There is no real way to predict or even know how much formula your baby will need during its first 18 months of baby bottle feeding. However, the manufacturers do give you a rough guide to this mystery – and so will we.
Baby Bottle Feeding Basics
As an estimate you can work out how much your baby is likely to feed on over the duration of a day by allowing approx 70g of baby formula for every 500g of your baby's body weight. For example, a 4.5kg baby will consume around 700g of formula milk in a 24 hour period. NB: that may not work for low birth weight or premature babies or infants over 6 months of age.
Remember that all babies are very unique and different. Some have larger appetites than others, and provided your baby is putting on weight and growing in height there is generally little to worry about.
The All Important Baby Feeding Guide:
Newborn Babies - In their first days and weeks of life a newborn's tummy is not big enough to hold much formula milk. Most newborns will drink somewhere between 30-60ml, and they can feed 8 - 10 times a day.
1 month old babies - Over the first month your baby will start to take on more formula milk during each bottle feed, gradually increasing to 60-90ml, then 90 - 120ml each baby bottle. Learn more about safe baby bottles.
It may be a good idea to prepare around 30ml more baby formula milk in each bottle than you expect your baby to drink during a feed as this will ensure that a plentiful supply is available and stop you having to mix up some afresh if they're still hungry. Once your baby starts to finish the bottle on a regular basis (although you should never try and force your baby to drain the bottle) you'll know that their appetite is growing.
Your baby can really never drink too much, any excess he or she will simply vomit out. You can however feed your baby too little – they may become irritable, sleep less, and lose weight.
2 month old babies – When your baby is around two months of age they will usually need to feed between 6 and 8 times a day, drinking 120-180ml from each bottle.
4 month old babies - 4 month old babies will normally consume around 4 - 5 baby bottles a day, consuming between 180ml - 200ml each baby bottle feed.
6 month old babies - By the time your baby reaches 6 months of age they'll typically feed 3 or 4 times a day, drinking 200-220ml from each baby bottle.
It is around 6 months of age when you should start introducing solids into their little diets – this will obviously have an impact on the amount of baby bottle feeds they do in a day. However, most babies will still consume approximately 600ml of formula milk a day even when they're established on solids as they are unlikely to get all the nutrients they need from the small amounts of food they consume.
1 year old – Around your baby’s first birthday you can begin to wean them off baby milk formula, and get them into the habit of drinking cows milk. You should aim to give them at least 350ml a day to ensure they continue to get all the nutrients they need.
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