Written by Ajanta Biswas
Providing breast milk for at least the initial 6 months is necessary for the overall growth and development of your baby. But while breastfeeding, you cannot calculate the amount of milk you are giving and whether it is sufficient or not. Often mothers overfeed or less feed their child. While less feeding can result in malnutrition; on the other hand, overfeeding can cause premature growth. Thus having a breast milk calculator is very important.
No, you don’t have to buy a calculator from the market! A baby milk intake calculator is a breast milk chart that you can easily make regarding your baby’s weight. Here you will get all your queries resolved about the breast milk calculator and the amount of breast milk needed by a baby as per their weight.
In This Article
How much milk do babies need, depends mostly on their weight and age. We will discuss the weight calculation later on. At first, you need to know the ideal daily milk quantities for babies according to their age:
Now that you know the breastfeeding amount according to age, you can easily make babies milk intake chart for your help.
To ensure that you are not over or less feeding, you need to do the breast milk calculation by weight. It is a three-step process:
Note: So the simple formula of breast milk calculator is (baby’s weight in ounces/6/8= ounces per feed). And if you are using milliliter-marked bottles, then just multiply this result by 30.
With the help of the baby milk intake chart and the above equation, you can easily understand how much expressed milk you need to feed at a time. You can also take immediate action by calculating how much expressed milk is your baby drinking- too much or too little?
From the 1st month to the 6th month, giving 2.75 to 3 ounces of breastmilk every 3 hours is sufficient. But as your baby gains weight and as the time gap between the feedings increases, the ounces of milk per feed will also increase accordingly.
It is best to store 2 to 4 ounces of milk in a bottle at a time for small babies. Small babies cannot drink more than this at a time. So storing more than their requirement will lead to the wastage of the extra milk. But as your baby gets older s/he will require more and then you can store more. You will get the idea through the breast milk feeding chart and also through your personal experience.
After the 6th month, when you start introducing solid food items to your baby, then naturally you will have to lower the quantity of breast milk. After 8 months, when your baby is having solid meals three times a day regularly, you will have to provide at least 6 ounces of breastmilk per feed 3 to 5 times a day. And it will be beneficial if your baby starts the day with breast milk as the first meal as it is the main source of nutrition for the baby even after 6 months.
Nothing can supersede breast milk. So store your breast milk, according to the baby’s need with the help of a breast milk calculator and start your parenting journey smoothly.
Studying English literature has been highly instrumental in creating a love for English and World Literature for this writer. Ajanta has been writing for more than two years. She specializes in creating short and crisp blogs that can create awareness among women about healthy pregnancy and among parents about better parenting.Read more.
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