When yous're breastfeeding, figuring out whether your baby'southward getting the right amount to eat is unremarkably a pretty simple calculation — if plenty'southward coming out in the diaper, enough's going in. With bottle-feeding, however, there's some math to exercise. After all, yous'll desire to know how much you can wait your fiddling ane to down, or how much formula will get the bodyguard through the day — or y'all through the week. Which is why rough guidelines for formula amounts are so handy.

Simply these guidelines also come with some caveats. Canteen-fed babies, only like breastfed babies, know when they've had plenty. But because formula delivery is regulated past caregivers, it's possible that parental pushing — prodding your niggling one to have those last few ounces — can consequence in your bottle-fed baby getting too much of a good matter.

So take your cues from your baby's hunger and feed to match her ambition instead of to a specified number of ounces. Equally long as your baby is gaining enough weight, is wetting and dirtying plenty diapers, and is happy and healthy, you lot tin exist certain you're on target. Think: Let your fiddling 1 call the shots — and telephone call it quits — when it comes to feedings.

Formula feeding guide

So given those caveats, you may still be wondering how much formula in general your baby needs. As a dominion of thumb, infants nether 6 months who haven't yet started solids should exist taking two to 2½ ounces of formula per pound of body weight over a 24-hour period. In practice, that may work out to somewhere between 18 and 36 ounces per day, depending on your baby's size and mood.

So, if your baby weighs 10 pounds, that could interpret to 20 to 25 ounces of formula a day; in a 24-hour menstruum you'll be feeding your infant nearly three to 4 ounces every four hours.

But remember, every infant is unlike — bigger babies tend to drink more than smaller babies, and your baby'southward appetite may vary day-to-solar day and feeding-to-feeding. And then treat these guidelines equally crude approximations — there are no absolutes when it comes to how much formula to feed your little one at each meal — and e'er accept your cues from your baby. If she becomes fidgety or easily distracted during a feeding, she's probably had enough. If she drains the canteen and starts smacking her lips for more, she might still exist hungry.

Formula-feeding chart

Wondering just how much formula to requite your baby? Use this formula-feeding chart as a guide.

formula-feeding chart, how much formula does my baby need

How much formula does a newborn demand?

Your adorable parcel's tummy is tiny (the size of a fist — hers, not yours), and so information technology's best to start slowly when it comes to feedings.

For newborns, offer just one to 3 ounces at each feeding every iii to four hours (or on demand). Gradually up the ounces, calculation more than as the demand becomes greater, but never push a babe to take more than than she wants.

How much formula should y'all feed your infant by age?

Your cutie will be taking in more than formula at each feeding, anywhere from 3 to 7 ounces, depending on her historic period. Her stomach capacity has increased, too, which means she'll likely stretch out the time between feedings.

In full general, here'south what you can expect:

  • ii-month-olds volition commonly drink three to 6 ounces of formula every iii to 4 hours. That adds up to 18 to 32 ounces of formula in around eight feedings full in a 24-hour period.
  • iii-month-olds will generally potable iv to half-dozen ounces of formula around every iv hours. That adds up to 24 to 36 ounces of formula in around six feedings total in a 24-hour period.
  • 4-month-olds will often drink 5 to 7 ounces of formula every iv to five hours. That adds up to 24 to 32 ounces of formula in four to vi feedings total in a 24-60 minutes menstruum.
  • five-month-olds will typically drinkable 6 to 8 ounces of formula around v times per mean solar day. That adds up to 24 to 36 ounces of formula total in a 24-hr menstruum.
  • 6-month-olds will usually potable half dozen to 8 ounces of formula four to five times per day. That adds up to 24 to 32 ounces of formula total in a 24-hour menses.

Have a serious sipper who consistently seems to want more than that? Talk over information technology with your doctor. The upper daily intake formula intake for babies half-dozen months and younger is 32 to 36 ounces per 24-hour period, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Formula-feeding schedule

Now that you've got the amounts figured out, when should your trivial eater exist drinking up? Early on, information technology's best to feed your newborn on demand whenever she is sending out hunger cues like lip smacking, rooting and finger sucking. As y'all get a sense of her ambition and natural rhythms over the grade of a month or two, y'all'll be able to transition to more formal mealtimes.

Newborn formula-feeding schedule

Much as you might be longing for some predictability right now, newborns aren't typically ones to stick with a schedule for eating or sleeping.

Rather than do mealtimes by the clock or endeavor to enforce nap or bedtimes, try to go with your niggling one's flow. Y'all tin offer an ounce or two of formula every two to 3 hours, or eight to 12 feedings within a 24-hour catamenia. But those are more loose guidelines than hard rules. Ultimately, you'll want to feed your newborn on demand when she seems hungry.

Within a few months, she'll first to constitute a rhythm that you can use as the basis for a feeding and sleeping schedule.

Tin can a baby eat as well much formula?

Healthy babies, when immune to drink (and eventually eat) to their appetites without whatever prodding by parents, will grow at the rate that's normal for them. If your little one's weight is increasing at a steady clip and post-obit a familiar curve, there's no demand to worry that she's overeating. Merely if your baby's bottle becomes the liquid equivalent of an all-y'all-can-eat cafe, in that location's a chance she tin can easily get too much.

Here are signs to look for that may point your baby is taking in more formula than she needs:

  • Frequent spit-ups. Overfeeding can lead to overflow in the class of excessive spit-up. Put as well much in her piffling tum, and it's jump to come support.
  • Excessive weight gain. If your baby's weight seems to exist consistently moving upward faster than her tiptop, check with the doctor. She may exist picking up too many pounds also quickly because she's taking in too much formula.

If your pediatrician tells you that your baby seems to be overeating, there are a few things yous can do to slow downwardly her formula intake (and the rate of weight gain):

  • Feed for the right reason. The correct reason beingness because she'southward hungry. Non considering she'south unhappy, or because she's bored, or because she got a boo-boo, or because she'southward craving attention. Baby'due south recently fed simply crabby? Offering condolement with a cuddle, non an extra feed. Baby's fussy after a meal? Consider that she may but demand a burp, not a second serving.
  • Offer your baby a pacifier to satisfy the demand to suck. Or assistance her detect her yummy fist or fingers. Some babies just need actress sucking (not an extra bottle) between meals or after a feed.
  • Brand sure yous're not under-diluting the formula. E'er bank check the characterization when you're mixing formula to make sure you're not inadvertently adding too little water — which tin increase the calorie count per ounce considerably.
  • Ask the doctor if y'all tin can offering your baby water. Unremarkably not recommended before solids are started at half-dozen months, a few sips of h2o could quench her thirst without filling her upward. Only don't over-dilute formula with h2o to cut down on her consumption of calories without a doctor's communication — this can lead to a sodium imbalance.

Figuring out feeding times tin can feel like a lot at first. In the beginning, try to follow your baby's pb and keep the general rules of thumb for feeding times and amounts in mind as helpful guideposts. (And if you lot have any questions, always ask the pediatrician.) Over time, the ii of you will autumn into a feeding rhythm and you'll go a sense for how much your picayune one needs to potable and when she'south likely to await a sip.