Feeding Infant Formula in the First Year
The amount of infant formula needed by an infant over a 24-hour period will vary depending on the infant’s age, size, level of activity, metabolic rate, medical conditions, and other source(s) of nutrition (breast milk and/or complementary food). Infants have the ability to regulate their food intake relative to their nutritional needs. In doing so, they express signs of hunger and satiety and expect their caregiver to respond to these cues. Thus, unless medically indicated otherwise, infants should be fed on demand, i.e., fed when they indicate their hunger, and not forced to follow a strict feeding schedule, nor to finish a bottle when no longer hungry. Infants placed on strict feeding schedules in the early months of life stand a greater chance of being either overfed or underfed. Hunger and Satiety Cues Infants, especially newborns, may not be consistent or follow a timed schedule as to when and how often they want to eat. A healthy infant eventually establishes an individual pattern according to his or her growth requirements. It is normal for infants to have fussy times; an infant may cry and just want to be held, to suck, or need to be changed; or may not be hungry. Thus, encourage caregivers to watch for and respond appropriately to the infant’s cues of hunger and satiety or fullness. Caregivers should look for the following common signals of hunger and fullness in their infants.
Signs of Hunger
An infant who is hungry may:
Signs of Fullness
Encourage the caregiver to feed the infant until he or she indicates fullness. Signs of fullness include:
Signs of Hunger
An infant who is hungry may:
- Wake and toss
- Suck on a fist
- Cry or fuss or
- Appear like he or she is going to cry.
Signs of Fullness
Encourage the caregiver to feed the infant until he or she indicates fullness. Signs of fullness include:
- Sealing the lips together
- A decrease in sucking
- Spitting out the nipple and
- Turning away from the breast or bottle.
Feeding Frequency and Amount
Newborn formula-fed infants are generally fed infant formula as often as exclusively breastfed infants are fed for a total of 8 to 12 feedings within 24 hours. These young infants need to be fed small amounts of infant formula often throughout the day and night because their stomachs cannot hold a large quantity. If a newborn infant sleeps longer than 4 hours at a time, the infant should be awakened and offered a bottle.
From birth to 6 months of age, infants grow rapidly and will gradually increase the amounts of infant formula they can consume at each feeding, the time between each feeding, and the total amount of infant formula consumed in 24 hours. Encourage parents or caregivers to prepare 2 ounces of infant formula every 2 to 3 hours at first. More should be prepared if the infant seems hungry, especially as the infant grows. The partially breastfed infant will consume less infant formula than given in these examples, depending on the frequency of breastfeeding. At 6 months old, infants begin to shift from dependence on breast milk or infant formula as the primary nutrient source to dependence on a mixed diet including complementary foods. Thus, the consumption of breast milk or infant formula tends to decrease as the consumption of complementary foods increases.
From birth to 6 months of age, infants grow rapidly and will gradually increase the amounts of infant formula they can consume at each feeding, the time between each feeding, and the total amount of infant formula consumed in 24 hours. Encourage parents or caregivers to prepare 2 ounces of infant formula every 2 to 3 hours at first. More should be prepared if the infant seems hungry, especially as the infant grows. The partially breastfed infant will consume less infant formula than given in these examples, depending on the frequency of breastfeeding. At 6 months old, infants begin to shift from dependence on breast milk or infant formula as the primary nutrient source to dependence on a mixed diet including complementary foods. Thus, the consumption of breast milk or infant formula tends to decrease as the consumption of complementary foods increases.