actions.createNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(52)
     expect(actions.deleteNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
-    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(74)
+    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
     expect(reporter.info.mock.calls).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
       Array [
         Array [
@@ -969,7 +969,7 @@ describe(`gatsby-node`, () => {
 
     expect(actions.createNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(54)
     expect(actions.deleteNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
-    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(74)
+    expect(actions.touchNode).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
     expect(reporter.info.mock.calls).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
       Array [
         Array [
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/source-nodes.js b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/source-nodes.js
index be473a0c50e7a..5b9927de5cf82 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/source-nodes.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/source-nodes.js
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ const CONTENT_DIGEST_COUNTER_SEPARATOR = `_COUNT_`
  * or the fallback field or the default field.
  */
 
+let isFirstSource = true
 export async function sourceNodes(
   {
     actions,
@@ -58,16 +59,22 @@ export async function sourceNodes(
     actions
   const online = await isOnline()
 
-  getNodes().forEach(node => {
-    if (node.internal.owner !== `gatsby-source-contentful`) {
-      return
-    }
-    touchNode(node)
-    if (node?.fields?.localFile) {
-      // Prevent GraphQL type inference from crashing on this property
-      touchNode(getNode(node.fields.localFile))
-    }
-  })
+  // Gatsby only checks if a node has been touched on the first sourcing.
+  // As iterating and touching nodes can grow quite expensive on larger sites with
+  // 1000s of nodes, we'll skip doing this on subsequent sources.
+  if (isFirstSource) {
+    getNodes().forEach(node => {
+      if (node.internal.owner !== `gatsby-source-contentful`) {
+        return
+      }
+      touchNode(node)
+      if (node?.fields?.localFile) {
+        // Prevent GraphQL type inference from crashing on this property
+        touchNode(getNode(node.fields.localFile))
+      }
+    })
+    isFirstSource = false
+  }
 
   if (
     !online &&