A newborn for 5 days eats 20 grams. How much milk does a child eat per feeding and per day. How much should a child eat from birth to six months for normal development

How much should a baby eat in the first days of life? This question worries many young mothers, because proper, nutritious nutrition is the key to the health and development of the baby. In the first days, after the baby is born, it seems that he eats almost nothing. How to find out if a child has enough milk, how much he needs for normal weight gain, how much do babies eat? It is important for every mom to get answers to these questions.

How much does a newborn eat while breastfeeding?

1. In the first days of life, a baby who is breastfed can eat quite often, more than 10 times in one day.
2. The average break between meals is usually 2-3 hours.
3. According to the recommendations of pediatricians, you need to feed the baby on demand, keep it at the breast until the baby is full.
4. One feeding can take from 10 to 40 minutes.

After birth, the newborn sleeps most of the time and eats very little. The volume of the tiny ventricle is no more than 7 ml. The first drops of milk that appear in a young mother are called colostrum. It is so fatty and nutritious that it takes very little for a newborn to eat. At the first feeding, 1 teaspoon is enough for him. On the first day, the baby's norm is 100 ml.

The amount of food a child receives depends on many subtleties:

• health status;
• baby's weight at birth;
• Times of Day;
• body needs;
• fat content of milk.

Therefore, it is important to establish proper feeding from the very first days. A newborn can determine the required amount of milk for good nutrition. Pediatric doctors are sure: a child who is breastfed cannot eat a little or a lot. Over time, the mother's milk begins to be produced in exactly the right amount.

The amount of milk the baby eats per feeding

There are situations when it is necessary to know exactly how much a child should eat. Such data may be required if the baby has stopped gaining weight. The following table contains information on the amount of milk required by the child in one feeding and per day when breastfeeding.

The data given in the table is a kind of guideline and should not be taken as a dogma. For each individual baby, the norms can vary significantly. However, the upper limit of the norm is 1200 grams per day. The amount of food consumed in excess of this figure is considered overeating.

How much should a formula-fed baby eat?

The amount of food eaten by a child needs to be known to those mothers whose children are bottle-fed. Since formula is digested much more slowly than breast milk, the time between meals should be about 3-4 hours. On any jar of food should be indicated the rate for each age. However, each child is individual, the weight of all babies is different, so it is best to determine a single serving depending on the weight of the child.

There are several ways to determine a single amount of formula for a newly born baby. The simplest formula is:

A*10=X, where A is the age of the baby in days, and X is the amount of formula per feeding.

You can use another formula: the baby's weight divided by his height in centimeters. This figure will be the approximate one-time volume for one feeding.

The daily rate of milk consumed by an artificial person also depends on the weight of the baby. If the baby weighs less than 3 kg 200 grams, then the formula will look like this:

A * 70 \u003d X, where A is the age of the crumb in days, and X is the daily rate of the mixture. If the weight is more than 3 kg 200 grams, the formula looks like this: A*80=X.

Nevertheless, despite the many options for calculating the daily allowance and single portions of milk, you need to focus on the mood of the child after feeding. Each newborn is individual, at different times of the day, babies can eat with different appetites, someone eats often, someone rarely, but they normally gain weight. A normal increase is 150-250 grams per week.

Advice! To determine whether a newborn has enough milk or formula, a simple dirty diaper test should be performed.

To do this, within one full day you need to give up diapers, and after this time, calculate the amount of dirty laundry. If the baby went to the toilet 12 or more times, then you should not worry about the amount of food.

How to establish breastfeeding so that the newborn has enough milk?

In order not to have to count the amount of milk eaten, it is necessary correctly. Do not worry if the baby is too often attached to the breast. This does not mean at all that he constantly wants to eat. Thus, the baby can also satisfy his psychological needs: to be close to his mother. Be sure to breastfeed your baby at night. During these hours, the production of hormones responsible for breastfeeding occurs, so night and morning feedings are considered the most important.

A healthy baby, just born, cannot be hungry if he has constant access to the breast. You don't have to pump to check your milk supply. The child will eat as often as he needs and never overeat. Therefore, there is absolutely no need to worry about this.

If the child eats mother's milk, it should be applied to the breast as often as possible, especially in the first days after birth. The kid himself must determine when and how much to eat. Mom just needs to adjust to it. At first, feeding will take a lot of time from the mother, she will be practically inseparable from the baby. Indeed, in the first hours, days and weeks, the baby will eat up to 12 times a day, or even more often. And this is the norm. In addition, he can hang on his chest for an hour. Mom's breast is not only a way to get food, but also a feeling of comfort and security, which the baby needs so much during the period of adaptation to new living conditions.

Features of the nutrition of a one-month-old baby on breastfeeding

A newborn baby eats very little in the first hours, he has a small stomach and too little strength for active sucking. Therefore, a couple of drops of colostrum for one feeding is enough for him. Colostrum is very nutritious, it is able to support the strength of the baby at first.

Every day the baby will eat more and more, the capacity of his stomach will increase, and strength will increase.

The size of the stomach of a newborn baby, until he is one month old, changes every week. In the first days it may resemble a small berry (for example, a cherry), in the second week it looks more like a walnut, in the third week it is already a big plum, and at the end of the fourth (1 month) the stomach looks like a large chicken egg.

If you give a breast to a child on demand, then the baby should not be hungry and eat more than the norm dictates. A weak baby eats less at a time, but will often ask for breasts. Whoever has more strength will be able to eat well in one feeding and the next time he will require milk after a longer interval of time. When the baby is a month old, the mother's milk production returns to normal. It will be given as much as the baby needs in a particular case (the more he eats, the more he will get next time).

Breastfeeding Tips

• Do not judge how much milk the baby eats by one feeding. The main thing is that in a day a monthly baby ate his norm.
• Be sure to give the baby the opportunity to eat the last milk, which is the fattest and most nutritious, keep it at the breast until he refuses.
• At night, milk arrives in large volume, so do not deny the baby the breast at this time.
• If the milk is insatiable, you can try to increase its fat content, for this, the mother needs to adjust the calorie content of her diet.

Calculating the rate of milk for one feeding for a baby up to ten days old is very simple. It is necessary to multiply the number of days from birth by ten. If the child is five days old, then by multiplying five by ten, we will find out how much milk such a baby should eat on average at one time (10 * 5 \u003d 50 ml).

You can also navigate by a special table recommended by pediatricians. It contains approximate indicators of daily and one-time volumes of nutrition for infants per month.

Table for determining the required amount of milk and formula for children (age 1 month)

How does a formula-fed baby eat?

In this case, compliance with the norm is especially important. Feeding at the request of an artificial baby is not recommended. Why? Milk-replacing mixtures are not completely absorbed by the child's body, it takes more time to digest them. Drinking formula from a bottle is much easier, so a one-month-old baby fills up very quickly with minimal effort. If you do not control the process of nutrition, the baby can overeat. The result will be overweight, abdominal pain, and indigestion.

Artificial feeding should be carried out according to the regimen with three-hour intervals between meals. The number of feedings should not be less than 8 per day. At night, it is advisable to take a break of up to 5-6 hours between evening and morning feeding. You can determine the daily and single rate of milk formula for an infant per month using the instructions on the pack of baby food itself.

A well-fed baby wakes up and cries? Do not rush to feed him again. Perhaps the reason for crying is not in hunger, but in poor health, most often these are problems with the tummy.

When the baby is malnourished by a portion of the mixture, do not try to force feed him, it is better to offer him to eat again a little later.

How can you understand that the baby is malnourished?

1. A child's behavior can indicate malnutrition. He cries after breastfeeding, sleeps poorly, behaves restlessly or, on the contrary, is too lethargic.
2. By analyzing mother's milk for fat content, you can find out how nutritious it is for the baby. A mother can always influence the composition of her milk, taking into account the general condition and needs of her child. In this case, the mother's diet should be slightly higher in calories.
3. You can conduct the so-called "diaper test". What it is? For one day, the mother must abandon the disposable diapers purchased in the store and return to the time of grandmothers, when babies were raised with the help of diapers. Using only diapers during the day, the mother will be able to calculate how many times her baby will pee. The number of urination should not be less than eight times a day. The stool of the baby also matters. He should poop several times a day, the color of the feces is similar to mustard, the consistency is mushy.
4. The most common way is to analyze weight gain. To do this, every week a control weighing of the baby is carried out. Add a monthly baby for seven days should be on average from 150 to 200 grams. If necessary, weighing can be done daily, at the end of the day at the same time.
5. Mom can feel the sensations in the mammary gland that her baby has not eaten well. The breast will not be soft enough after feeding, the woman will feel fullness and heaviness in the breast area.

How to find out the amount of food eaten per feeding?

To do this, you can weigh the crumbs before and after eating. The difference in weight will indicate the amount eaten. This is especially true for breastfed babies. After all, it is impossible to see how much your baby sucked. Unless you express milk into a bottle and give it to your baby to drink. But in this case, you run the risk of weaning the newborn from the breast, because he may like drinking through the nipple more.

You can try this unusual way. If you weigh all the wet diapers used in a day, you will know the approximate amount of milk or formula eaten.

Having found out how much your baby eats per feeding or per day, you can evaluate the result of your observations: whether the data obtained are normal or not, what is the deviation from the recommended parameters. In order to calculate the approximate nutritional rate for a baby of a certain age, several methods can be applied. Let's dwell on the most famous of them in more detail.

Formulas for calculating the norms for the consumption of milk or formula for babies up to a month

• To find out how much milk is needed for babies in the initial ten days, the Zaitseva method is used: 2% of the weight with which the child was born is calculated, then the resulting number is multiplied by the number of days from birth.
• The formula for determining the daily volume for children from birth to the tenth day was also derived by Finkelstein. Its essence is as follows: with a newborn weighing less than 3200 grams, it is necessary to multiply the number of days he has lived by the number 70; if the baby was born with a weight greater than the above parameter, then the sum of days must be multiplied by 80.
• The Geibner technique is used for older infants (starting from the tenth day). To calculate the daily ration of an infant up to two months of age, it is necessary to divide its body weight by five, for babies older than two and under four months, divide the body weight by six, from 4 to 6 - divide by 7, from 6 to 8 - divide by 8, with 8 months and upon reaching the age of one year, the division must be made by 9.
• The calculation according to the Shkarin formula is also suitable for calculating the daily norm for babies older than a week of age. All calculations in this case are based on the recommended amount of food for babies 8 weeks old. During this period, the baby should eat about 800 grams. If the baby is not 8 weeks old, then the amount of food per day for him is reduced by 50 grams for each week. You can write the formula like this: 800-50 * (8 - N), with N equal to the number of weeks lived. If the baby's age has exceeded the limit of two months, then he should eat 50 grams more at the rate of each next month. The formula will be as follows: 800 + 50 * (N - 2), with N corresponding to the number of months lived.
• Reich proposed to calculate the amount of food per day for infants depending on weight and height indicators: body weight should be divided by height, the result obtained is multiplied by the number 7 (weight is measured in grams, and height in centimeters).

To calculate a single amount of milk or formula, divide the daily amount by the total number of meals.

Remember that all diagrams, tables and calculations are only approximate guidelines for you. Choose the appropriate feeding regimen specifically for your crumbs, the amount of mixture or milk he eats can also be very different from the recommended norms. Be sure to consult with the local pediatrician, but the final decision (how much and how often to eat) should always be yours.

Feeding and feeding a newborn is one of the most pressing issues that worries new parents. Mom worries if the baby has enough milk, if he cries because of hunger or for other reasons, and how much the baby should eat at 1 month.

After a while, these questions become less acute, as parents learn to understand the baby, recognize his "hungry cry". In addition, with the establishment of a feeding schedule every 3-4 hours, it becomes easier to track the needs of the newborn for food.

Important! In order to remain calm and know the nutritional features of the baby, parents should find out the details and norms of feeding for a child in the first month of life.

Do not forget that for babies on breast and artificial feeding, these norms differ slightly, as does the approach to nutrition itself.

Stages of increasing the need for food while breastfeeding

First days

On the first day of his life, the baby's need for food is minimal: he will try a few drops of colostrum and will feel great. Further start of the work of organs and systems in a new mode, as well as the development of the sucking reflex, is accompanied by an increasing need for feeding.

In the maternity hospital, the mother often puts the baby to the breast, establishing contact and establishing a feeding system, but at the same time she is still worried about the question of how much a child should eat in 1 month for one feeding. On the first day after birth, the volume of the stomach of the baby does not reach 10 ml, and already on the 3-4th day it is 40 ml. Therefore, the child will eat more and more every day. Consumed breast milk is quickly digested by the stomach, so the frequency of feeding per day reaches 10-12 times - every 2 hours.

Svetlana, 26 years old, Roma's mother: “For the first week after the birth of Romchik, I could not understand why he eats so little. My milk was coming, my chest was bursting from its quantity, and he could eat for 10 minutes and fall asleep again. All my worries were dispelled by the pediatrician, pointing out my son's weight gain and his healthy appearance. And by the end of the first month, my child showed his personality and ate 140 ml per meal.

A week later

A week after birth, the volume of the baby's stomach is 80-100 ml, so the amount of milk eaten at a time increases. Feeding on demand, recommended by most pediatricians, will ensure that your baby gets enough milk.

By the end of the month

In the future, the establishment of a diet, an increase in a single dose of milk and its daily norm will lead to the fact that by the first month of life, the baby will eat about 100 ml at a time, eating 6-8 times a day and absorbing up to 800 ml during this period. If during the measurement the parents found a deviation from the norm, do not worry. Perhaps this is the individual feature of the child.

Table of nutritional norms for a newborn

Considering the average norms of milk consumption by a newborn at a time and per day, it should be remembered that all children are individual. The amount of milk eaten per day directly depends on the weight with which the baby was born: the larger the child, the more and more often he will begin to eat.

Attention! The Newborn Feeding Chart should only be used as an average guide and not as a strict guide to use.

Newborn feeding chart

An increase in the volume of milk eaten at a time by almost 10 times compared with the first day will allow the mother to normalize the diet, set the time interval between feedings, and the baby to confidently gain weight and grow up healthy.

Principles of nutrition for a breastfed baby

Newborns who are breastfed may eat for a long time, consume a little more or less milk, require food ahead of time. It is problematic to track the amount of breast milk consumed at a time in such children, for this it is necessary to carry out control weighing before and after meals. In addition, babies will eat more often in the morning. This is due to the fact that during the day the mother eats, and by the evening she will have the most high-calorie food for the baby, in contrast to the lighter morning one. Therefore, it is preferable to feed the newborn not on a schedule, but on demand.

As the well-known pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky said about this: “A child usually knows how much food he needs. If he does not have enough milk, or if the mother has less milk due to fatigue or nervousness, then the child will wake up earlier each time and cry with hunger. He will drink milk to the last drop and look for more with his mouth, and will try to suck his fist.

An important factor in the nutrition of breastfed children is the amount of time that the baby takes to feed one. It is not worth forcibly weaning him, you need to wait for the moment when the child himself leaves the breast, having completely eaten. But it is also not worth delaying the feeding process for longer than 30-40 minutes. If the mother noticed that the baby has stopped eating and is playing more, you can finish the meal.

Feeding newborn artificial babies

With children who are bottle-fed, the feeding process is easier and more visual than with infants.

The main assistant for parents, allowing to determine the norms of feeding an artificial child, is the recommendation of the manufacturer of the milk formula. On the packaging, it is necessary to indicate how much and how often you need to feed the newborn.

Formula milk is more nutritious than mother's milk. Therefore, feeding will occur less frequently than once every 2-3 hours. The average formula for calculating the mixture that a baby should consume per day is the child's body weight divided by 5. That is, in the first month he will eat about 600-650 ml per day. If he eats a little less at a time, but asks to eat more often, then he has his own regime and norm.

Formulas for calculating the amount of the mixture

There are two formulas for calculating the amount of food for children from 10 days to a month. These formulas will give more accurate measurements for your baby.

Formula Zaitseva used for formula-fed babies. You need to multiply 2% of body weight at birth by the number of days of life, and you get the volume of the mixture per day. Then divide the amount received by the number of feedings and get a single dose for your baby.

Finkelstein formula. With a child weighing less than 3,200 g, we multiply the number of days by 70, and with a weight of more than 3,200, we multiply the age by 80, and we get the daily dose. Then we divide by the number of feedings, and here you have a one-time amount of the mixture.

Features of feeding children on mixed feeding

It is useless to apply all the above-described norms to a child who is on mixed feeding. Before a clear regimen is developed for how much breast milk and formula the baby eats, parents will have to observe, adjust and experiment with doses for a long time. The main criterion for saturation will be the state and mood of the child, and subsequently - weight gain. The amount of mixture used will be directly dependent on how much breast milk the baby will eat.

It should also be noted that all of the above applies to healthy babies. Premature babies have completely different nutritional norms. If you see that the baby is not gaining weight on breastfeeding, and there is a suspicion of a lack of milk - the newborn has weak, flaccid skin and prolonged sleep - you should immediately consult a doctor, as these may be signs of a lack of nutrition.

Anna, 27, mother of one-year-old Nastya: “About a couple of weeks after the birth of Nastya, I realized that I did not have enough milk to feed her. She was constantly crying, looking for my breasts, which by that time were empty. I drank a lot of fluids and tried to increase lactation, but breast milk was still not enough. We had to buy formula milk and supplement our daughter. I always breastfed her first, then bottle fed her until she fell asleep after eating. When Nastya was about 2 months old, my milk disappeared completely, and we had to switch to artificial nutrition. By that time, I had already decided on the norm that my daughter ate at a time.

How to understand if a child is getting enough food

Having learned all the information, having calculated all the norms, measuring the amount of milk eaten by the baby, some parents still continue to worry about whether the child has enough food. Each cry is perceived as a hungry call, even if the time for the baby to eat is still far away. To stop worrying for no reason, it is worth remembering several factors that indicate sufficient feeding of the baby. These include:

• the child is calm, sleeps well, and while awake enjoys exploring the world around him;
• the child has regular and stable stools of a normal color that is not accompanied by bloating or crying;
• the baby maintains approximately the same intervals between all meals, and sleeps twice as long at night;
• a newborn is gaining 150-200 g in weight every week.

Important! The cause of frequent crying of the baby may not be hunger, but gas formation in the stomach. At the same time, the mother may notice that the tummy is swollen, and in the position on the back, the baby tightens her legs. In this case, make sure that the newborn latch on to the nipple properly and that too much air is not sucked in during feeding.

Baby weight gain guidelines

In addition to the amount of milk consumed per day, parents are concerned about how much a child should weigh by the end of the first month of life. No matter what weight the baby is born with, when discharged from the hospital in 3-4 days, it will be 8-10% lighter. This is a natural normal process. By the end of the first week, his weight may be similar to what he was born with. There will be gradual growth.

The norm of weight gain per week for a baby in the first month of life is 150 g. Deviations in one direction or another are possible due to the individual characteristics of the newborn.

A cause for concern may be an increase of less than 90 g or more than 300 g per week.

Starting from the second month, weekly weight gain will be 150-200 g. By the first half of the year, the baby's weight is usually double the birth weight. For this to happen, it is important to track the nutritional norms of the child and provide him with the necessary amount of milk or formula.

The first month after the birth of a child, parents and the newborn will get used to each other, study the features and adjust the modes. Caring and attentive mothers and fathers should learn the general norms and recommendations, but keep in mind that all children are different. First of all, it is important to understand your own child. If he is healthy, calm and actively growing, this is the main indicator that he has enough food. Norms of feeding and weight gain are individual and depend on the characteristics of the child. Based on approximate average values, parents should still observe the newborn and form their own idea of ​​what is sufficient and normal for him.

Video: The best newborn feeding regimen

During the first month of life, the baby practically does not show activity. He can only move his legs and arms a little. But this is quite enough for a small person. All the nutrients that he receives from formula or mother's milk go to growth and physical development. It won't be long before the new family member starts holding the spoon on his own and showing his eating habits. Until six months, the baby's menu does not differ in great variety.

Breastfeeding or formula?

If there is a choice: to feed the baby with a formula or breast milk, it is, of course, better to stop at the second option. Unfortunately, recently many young mothers do not want to enjoy the lactation period. They transfer their babies to mixtures immediately after discharge from the hospital. This act is motivated by the fact that breastfeeding spoils the shape of the mammary glands. This is not entirely true. Baby food at 1 month does not affect a woman's breasts at all. The mammary glands take on a different shape during pregnancy.

It is considered ideal for a child. Experts say that every woman produces food for the baby, which has unique properties and composition. And it doesn't matter how much the child eats. 1 month of breast milk feeding allows you to charge the baby with strength for the rest of his life.

If for a number of reasons a woman cannot continue breastfeeding, you should not be upset. There are many formulas on the market today that can replace mother's milk. But preference should be given only to an expensive high-quality product.

Baby always wants to eat

Many mothers complain that the child constantly cries during the first month of life. Only a mother's breast or a bottle can become soothing. Is the baby always hungry? How much should a baby eat at 1 month? Despite the fact that the baby sleeps a lot and is practically motionless, he needs good nutrition. The child eats a lot. He needs to gain strength, develop mentally and physically.

Mothers who breastfeed their babies generally do not have to worry about feeding their baby at 1 month. The baby should be offered the breast on demand. If he wants, he will eat. Breast milk cannot harm the baby. The kid can eat it as much as he wants.

With children who are on the case is a little different. The formula is a complete breast milk substitute. But eating such a plan can be difficult for a newborn's weak stomach. Therefore, it is recommended to feed the baby by the hour.

The following table is for infants under the age of six months. Mothers of babies of the first month of life can also be guided by it.

The data is indicative. All children develop differently. Some have a good appetite, while others will have to be forced. The main thing to rely on is the weight gain of the baby and his general well-being.

The child is not gaining weight

The lack of weight gain should alert the young mother in the first place. The first reason for this condition may be the fact that the child simply does not eat up. Sometimes children spend the whole day at their mother's breasts and remain hungry at the same time. If this situation occurs, then the child’s nutrition is not complete. Perhaps it makes sense to transfer the baby to a mixed diet. But in no case should you stop lactation.

Children who are bottle-fed can also not eat up. If the baby is naughty and does not sleep well at night and is considered absolutely healthy, it is worth increasing the portion of the mixture. How much should a child eat at 1 month, every mother knows. But some children may deviate from generally accepted norms.

Baby refuses to breastfeed

It is not uncommon for women to successfully breastfeed their babies for several weeks, and then the idyll is broken. The baby stops breastfeeding. There may be several reasons for this problem. The baby may or may not be able to breastfeed due to nasal congestion. In any case, you should not panic. Lactation can always be restored.

The first thing a mother should do is to find out the reason for the baby's refusal to breastfeed. If all else fails and the baby continues to refuse milk, you should contact a lactation consultant. The specialist will tell you how much a child should eat at 1 month and how to help him return to his mother's breast.

Rule out allergic reactions

The first month of life is quite common. The baby's body is rebuilt from the womb to the outside world. Even the most common foods that a young mother consumes can cause a rash in a child.

A woman during lactation should monitor her diet. Avoid spicy and fatty foods from your diet. You will have to forget about red berries, as well as citrus fruits for a while. Any product should be introduced into the diet gradually. Mom should monitor the reaction of the baby.

During the mother should also not consume chocolate and coffee. These products can be introduced into the diet a little later.

How to choose the right formula for babies?

Although manufacturers now offer high quality formulas for infants, some of them can also cause an allergic reaction. Often, the transition from breastfeeding to artificial is characterized by a change in the baby's stool. In addition, there may be pain in the tummy or constipation.

Even the highest quality formula cannot replace mother's milk. It is also difficult to answer the question, in 1 month of this or that mixture. After all, food must be offered to the baby in a certain amount. You can't skimp on breastfeeding. Moms need to choose products from a trusted manufacturer that has quality certificates. It is better to purchase the mixture in a pharmacy or in a specialized children's store.

Baby has a stomachache

Breastfeeding can be a problem for many. Especially often babies of the first month of life suffer from colic. Unpleasant sensations in the tummy can cause both the highest quality formula and breast milk. There are many drugs on the market that will help alleviate the condition of the child. But you can give them to a child only after agreement with the pediatrician.

Abdominal pain may be due to gas. During feeding, the baby swallows some air. To eliminate gases from the stomach, after each feeding, it is necessary to carry the baby in a column for 10-15 minutes.

You should not overfeed your baby. This is especially true for those babies who are on artificial feeding. When compiling a portion, the table of nutritional norms should be taken into account.

Should I give water to my baby?

Previously, water was given to babies from the first days of life. It was believed that a bottle of warm water soothes the baby. Now experts say that it is absolutely not necessary to give water to a child who is breastfed. In addition, by offering a bottle to a child, the mother risks completing the lactation process. Many babies refuse to breastfeed, as bottled water is much easier to obtain.

You can offer a little water to the baby only in the summer heat. And even in this case, it is advisable to drink the baby from a spoon. But children on artificial feeding can drink water even in winter. But the first thing a mother should rely on is a 1-month diet. After drinking more water, the baby will not want to eat the mixture.

Choosing a bottle

The success of feeding largely depends on the dishes that the mother uses. For babies on artificial feeding, these are first of all high-quality bottles. Today, utensils for feeding babies are made of glass and high-strength plastic. Preference should be given to the first option.

Glass is an environmentally friendly material. In addition, in such a bottle heat is perfectly retained. The size of the bottle should be chosen according to the age of the baby.

The newborn expresses any dissatisfaction or discomfort by crying, because he still does not know how to express his needs in a different way and attract attention to himself. And if prolonged crying cannot be stopped, then the first thing all relatives begin to talk about and the mother herself thinks that the child does not have enough milk.

There are many reasons why a newborn cries, including physiological ones, because he needs to develop his lungs. Therefore, everything should not be attributed to hunger. Moreover: as a rule, this reason is among the last among all probable.

But still, a share of doubt creeps into your head: how much should a newborn eat? Maybe he's not enough?

It is not very easy to accurately calculate the need for milk or formula and the amount of their consumption by a newborn baby. Often this should not be done, modern pediatricians believe, because in the first months of life these data are in constant dynamics.

In addition, breast milk has a different nutritional value at different periods after childbirth, with different mothers' diets, and even at different times of the day. A lot also depends on whether you are breastfeeding correctly and whether the baby is sucking out the rear, fattest and most useful milk. This is a prerequisite for the normal development of the baby and the success of his breastfeeding. If feeding lasts for 10-15 minutes, then be sure that it does not provide the vital needs of the crumbs and, naturally, he will need more food.

As the child grows, so will the amount eaten. In the early days, it will be completely small, because colostrum is very nutritious, there is no real milk yet, and the baby itself is not strong enough to diligently get its own food. But over time, the milk will remain more and more, and the sucker will grow and get stronger. Every month the appetite will increase.

If for some reason you are feeding a newborn with mixtures, then it is very important to choose the most suitable one for him, which will correspond to the characteristics and satisfy the needs of his body.

If the question of how much a newborn baby should eat does not give you rest, then you can focus on the data shown in the table.

How much should a baby eat

Amount of milk per feeding, ml

The amount of milk per day

3-4 days 20-60 200-300ml

1 week 50-80 400ml

2 weeks 60-90 20% of the child's weight

1 month 100-110 600ml

2 months 120-150 800ml

3 months 150-180 1/6 of the child's weight

4 months 180-210 1/6 of the child's weight

5-6 months 210-240 1/7 of baby's weight (800-1000ml)

7-12 months 210-240 1/8-1/9 baby weight

We draw your attention to the fact that these data are averaged and can only serve as a conditional guideline. Each child's body is individual, the pace and dynamics of weight gain is different for everyone, so it is necessary to focus mainly on the child's well-being and, to some extent, on the norms of weight gain.

It is possible to determine whether a child is gaining weight well only after the first month, since children are born with different parameters.

There is another fairly accurate method for determining how much a newborn should eat in one feeding - the Reiche formula:

• weight (g) / height (cm) = one serving of milk (ml)

In any case, do not forget to take into account the number of attachments to the chest and other factors that we talked about.

Let's say we figured out how much a newborn should eat. But how do you know how much he ate? With mixtures, everything is clear: on the bottle there is a scale with divisions, by which you can quickly determine how much the baby ate. And how to measure what is eaten from the chest?

This can be done in several ways. To control, if it becomes necessary to make sure that the baby eats enough, you can express milk from the breast several times and feed it from a spoon. The lesson is quite troublesome, but this way you can see exactly how many milliliters your baby eats in one feeding. When resorting to such a control method, keep in mind that it is necessary to express ALL milk from the breast, without fail reaching the most nutritious one. It is very convenient to do this with an electric breast pump.

If you have a scale for weighing a child, then you can weigh him every time before and after feeding: the difference in weight will be the amount eaten. Such measurements must be carried out within a few days and conclusions drawn from the results of the entire test.

But do not forget that a large number of different factors affect the child's appetite. During different feedings, he may eat different amounts of milk for many reasons. Therefore, you should take into account the daily intake of food eaten. Moreover, what is the norm for some, is not at all an indicator for other children. The only really significant is only the behavior of the child during and after feeding (if he is full and satisfied, then what else is needed!), His activity, appearance and well-being in general.

If the mother is worried about the question of whether her baby is eating up (whether the baby has enough milk), then you can test with diapers. Focus also on your own feelings in the chest and maternal intuition.

And finally - the most important thing: if you are breastfeeding and have properly established this process, then there is no reason to worry about how much a baby should eat. Pediatricians believe that in this case, the baby will eat then and exactly as much as he wants and as much as he needs.

May he grow up healthy! And you think only about the good!