How much and how often to feed

Deciding how you’re going to feed your baby is a personal choice. When it comes to bottle feeding, there are a number of ways you might decide to do this. You can bottle feed alongside breastfeeding (also known as combi feeding), or exclusively bottle feed with either expressed breast milk or formula milk¹. 

If you decide that bottle feeding is the right thing for you and your family, we’ve got lots of information that you might find useful when establishing and organising your baby’s feeding routine. 

Below, you’ll find our handy feeding charts. This will give you a general guide to how much and how often you should feed your baby based on their weight or age. But remember, every baby is different, and their appetites can vary massively².  

How much milk babies need and how often they’ll feed will depend on a number of factors, including their weight and how many months they are. Establishing a feeding routine isn’t an exact science, and this can be especially true if your baby is a newborn and feeding on demand². 

Newborn babies will only need small amounts of milk at each feed as their stomachs are tiny when they’re first born. They’ll likely want to feed little and often, so don’t worry if they don’t finish a full bottle (if bottle-fed breastmilk or formula milk) at every feed².

As a general rule of thumb, a breastfed baby will feed at least 8 times every 24 hours in the first few weeks after birth. By the time they’re one week old, they’ll be getting anywhere between 45-60 ml of breast milk per feed. By the time they’re one month, they’ll be getting around 80-150ml. The amount of breast milk your baby takes at each feed should stay similar between 1 and 6 months, although you may find that this amount increases if your baby has a growth spurt³.  

One way to tell your baby’s getting enough milk is the number of wet and dirty nappies you change each day. From the first few days after birth, you can expect your baby to have about 6 wet nappies per day and do at least 1 poo a day².

Once your baby is around 6 months old, they might be ready to start trying solid foods alongside breast milk or formula milk¹¹. To begin with, they’ll only need small amounts of solid food, but as they eat more, they’ll need less and less breast milk or formula milk to supplement it. Breast milk or formula milk is still likely to be their main source of nutrition until the end of their first year, and most babies will drink roughly a pint of breast milk or formula milk a day at 12 months¹².

We’ve included more information on when to start weaning in this article – you can also read more in our in-depth guide. 

Whether your baby is breast or bottle-fed, health professionals recommend that babies are fed on demand¹³. Most babies can start adapting to a feeding schedule, but how often they want to feed can vary.

This means looking out for feeding cues, and feeding your baby when they show signs that they’re hungry, which might include¹³: 

Feeds can take as long as an hour, and you may find that your baby is feeding around six times per day. As your baby develops, they’ll become more efficient at feeding and as such their feeds will be quicker. 

To measure the time between your baby’s feeds, start from the beginning of one feed until the beginning of the next. For example, if you begin feeding your baby at 11am, then you can probably expect them to be hungry again at about 2pm.  

As you follow your baby’s development, you’ll get to see and experience them learn a number of exciting new skills. There’s a lot going on for your baby in their first year, rolling over and sitting up for example, and reaching out and grasping for various objects. Along with this increased skill set also comes a bigger appetite! After the first 6 months, it might be time to introduce your baby to solid foods, also known as weaning  or complementary feeding. 

Solid foods should be introduced into your baby’s diet gradually, alongside your baby’s usual milk feeds¹¹. Weaning is usually done at around six months of age, as by that point, your baby will have increased nutritional needs, and they’ll be developmentally ready to cope with solid foods. 

There are a number of signs to look out for that may indicate that your baby is ready for solid foods¹¹: 

You can learn more about the signs of weaning.

When you first introduce your baby to solid foods, they’re likely to consume only a very small amount. At this stage, it’s all about letting your baby experiment with new tastes and textures, and milk will still constitute their main source of energy and nutrients for a while longer⁷. Gradually, the amount of variety of foods that your baby eats will increase.

When you first introduce your baby to solid foods, milk will still constitute their main source of energy and nutrients for a while longer¹¹. Gradually, the amount and variety of foods that your baby eats will increase and they’ll need less and less milk. 

At this stage, weaning is more about letting your baby experiment with new tastes and textures, rather than how much they eat.