Know how to figure hot how many ounces baby should drink in a day. Five things to consider when trying to figure out how many ounces of liquid baby should have.
Chapter three in The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems is all about the liquid diet. Here are a couple of highlights on the number of ounces your baby will take in a day.
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Ounces Decrease at 6 Months
On page 89, Hogg states that around 6 months of age, your baby will start to take less liquid in the day. This is harmonious with information on kellymom.com. It is good to note, for parents who start solids before 6 months, that the liquid shouldn’t really decrease before 6 months. So if you start solids prior to that, remember to keep the liquid intake up. Don’t sacrifice liquid for solid.
5 Steps to Figure Out How Many Ounces Baby Should Have
“By knowing your baby, tuning in to his cues, learning what is developmentally typical, and then using common sense to gauge where your baby stands, you’ll probably know what is best. Trust yourself!” (page 93). I loved this thought.
Parents are often asking questions like how many ounces should baby get a day and how often should a 22.5 week old should be eating…you need to learn to trust yourself. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to educate yourself. Look at her steps:
- Know your baby
- Tune into cues
- Learn what is typical
- Use common sense
- Trust yourself
Some babies eat more than others. Just like people, babies have different metabolisms. Know what things are like for you and your spouse because your baby will be genetically similar to someone. My husband has a really fast metabolism (lucky!). I do not. Some babies will need to eat more than others. Some will need to eat more often for longer.
As you do research, you will get confused. There is a wide range of information out there.
Some books (many) give weight calculations to figure out the number of ounces your baby will take in a day. Some books and kellymom.com say that baby takes X number of ounces for certain ages, no matter the size (this is a more likely scenario for a breastfed baby than a formula-fed baby since breast milk can change the number of calories per ounce).
There are many different opinions out there. None of it is fact. If it was fact, there would be consistent information from book to book and website to website. Even kellymom, which says baby will take 25 ounces per day, also says that anywhere from 19-30 ounces from 1-6 months old.
Conclusion
Moral of the story? Know what range can be expected. Be sure you are offering your baby enough, but follow her cues. Baby will not eat more than she needs. Trust you. You are with your baby more than anyone else. You are her parent and entitled to know her needs.
Related Posts
- 5 Things to Know About Exclusively Pumping
- 5 Things You Really Need to Know About Bottle Feeding
- Feed Baby When Hungry
- Hunger Cues: How To Know if Baby is Hungry
- Hunger Patterns
- Reasons for Feeding Baby Sooner than 2.5 Hours
- Sample Schedules for a Formula Fed Baby
