Baby growth spurts bottle feeding

Formula Feeding FAQs: How Much and How Often (for Parents)

Whether you plan to formula feed your baby from the start, want to supplement your breast milk with formula, or are switching from breast milk to formula, you probably have questions.

Here are answers to some common questions about formula feeding.

How Often Should I Feed My Baby?

Newborns and young babies should be fed whenever they seem hungry. This is called on-demand feeding.

After the first few days of life, most healthy formula-fed newborns feed about every 2–3 hours. As they get bigger and their tummies can hold more milk, they usually eat about every 3–4 hours. As babies get older, they’ll settle into a more predictable feeding routine and go longer stretches at night without needing a bottle.

Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about feeding your baby, especially if your baby is very small, is not gaining weight, or was born early (prematurely).

How Can I Tell When My Baby Is Hungry?

Signs that babies are hungry include:

moving their heads from side to side
opening their mouths
sticking out their tongues
placing their hands, fingers, and fists to their mouths
puckering their lips as if to suck
nuzzling again their mothers' breasts
showing the rooting reflex (when a baby moves its mouth in the direction of something that's stroking or touching its cheek)

Babies should be fed before they get upset and cry. Crying is a late sign of hunger. But every time your baby cries is not because of hunger. Sometimes babies just need to be cuddled or changed. Or they could be sick, tired, too hot or too cold, in pain, or have colic.

How Much Should My Baby Drink?

In the first few weeks, give 2- to 3-ounce (60- to 90-milliliter) bottles to your newborn. Give more or less depending on your baby’s hunger cues.

Here's a general look at how much your baby may be eating at different ages:

On average, a newborn drinks about 1.5–3 ounces (45–90 milliliters) every 2–3 hours. This amount increases as your baby grows and can take more at each feeding.
At about 2 months, your baby may drink about 4–5 ounces (120–150 milliliters) every 3–4 hours.
At 4 months, your baby may drink about 4–6 ounces (120-180 milliliters) at each feeding, depending on how often they eat.
By 6 months, your baby may drink 6–8 ounces (180–230 milliliters) about 4–5 times a day.

Watch for signs that your baby is hungry or full. Respond to these cues and let your baby stop when full. A baby who is full may suck with less enthusiasm, stop, or turn away from the bottle.

Why Does My Baby Seem Hungrier Than Usual?

As babies grow, they begin to eat more at each feeding and can go longer between feedings. Still, there may be times when your little one seems hungrier than usual.

Your baby may be going through a period of rapid growth (called a growth spurt). These can happen at any time, but in the early months are common at around:

7–14 days old
between 3–6 weeks
4 months
6 months

During these times and whenever your baby seems especially hungry, follow their hunger cues and continue to feed on demand, increasing the amount of formula you give as needed.

Is My Baby Eating Enough?

At times, you may wonder whether your baby is getting enough nutrients for healthy growth and development. Babies who get enough to eat seem satisfied after eating and are regularly peeing and pooping.

At your baby’s checkups, the doctor will review your baby’s growth chart, track your little one’s development, and answer any questions. Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about your baby’s feeding and nutrition.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: November 2021

Feeding Your Newborn (for Parents)

How you feed your newborn is the first nutrition decision you make for your child. These guidelines on breastfeeding and bottle feeding can help you know what's right for you and your baby.

Breast or Bottle?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies be breastfed exclusively for about the first 6 months. After they start on solid foods, babies should breastfeed through the first year of life and even beyond, if desired.

But breastfeeding isn't possible or preferable for all new moms. Deciding to breastfeed or bottle feed a baby is usually based on the mother's comfort level with breastfeeding and her lifestyle. In some cases, breastfeeding may not be recommended for a mom and her baby. If you have any questions about whether to breastfeed or formula feed, talk to your pediatrician.

Remember, your baby's nutritional and emotional needs will be met whether you choose to breastfeed or formula feed.

Benefits of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding your newborn has many benefits. Perhaps most important, breast milk is the perfect food for a baby's digestive system. It has the nutrients that a newborn needs, and it’s easily digested. Commercial formulas try to imitate breast milk, and come close, but can't match it exactly.

Breast milk has

antibodiesthat help protect babies from many infections, including diarrhea and ear and lung infections. Breastfed babies are less likely to develop medical problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, and allergies. Breastfeeding also might make a child less likely to become overweight.

Breastfeeding is great for moms too. It burns calories, so can help nursing moms lose the weight gained during pregnancy. Breastfeeding also may offer protection from breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Some moms find breastfeeding easier and quicker than formula feeding — it needs no preparation, and you don't run out of breast milk in the middle of the night. Also, breastfeeding costs little. Nursing mothers do need to eat more and may want to buy nursing bras and pads, a breast pump, or other equipment. But these expenses are generally less than the cost of formula.

Breastfeeding meets a variety of emotional needs for both moms and babies. The skin-to-skin contact can enhance the emotional connection, and providing complete nourishment can help new moms feel confident in their ability to care for their newborn.

Limitations of Breastfeeding

With all the good things known about breastfeeding, why doesn't every mother choose to breastfeed?

Breastfeeding requires a big commitment from a mother. Some new moms feel tied down by the demands of a nursing newborn. Because breast milk is easily digested, breastfed babies tend to eat more often than babies who are fed formula. This means moms can be in demand as often as every 2 or 3 hours in the first few weeks. This can be tiring, but it's not long before babies feed less often and sleep longer at night.

Some new mothers need to get back to work outside the home or separate from their babies from time to time for other reasons. Some opt for formula feeding so other caregivers can give the baby a bottle. Mothers who want to continue breastfeeding can use a breast pump to collect breast milk to be given in a bottle, so their babies still get its benefits even when mom isn't there to breastfeed.

Fathers and other family members may want to share in feeding the baby. When mom is breastfeeding, dad or siblings may want to stay close by. Helping mom get comfortable, or providing a burp cloth when needed, will let them be part of the experience.

When breastfeeding is going well, other family members can help by giving the baby pumped breast milk in a bottle when mom needs a break.

Some moms may feel embarrassed or worried about breastfeeding. These feelings usually end after a successful breastfeeding process is set. It can help to get advice from those who've gone through the experience. Most hospitals and birthing centers offer in-depth instruction on breastfeeding to new moms. Your pediatrician, nurse practitioner, or nurse can answer questions or put you in touch with a lactation consultant or a breastfeeding support group.

In some cases, a mother's health may affect her ability to breastfeed. Moms getting chemotherapy for cancer and those who have HIV should not breastfeed, for example.

If you have a medical condition or take any medicines regularly, talk with your doctor about whether it's OK to breastfeed. If you have to stop nursing temporarily, continue to pump breast milk to maintain milk production. If you or your baby are sick, continue to breastfeed if you can. Talk to the doctor if you have any concerns.

In some situations, it may not possible to breastfeed, such as when a baby is very sick or born early. Mothers should talk with their baby's doctor about expressing and storing milk. Often, a baby who can't breastfeed can get breast milk through a feeding tube or bottle.

Some moms who have inverted nipples may have trouble breastfeeding, but a lactation consultant usually can help them overcome this. Likewise, women who have had plastic surgery on their breasts should be able to successfully breastfeed. Talk with your doctor if you have any concerns.

Hold off on pacifiers or bottles until your baby has gotten used to and is good at breastfeeding. Lactation professionals recommend waiting until a baby is about 3–4 weeks old before offering artificial nipples of any kind (including pacifiers).

Benefits of Formula Feeding

Commercially prepared infant formula is a nutritious alternative to breast milk. Bottle feeding can offer more freedom and flexibility for moms, and make it easier to know how much the baby is getting.

Because babies digest formula more slowly than breast milk, a baby who is getting formula may need fewer feedings than one who breastfeeds. Formula feeding also can make it easier to feed the baby in public, and lets the father and other family members help feed the baby, which can enhance bonding.

Limitations of Formula Feeding

Just as breastfeeding has its unique demands, so does bottle feeding. Bottle feeding takes organization and preparation, especially if you want to take your baby out. Store-bought formula can be pretty expensive, but do not try to make your own formula at home.

It's important to make sure that you have enough formula on hand, and bottles that are clean and ready to be used.

Here are a few guidelines for formula feeding:

Carefully follow directions on the label when preparing formula. Do not add more water than directed.
Bottles left out of the refrigerator longer than 1 hour and any formula left in the bottle that a baby doesn't finish should be discarded.
Prepared bottles of formula can be stored in the refrigerator up to 24 hours and carefully warmed just before feeding. You don't have to warm formula, but most babies prefer it.
A bottle of formula can be warmed by holding it in running warm water or setting it in a pan of warm water. A bottle of formula (or breast milk) should never be warmed in a microwave. The bottle can heat unevenly and leave "hot spots" that can burn a baby's mouth.

How Often Do Newborns Eat?

Your newborn will nurse about 8 to 12 times per day during the first weeks of life. In the beginning, mothers may want to try nursing 10–15 minutes on each breast, then adjust the time as needed.

Breastfeeding should be on demand (when your baby is hungry), which is generally every 1–3 hours. As newborns get older, they'll nurse less often and have longer stretches between feedings. Newborn babies who are getting formula will likely take about 2–3 ounces every 2–4 hours. Newborns should not go more than about 4–5 hours without feeding.

Signs that babies are hungry include:

moving their heads from side to side
opening their mouths
sticking out their tongues
placing their hands and fists to their mouths
puckering their lips as if to suck
nuzzling against their mothers' breasts
crying

A feeding schedule is not necessary — you and your baby will get into a routine. Babies know (and will let their parents know) when they're hungry and when they've had enough. Watch for signs that your baby is full (slowing down, spitting out the bottle or unlatching from breast, closing the mouth, turning away from the breast or bottle) and stop the feeding when these signs appear.

As babies grow, they begin to eat more at each feeding and can go longer between feedings. There may be other times when your infant seems hungrier than usual. Continue to nurse or feed on demand. Nursing mothers need not worry — breastfeeding stimulates milk production, and your supply of breast milk will adjust to your baby's demand for it.

Is My Newborn Getting Enough to Eat?

New parents often worry about whether their babies are getting enough to eat.

Babies are getting enough to eat if they:

seem satisfied
have about 6–8 wet diapers a day
have regular bowel movements (poops)
sleep well
are alert when awake
are gaining weight

A baby who is fussing, crying, seems hungry, does not appear satisfied after feeding, and has fewer wet diapers may not be getting enough to eat. If you're concerned that your baby isn't getting enough to eat, call your doctor.

Most infants "spit up" a small amount after eating or during burping, but a baby should not vomit after feeding. Vomiting after every feeding might be a sign of an allergy, digestive problem, or other problem that needs medical care. If you have concerns that your baby is spitting up too much, call your doctor.

Should Newborns Get Nutritional Supplements?

Breast milk has the right combination of vitamins and easily absorbed iron for newborns. A healthy infant being nursed by a healthy mother doesn't need extra vitamins or nutritional supplements, with the exception of vitamin D. Breastfed babies should begin vitamin D supplements within the first few days of life, continuing until they get enough vitamin D-fortified formula or milk (after 1 year of age).

Breastfeeding mothers who follow vegetarian diets that do not include animal products need vitamin B12 supplements.

Iron-fortified formula has the right blend of vitamins and minerals for a baby, so supplements usually aren't needed. Infants drinking less than 1 liter, or about a quart, of formula a day may need a vitamin D supplement.

Water, juice, and other foods usually aren't necessary during a baby's first 6 months. Breast milk and formula provide everything babies need nutritionally until they start eating solid foods. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about feeding your newborn.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: February 2021

Growth spurts in children: what is important to know

02/06/2020

Growing up a child

In the first 1.5 years of life, children experience rapid growth and rapid development: physical, mental and emotional. This process takes place in waves and is characterized by the emergence of new skills in the child.

Each new skill overlaps the previous skill. For example, the baby first learns to roll over, then crawl and sit, pull up and stand at the support, and finally walk. A growth spurt is also a leap in the development of the nervous system and brain. Rapid changes, the emergence of new abilities sometimes scare the child. During such periods, he needs special attention and help from his parents.

It is possible to distinguish the same patterns and the order of their development in all children, despite the fact that each child is unique. In total, there are 10 periods of growth spurts in children under 2 years of age: 8 of them occur before 12 months, the last 2 - before 18 months.

Growth spurts

Signs

Sometimes a growth crisis goes unnoticed, but sometimes it lasts longer and quite clearly.

What signs will help you identify a growth spurt:

1. Changes in nutrition

It is more difficult to feed the baby, sometimes it is not clear to the mother whether he is really hungry - the baby may refuse breast and bottle, but show signs of hunger. The child wants to eat more often, but eats less during feeding. This behavior is typical when he tries to calm down at the expense of food.

2. Behavior

The child becomes more restless and capricious. You will see that he does not want to leave your arms and cries when you try to put him in the crib. Or you may notice that the baby is crying and not calming down when he is usually calm and relaxed. This behavior is associated with the accumulation of overwork, since the baby spends a lot of energy during growth crises. Also, if the baby is irritated or naughty, he may be on the way to mastering a new skill.

3. Sleep

Before and during the growth spurt, children are more sleepy. Night awakenings become more frequent, and daytime sleeps become shorter. If you had a regimen before, it may deteriorate. It will seem to you that it is no longer suitable for the child and you need to change the schedule of sleep and wakefulness. But by the end of the growth spurt, you will notice that the old regimen has returned to normal.

Please note that growth spurts are sometimes confused with other problems. So, the baby is sleepy and moody due to the fact that he gets sick. And hunger is a sign of a mother's lack of milk.

4. The child learns one of the skills:

learns new sensations and gets to know his body
starts to roll over
masters the position on all fours and begins to crawl
learns to sit down and stand up from a sitting position
tries to stand holding on to a support and take his first steps
starts walking
is actively learning speech

5. Changing the size of the legs and arms

After the growth spurt, you will notice how your toddler has grown.

Calendar of developmental leaps

The first leap begins at the end of the first month of a baby's life, the peak falls on the 5th week. The baby begins to study the phenomena that occur around him. The sense organs develop, and the child perceives the world much more clearly than before.

The second growth crisis is a continuation of the first. His surge falls on the 8th week. The kid opens the world of patterns. He understands, for example, that he has two arms and two legs. And spends hours practicing the new skill of controlling their particular position. He is fascinated by the shadows from the falling light. You may notice how the child listens to himself by making various sounds. He also begins to show joy with his first smile.

The third growth spurt appears at 3 months. If before this the baby's movements were clumsy, now he has much better control over his body. There is also a further development of the senses. Now he notices the differences: he listens to the voices, watches how the light is replaced by darkness, how everything moves around. The world is becoming more organized.

The fourth developmental leap of occurs around the 19th week. The child understands that each event has a certain sequence of actions. He begins to notice smooth transitions in sounds, movements, light, smells and textures.

Fifth developmental leap around 26 weeks. You will see how the baby tries to do many new things for him. The child improves coordination, he begins to understand the connection of things around. The main discovery at this age is the space around: there is a certain distance between people and objects. The world for the baby becomes huge.

The sixth crisis of will clearly manifest itself at 37 weeks. During this period, you will notice that the baby is learning new activities, constantly experimenting. The baby is able to recognize certain objects, sensations, groups people and animals into categories. For example, he understands that a banana is different from an apple in shape, color and taste, but it is still food. Understanding the world of categories greatly affects your child's senses.

By the 46th week there will be a 7 leap in development . The baby will open the world of sequences. He will understand that in order to achieve his goal, it is necessary to act in a certain way. The child will learn how and in what sequence to put things together so that it is correct: a pyramid, cubes, etc.

The eighth leap of development will happen around the year at week 55. The kid will have a breakthrough in mental development and he will be ready to explore the world of programs. If before that the baby understood the sequence of events that follow one after another, now he understands that this does not always happen. And he also realizes that the result of an action sometimes depends on what happened now.

The ninth leap is the first growth crisis after a year, which peaks at 14-15 months. The child has grown up and now he is able to change the programs that he has mastered before. He will experiment with them:

Meet other children at the playground
imitate others
Explore your emotions
Think ahead
Become aggressive to get what you want
Throw the first tantrums
Understand the difference between "mine" and "yours"
Learning to do things together
Experiment with "yes" and "no"

The last tenth leap of development will take about 17 months. The baby develops the ability to understand "systems" and their differences: my mother is not like that boy's mother, my scooter is not like my brother's. At this stage, he realizes that he decides how to behave. The child develops a sense of compassion.

How to help your baby during a growth spurt

Create a physiological regimen to prevent overwork. Make your bedtime ritual longer. The baby needs more time to relax and fall asleep. Include more body contact in the ritual: carrying, hugging, kissing.
Provide proper rest - in a dream there is an active development and growth of a small organism.
Practice new skills while you are awake and praise each achievement.
Pay more attention to the baby during the day, so that at night he does not make up for it with additional rises for motion sickness and feeding. Before breastfeeding or bottle feeding, check for signs of hunger in the baby. And if he is full, use other ways to calm down: re-swaddle, turn on white noise, shush.

Like this article? Rate:

Votes: 58

Baby Growth Spurts - BabySleep article on baby spurts by week

07/06/2016

1449523

927

Article

Tatyana Chkhikvishvili

Head of the Online Program, Psychologist, Snip Consultant

Mom of two children

For the first 1. 5 years of life, the child changes fantastically! Height, weight, physical skills and mental abilities - never again in his life will his development be so rapid.

But the development of the child does not occur evenly, but in leaps. Suddenly, unexpectedly, some new skill appears in the crumbs, and then for some time nothing new seems to happen. In fact, a new skill has a preparatory period, about a week. And this week is a real crisis for both the baby and the parents.

These developmental crises in children are noticeable and natural, Dr. Hetty Vandereit and Professor Frans Ploy - psychologists, specialists in the field of early childhood development - even created a special calendar of child crises.

But don't be afraid! Each crisis is a consequence of the development of the child, so these crisis weeks are more likely to add up to a calendar of jumps in the development of the child. Each crisis is a jump in the development of the nervous system, a jump in the growth of the brain, the emergence of new abilities in a child. For a baby, this is comparable to the discovery of a new, completely unknown world. Of course, this worries the child. During a crisis, he can worry, act up, cry, sleep and eat worse.

Change is too fast. They are incomprehensible to the child, he is excited and frightened. During a crisis, the baby really needs your attention and help. Be patient. It is in your power to help your child go through every crisis, every growth spurt easier and faster.

The growth spurt table shows how developmental spurts are distributed over the weeks of a baby's life. Weeks highlighted in light green show crisis. Lightning and blue color indicates the most difficult time. The crisis is followed by weeks marked in white - this is a calm period, the end of the crisis. The child successfully survived another leap and mastered something new. Until the next developmental leap and a new crisis, there will be a rather calm time when the baby consolidates new skills.

Child crisis calendar

Developmental leaps in children occur at about the same age.