Healthy babies who are born full term and who do not have other special medical conditions  

Premature babies often need special formula for their nutritional needs. And babies with other diseases or other conditions may need extra calories to help them grow if your baby falls into one of these categories or if you' ve got concerns that your baby isn't growing please be sure to talk to their medical provider.

So we are going to start by talking about how much breast milk or formula your baby should eat each day .First off babies need to eat a lot in the first month of life, an average baby  needs about 100 kcals per kilo per day which would be like 150 pound or 70 kilo like 28 per person.Eating hamburgers in one day those tiny little babies also have tiny little  stomachs which means it's okay when they don't eat a lot all at once but it does mean that they need to eat often  I really like this graphic that shows how small a baby's stomach is um that first  

week of life it's about the size of a grape and then it grows to be about one and a half or two  

ounces the size of a strawberry um by the end of the first week and then it's about two and a half  

to five ounces or the size of a lime by one month so the best advice we can give you for the first  

month of life is to feed your baby when they're hungry yeah now i realize it sounds super simple  

but honestly during that first month especially babies just need to eat and they need to eat often  

you don't need to worry about forcing big volumes but offering feeds every two to three  

hours can help make sure that they're getting the nutrition they need during those first few weeks  

um and honestly there are going to be periods during those first few weeks where your baby is  

gonna want to eat every hour you're gonna have cluster feedings so don't be surprised by that  

that it's natural and normal okay yeah yeah so um babies also don't have the stores in their little  

livers to keep their blood sugars stable like an older infant might and so it's really important  

not to go significant amounts of time between feeds and your pediatrician is probably going to  

recommend not letting them go more than four hours between feeds in that first month yeah so for  

those of you who are breastfeeding there is this extra complicating factor of getting your milk in  

and actually learning how to breastfeed and i know from personal experience it can add a ton  

of stress to the equation we had a lot of issues with latch and a tongue tie and our first couple  

weeks were tough um so from one first-time mom to another if you are struggling with breastfeeding  

get help go see a lactation consultant talk to your pediatrician talk to other moms around you  

to get the support you need for breastfeeding for those of you looking for some more concrete  

numbers about how much to feed your baby most newborns during that first week two weeks of life  

are eating every two to three hours or eight to 12 times a day at least um and they are going to  

start out only taking about a half ounce per feeding or 15 cc's for the first couple days  

and then by the time they're a week old it's about one to two ounces or 30 to 60 cc's per feed by the  

time they're two weeks of age maybe they're able to take two to three ounces per feeding again 60  

to 90 cc's per feed so by two months of age babies are usually taking about four to five ounces per  

feed every three to four hours and then four to six ounces per feed by four ish months of age now  

special notes for breastfed babies so in those those first weeks if you are direct breastfeeding  

you don't actually know numbers of how many ounces babies are getting unless you're doing  

weighted feeds with your lactation consultant but it can be frustrating because you don't know hey  

how many ounces this baby getting at the breast if you're direct breastfeeding you want to put  

the baby off for one breast let them eat keep them awake good 10 to 15 minutes always offer  

the other side kind of as dessert and know that if if baby is growing and having wet diapers they  

are eating enough yep and we're gonna go into some of those later in this episode too yes um the rule  

kind of a general rule that really helped me if i was going to be away from the baby  

fed babies need about 1 to 1.25 ounces per hour for every hour they're gone from mom so if i was  

going to be gone from sees for three hours i would know she was gonna need about 3.75 ish ounces  

of breast milk for that three hour period and it's really important with breastfed babies to not  

over feed them or give them lots and lots of milk um because then when they're away from monitoring  

right because then it is just really hard if baby gets used to eating these bigger volumes  

it's really hard for breastfeeding moms to keep up with their pump so really focusing on those  

1 to 1.25 ounces per hour um away from mom is breast milk is magic and that is what  

breastfed babies need yeah and for those of you not in the u.s that's about 30 to 40 cc's  

per hour away from mom other things that we think it's important to remember is that feeding goals  

for baby are measured over the course of a full 24 hours and so don't be bothered if one feed isn't  

quite as much as another um it's also don't be surprised as we mentioned if baby wants to have  

cluster feeds feeding back to back um during certain parts of the day yeah i will say you  

know we said in those first weeks eight to 12 times a day is you know kind of average but i  

will say thinking back and looking at my tracking app that was tracking breastfeeding it was 16 20  

times a day she just was constantly on the boob and that is very very normal for breastfed babies  

yeah those first two weeks can you can expect baby to be eating about 15 to 20 ounces a day and  

then that becomes 20 to 25 ounces per day by one month and 24 to 30 ounces per day by two months  

in general babies are going to continue to eat about that 24 to 32 ounces of milk per day  

through six months of age and then they continue to keep eating about that same amount even after  

that because then they're starting to get extra calories from the real food  

that they're introducing at that four to six eight months so we'll be sure to cover  

initiation of solids and baby lead weaning in some upcoming episodes in the next month or so

how do you know that your baby is getting enough to eat um the best way is to actually weigh them  

if the baby is gaining weight week by week then that means they're getting enough calories  

regardless of the other factors this is one of the key things your pediatrician is gonna look  

at during those routine scheduled checkups over the first few months of life yeah most babies will  

actually double their birth weight by about five months of age and then triple that birth weight  

by their first birthday but if you want more some day-to-day measures and other good things that you  

can look at are that your new baby yeah by the end of that first week they should be having six or  

more wet diapers per day and with nearly colorless or pale yellow urine yeah they seem satisfied and  

happy for an average of you know one to maybe two or three hours after a feed and then they should  

also be nursing as we mentioned at least eight to 12 times in a 24-hour period yep maybe more  

after the newborn period following the number of wet diapers in a day can be a good way  

to follow that baby is likely getting enough milk or formula to stay hydrated  

and with that likely enough to grow um they should be at a minimum of four wet diapers a day  

but for most babies it's probably more like six or more like wet diapers per day

for your early newborn it is especially important to be on the lookout for  

feeding cues or special signs that your baby wants to eat most babies are going to get into a regular  

routine of eating about every three hours but it's very normal for there to be periods especially in  

those first couple weeks that we've talked about where they want to eat even more frequently a baby  

who is hungry is often going to cry like they will let you know they are hungry um but if you look  

for these cues ahead of time you may be able to catch those signs of hunger even before they are  

to the point of crying um and hopefully that makes kind of the feeding a bit more of an enjoyable  

bonding experience for you and baby yeah and so some of these classic feeding cues are things like  

licking their lips yep sticking their little tongue out yeah or maybe they're rooting which  

is just kind of like moving their jar mouth and hair in search of their breasts yep um they might  

put their hands in their mouth more frequently and over and over again or they're just like opening  

their mouth kind of over and over again too and generalized fussiness a hangry baby yep and then  

sucking on everything around them including maybe even sometimes dad yes it is important to realize  

of course that every time your baby cries or sucks it's not necessarily because he or she is  

hungry babies suck not only for hunger but it's also for comfort that sucking releases hormones  

in their brain that are comforting it can be very hard for parents to tell the difference  

but sometimes your baby just needs to be cuddled or changed or given a pacifier

and finally what should you do if you're struggling with feeds sure so the first thing  

we have to say here is that you are not alone um our first month with baby cease was really rough  

um and our number one piece of advice here is to get help tell your pediatrician see  

a lactation consultant have someone who knows all about baby feeding watch you feed your baby  

and try to keep a record of how much baby is eating or for how long  

and how often so i loved and used the huckleberry app it's a free app um and  

so that i could keep track of left breast for you start a timer and then you stop it and then you  

right breath the other start a timer um so you know how long um because um  

and then also how often and how many feeds you've done during the day right so with bottle fed  

babies you are keeping track of how many ounces they are eating in a day breastfed babies you are  

keeping track of how long they are eating um and on each breast in a day and so huckleberry app was  

my favorite yeah and just to say it again if you are struggling with feeds or weight gain ask  

for help yes um our little girl ended up having a mild tongue tie and some issues that made direct  

breastfeeding very very difficult for her and it was also kind of a setup for supply issues so we  

had to seek medical help yeah it's also important for us to mention that there could be a medical  

reason your baby's struggling with feeds and or weight gain the most common cause for poor  

weight gain in babies is that they just aren't getting the needed volume of feedings in a day  

but there can absolutely be issues with absorption of nutrients  

or that your baby could just be burning extra calories due to something like a lung condition  

a heart condition or something else that could be a setup for poor growth.