Your baby will give certain signs to tell you they are hungry. Feeding them when they give these signs is called responsive feeding. This way of feeding is usually recommended unless your doctor, health visitor or midwife has told you to follow a feeding schedule.
Healthcare providers recommend responsive feeding or feeding on demand, instead of having a set routine or schedule.
To do this you follow your baby’s cues for being hungry or full and respond to them as quickly as you can.
You can feed your baby on demand whether you are breastfeeding, bottle feeding or a mix of both. You can do this for as long as your baby is getting their main nutrients from milk feeds. You might start to transition to more scheduled mealtimes once you start weaning your baby.
Look out for cues that your baby is hungry. There are 3 stages of hunger cues.
Early cues include:
Mid cues include:
Late cues include:
Feed at an early stage if you can. By the time your baby shows late hunger cues, they may be too upset to feed straight away. Try calming them first with skin-to-skin contact, stroking, cuddling or talking.
Remember that growth spurts can increase your baby’s need to feed.
Breastfed babies may want to feed 8 to 12 times in 24 hours. So you might be feeding every couple of hours, including at night. Some babies feed more than this, especially in the first few days. It’s also fine to give feeds when your breasts feel full – you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby.
Most young babies need about 150ml to 200ml of formula per kilo of weight until they’re 6 months old. How much they want can vary from day to day, but most will still feed little and often.
This advice was written by our experienced Parent Talk coaches. Parent Talk is a free online service for parents and carers, provided by the charity Action for Children. For more advice, message our parenting coaches with our online chat.
