How Many Ounces of Breast Milk Should You Put in a Bottle for 2-Month-Old?

Listen to your baby's cues while feeding.

Specific Amount

According to Kelly Mom, a breastfeeding and parenting website, a mother should calculate the number of times her baby nurses daily, then divide 25 ounces by the number of feedings to estimate the amount of pumped breast milk her baby should receive at each feeding. If a baby nurses 12 times a day, for instance, he would need a little over 2.08 ounces per feeding.

Variable Amount

According to Work and Pump, only a baby knows how much breast milk she needs. The site recommends that a mother start with 2 ounces per bottle, and if her baby wants more, she can give her another bottle or increase the amount of milk she puts into each bottle. Keeping a record of how much their babies drink will help mothers know how much to put into the bottle.

Bottom Line

Kids Health agrees that a baby goes through many changes and growth spurts in the first three months of life, making it hard to stick to a rigid feeding regimen. The overriding argument, therefore, is that a 2-month-old should be fed on demand, and close attention should be paid to the baby's signals of when he is hungry or full.

References

• Kelly Mom: How Much Expressed Milk Will My Baby Need?
• Work and Pump: How Much Milk to Feed From Bottles
• Kids Health: Feeding Your 1-to-3-Month-Old