Here’s a guide on the milk intake a baby needs from the first 24 hours after birth to 12 months. If you’re breastfeeding, You won’t know exactly how much breast milk your baby is getting each time they nurse. Usually, babies will continue to latch until they are full, or when milk flow slows or empties. During bottle feeding, you’ll need to manage the amount of breastmilk in the bottle. Knowing your baby’s feeding schedule and milk intake would be essential. However, do remember that this is just an estimate and each baby is different. So, it is important for you to adjust the measurements accordingly depending on the demands of your baby.
For the first 24 hours, your baby’s stomach is the size of a cherry. Just a teaspoon of colostrum is enough to fill your baby up. If you’d like to find out how to extract colostrum, do check out this video!
Subsequently, once your baby has started to gain more weight, their nutrition requirements will also increase. Hence, they will gradually be demanding for more milk as they get bigger. However, the feeding interval will decrease as they get older, the quantity of the milk per feed will increase.
By Day 4, your baby’s stomach will be approximately the size of a walnut. They will need about 30 - 59 mls per feeding, about 8 to 10 times a day. This is the start of the long nights, so make sure you discuss with your partners on the roles that they can play to make the journey a seamless one.
By week 2, the baby’s stomach will be approximately the size of a large egg. They will need about 50 – 89 mls per feeding, about 3 to 4 hourly intervals. Their appetite is slowly increasing at this stage, so you’ll need to ensure that you’ve got enough supply for your baby’s growing demand. You can try our supplements to find the best product to help you increase your milk supply.
By the first month up till the start of solids, your baby will need about 89 - 148 mls of milk per feeding, every 4 to 5 hours. As you start on solids, their demand for milk will stagnate or decrease, according to individual babies and their appetite demands. However, it is advisable to still maintain the same amount of Breastmilk until they turn 1 year old.
Ultimately, it is important to know your baby’s habits and demands. This will be useful for you to know when you need and how much you’ll need to feed your baby. Take cues from their actions such as sucking of hands, smacking lips, turning their head to find breasts, etc. You can use the guideline above as an estimate to know how much milk your baby needs, however, always remember that all babies are different and it is very important that you observe and learn about your baby along the way.
We know you can do this!