How Many Ounces Should My Newborn Eat?
- Your newborn should nurse 8-12 times per day in the first month of life. After the first month, your baby will take longer breaks between feedings. You may choose to nurse on one breast at a time, or 15 minutes on each breast. There is no way to know exactly how much milk your baby is ingesting.
- In the first month of his or her life, a bottle-fed baby will need 2 to 3 ounces of formula every four hours. But it is not necessary to have a rigid schedule. Your baby will let you know if he or she is still hungry, and you should offer the bottle accordingly. By the time your baby is 6 weeks old, he or she should be fed 4 to 5 ounces of formula, 6 to 8 times per day. If you multiply your baby's weight by 2.5, you will get a rough estimate of how many ounces he or she needs per day.
- If your baby is not gaining weight but you want to keep breastfeeding, need to go back to work or simply want a break, pumping can help you get a better handle on how much milk the baby is consuming. You can assume your baby is getting about 3 ounces per feeding. Breastfed babies drink somewhere between 25 ounces and 30 ounces per day. Take into account that every baby is different and what you are able to pump does not necessarily indicate how much milk you actually have. The pumping process is completely different than the act of a child nursing at the breast. A nursing baby generally gets more out of a breast than a pump.
