How much milk should a newborn drink?

In short

Newborns feed little and often: most take around 8–12 feeds in 24 hours and are best fed on demand rather than to a fixed amount. As a rough formula guide, babies need about 150–200 ml of formula per kilogram of body weight per day (roughly 2.5 fl oz per pound) until they are six months old, split across the day’s feeds — so a 4 kg baby needs very roughly 600–800 ml (about 20–27 fl oz) in 24 hours. Breastfed babies self-regulate, so you watch nappies, contentment, and weight trend rather than millilitres. These are starting points, not targets: follow your baby’s hunger cues, and check amounts that seem far off with your health visitor, GP, or pediatrician.

Key takeaways

• Feed newborns on demand — most take around 8–12 feeds in 24 hours.
• As a rough formula guide: about 150–200 ml per kg of body weight per day (≈2.5 fl oz per pound) up to six months.
• Breastfed babies self-regulate; watch nappies, settling, and the weight trend rather than millilitres.
• Amounts are starting points, not targets — check anything that seems far off with your health visitor, GP, or pediatrician.

Feed on demand first, amounts second

In the early weeks a newborn’s appetite changes day to day, and during growth spurts they may want to feed almost constantly. The most reliable approach is responsive (on-demand) feeding: offer a feed when your baby shows early hunger cues — rooting, mouthing, hands to mouth — rather than holding to a fixed schedule or a fixed number of millilitres. Frequent feeding is normal and, when breastfeeding, helps build supply.

A rough guide to formula amounts

If you are formula feeding (or topping up), a commonly used guide is about 150–200 ml of formula per kilogram of body weight per day until around six months — roughly 2.5 fluid ounces per pound in US terms — divided across the day’s feeds. So a 4 kg (about 9 lb) baby needs very roughly 600–800 ml, or about 20–27 fl oz, in 24 hours. Newborns often take small amounts frequently and work up to larger, less frequent feeds over the first weeks.

• Start small and frequent — newborn feeds may be just 30–60 ml (1–2 fl oz) at a time at first.
• Let your baby stop when they show they are full; do not push the rest of a bottle.
• Expect amounts to rise over the first weeks and to jump during growth spurts.
• Use weight-based amounts as a sense-check, not a strict target.

Breastfed babies: watch signs, not millilitres

You cannot measure how much a breastfed baby takes, and you do not need to. A breastfed newborn who feeds frequently, has steady wet and dirty nappies, settles for at least some of the time after feeds, and follows their own weight centile after the normal early dip is almost always getting enough. The signs that come out and the trend over days tell you more than any single number.

When to speak to your health visitor or pediatrician

Contact your health visitor, GP, midwife, or pediatrician if your baby is consistently taking much less than these guides suggest, is very sleepy or hard to wake for feeds, has fewer wet nappies (diapers), seems unsatisfied after most feeds, or has not regained birth weight by around two weeks. Amounts are only a guide — your baby’s nappies, contentment, and weight trend matter more, and any worry is worth checking.

Logging feeds makes the pattern obvious. VitaBaby records each feed and weigh-in in two taps and charts the trend, so you can see whether intake is steady week to week — and if slow weight gain ever becomes a worry, the same record flows into VitaBaby’s deeper weight-and-calorie tracking.

FAQ

Sources

• Bottle feeding advice — NHS
• Amount and Schedule of Baby Formula Feedings — American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org)

Related guides

• Is my newborn feeding enough? A guide for first-time parents
• When do babies regain their birth weight?
• How to track your baby’s weight gain at home
• The best app for slow-gaining or underweight babies