How much milk in a bottle

Bottle amounts grow quickly over the first weeks, then level off. The figures below are typical ranges to get oriented by. Your baby's hunger and fullness cues, diapers and growth tell you more than any chart.

Typical amounts of formula

From two AAP HealthyChildren pages, "Amount and Schedule of Baby Formula Feedings" (Amount) and "How Often and How Much Should Your Baby Eat?" (How often):

Age	Per feed	How often	AAP page
First day or two	about ½ oz (15 ml)	on demand	How often
First week	about 1–2 oz (30–60 ml)	every 2–3 hours	Amount (per feed), How often (timing)
By the end of the first month	about 3–4 oz (90–120 ml)	every 3–4 hours	Amount
About 6 months	6–8 oz (180–240 ml)	4–5 feeds in 24 hours	both

Two rules of thumb from Amount: about 2½ oz (75 ml) of formula a day for each pound (453 g) of body weight, and no more than an average of about 32 oz (960 ml) in 24 hours. The NHS gives a similar weight-based range: from the end of the first week until 6 months, most babies need around 150–200 ml per kilo of body weight a day (NHS 111 Wales).

Expressed breast milk

There is no official table for expressed breast milk by age. In one study of healthy, exclusively breastfed babies aged 1–6 months, daily intake averaged about 790 ml (788 g), with wide differences between babies, and the number of feeds a day wasn't linked to how much milk was made over 24 hours (Kent 2006). A bottle that suits one baby can be too big or too small for another. Ask your pediatrician or a lactation consultant if you're unsure how much to leave with a caregiver.

Responsive and paced feeding

The CDC's advice for any bottle, formula or breast milk:

Hold your baby close, and hold the bottle at an angle rather than straight up and down, so milk only comes out when your baby sucks.
Let your baby take breaks when they seem to want them.
Watch for fullness (closing the mouth, turning away, relaxing the hands) and stop, even if the bottle isn't empty. Pushing to finish can lead to eating more than they need.

"Paced" bottle feeding is a name for doing these on purpose: a flatter bottle, and a pause every so often.

Chickpea's daily bottle total only counts bottles logged with an amount. A day without one is left out rather than counted as zero.

When to call your pediatrician

Your baby often refuses feeds, or seems hungry even after large bottles.
Fewer pee diapers than expected, or signs of dehydration.
Repeated forceful vomiting, or any worry about weight gain.

Typical amounts of formula

Expressed breast milk

Responsive and paced feeding

When to call your pediatrician

Sources