How much milk should a 6 month-old drink when eating solids

At 6 months of age, breastmilk continues to be a vital source of nutrition; but it’s not enough by itself. You need to now introduce your baby to solid food, in addition to breastmilk, to keep up with her growing needs.

Be sure you give your baby her first foods after she has breastfed, or between nursing sessions, so that your baby continues to breastfeed as much as possible.

When you start to feed your baby solid food, take extra care that she doesn’t become sick. As she crawls about and explores, germs can spread from her hands to her mouth. Protect your baby from getting sick by washing your and her hands with soap before preparing food and before every feeding.

Your baby's first foods

When your baby is 6 months old, she is just learning to chew. Her first foods need to be soft so they’re very easy to swallow, such as porridge or well mashed fruits and vegetables. Did you know that when porridge is too watery, it doesn't have as many nutrients? To make it more nutritious, cook it until it’s thick enough not to run off the spoon.     

Feed your baby when you see her give signs that she's hungry – such as putting her hands to her mouth. After washing hands, start by giving your baby just two to three spoonfuls of soft food, twice a day. At this age, her stomach is small so she can only eat small amounts at each meal.

The taste of a new food may surprise your baby. Give her time to get used to these new foods and flavours. Be patient and don’t force your baby to eat. Watch for signs that she is full and stop feeding her then.

As your baby grows, her stomach also grows and she can eat more food with each meal.

Feeding your baby: 6–8 months old

From 6–8 months old, feed your baby half a cup of soft food two to three times a day. Your baby can eat anything except honey, which she shouldn't eat until she is a year old. You can start to add a healthy snack, like mashed fruit, between meals. As your baby gets increasing amounts of solid foods, she should continue to get the same amount of breastmilk. 

Feeding your baby: 9–11 months old

From 9–11 months old, your baby can take half a cup of food three to four times a day, plus a healthy snack. Now you can start to chop up soft food into small pieces instead of mashing it. Your baby may even start to eat food herself with her fingers. Continue to breastfeed whenever your baby is hungry.

Each meal needs to be both easy for your baby to eat and packed with nutrition. Make every bite count.

Foods need to be rich in energy and nutrients. In addition to grains and potatoes, be sure your baby has vegetables and fruits, legumes and seeds, a little energy-rich oil or fat, and – especially – animal foods (dairy, eggs, meat, fish and poultry) every day. Eating a variety of foods every day gives your baby the best chance of getting all the nutrients he needs.

If your baby refuses a new food or spits it out, don’t force it. Try again a few days later. You can also try mixing it with another food that your baby likes or squeezing a little breastmilk on top.

Feeding non-breastfed babies

If you're not breastfeeding your baby, she’ll need to eat more often. She'll also need to rely on other foods, including milk products, to get all the nutrition her body needs.

• Start to give your baby solid foods at 6 months of age, just as a breastfed baby would need. Begin with two to three spoonfuls of soft and mashed food four times a day, which will give her the nutrients she needs without breastmilk.
• From 6–8 months old, she’ll need half a cup of soft food four times a day, plus a healthy snack. 
• From 9–11 months old, she’ll need half a cup of food four to five times a day, plus two healthy snacks.

Whether you plan to formula feed your baby from the start, want to supplement your breast milk with formula, or are switching from breast milk to formula, you probably have questions.

Here are answers to some common questions about formula feeding.

When Can My Baby Try Solid Foods?

Doctors recommend waiting until your baby is about 6 months old to start solid foods. Some babies may be ready for solids sooner than 6 months, but wait until your baby is at least 4 months old.

Babies who are ready to eat solids foods:

• are interested in foods (for example, they may watch others eat, reach for food, and open their mouths when food is near)
• hold up their heads well, and sit up with little or no help
• don't push food of their mouth (which is a natural tongue reflex that disappears when babies are 4–6 months old)
• usually weigh twice their birth weight, or close to it

Talk to your doctor about the right time to start solid foods.

How Do I Introduce Solid Foods?

When the time is right, start with a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with breast milk, formula, or water. Feed your baby with a small baby spoon. Don’t add cereal to a baby's bottle unless your doctor recommends it.

When your baby gets the hang of eating the first food, introduce other foods from all food groups, such as puréed meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and yogurt. Wait a few days between introducing new foods to make sure your baby doesn't have an allergic reaction.

You can include foods that are more likely to cause allergies — such as peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy — among the foods you introduce to your infant. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies.

Talk to your doctor before giving foods that contain peanuts if your baby has severe eczema or an egg allergy, as these conditions make an allergy to peanuts more likely. Eating peanut-containing foods early on may lower a child’s chances of developing a peanut allergy. But your doctor will need to decide if you can give peanuts to your baby, and the safest way to do it. Usually, this requires allergy tests.

Should We Avoid Some Foods?

Yes, don’t give your baby:

• foods with added sugars or no-calorie sweeteners
• high-sodium foods
• honey until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
• unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
• regular cow's milk or soy beverages instead of breast milk or formula before 12 months. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
• foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts

Always supervise your child when eating. Make sure your child is sitting up in high chair or other safe place.

When Can My Baby Have Cow's Milk?

Before their first birthday, babies still need the nutrients in breast milk or formula. But after that, they’re ready to switch to cow's milk.

Most kids under age 2 should drink whole milk. If a toddler is overweight or there is a family history of obesity, high cholesterol, or heart problems, your doctor might recommend switching to reduced fat (2%) milk.

If your child can’t drink cow’s milk, choose an unsweetened soy beverage fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Other milk alternatives, like almond, oat, rice, or coconut milk, have less protein and may not be fortified.

How Do We Switch to Cow’s Milk?

You can switch your baby from formula to whole milk by replace bottles of formula with bottles — or sippy cups — of milk. By 1 year old, your baby should be eating a variety of solid foods and drinking about 16 to 24 ounces (480–720 milliliters) of milk per day.

When Can I Start Giving My Baby Water and Other Drinks?

In their first 6 months, healthy babies drinking enough formula usually don't need extra water. Once your baby is eating solid foods, you can offer a small amount of water between feedings, up to 4–8 ounces a day. 

Water that has fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. If your water does not have fluoride, talk to your doctor or dentist about fluoride drops.

Do not give juice to babies younger than 12 months. After your child’s first birthday, limit 100% fruit juice to no more than 4 ounces a day. Always serve juice in a cup, not in a bottle. Don’t give your child sugar-sweetened beverages, including soda, juice drinks, sports drinks, and flavored milks.

How Much Milk Does a Baby Need When Eating Solids?

1. Breastfeeding

Before your baby starts eating solids, he will probably have between 19 and 30 ounces of breast milk a day with the average amount being around 25 ounces. As you introduce solid foods into his diet, however, the milk intake will probably start decreasing. Despite this, you should always make sure that he gets enough breast milk to provide most of his nutrition until he is one year old. The amount of milk your baby needs will depend on many factors including how much solid food he is eating. One study that looked at the intake of breast milk found that it was about 30 ounces (875 ml) a day at seven months and about 19 ounces (550 ml) between 11 and 16 months with this final number only accounting for about 50% of daily calories).

Other studies have looked at how much breast milk babies between one and two years usually have with numbers ranging from 14 to 19 ounces (400 to 550 ml). From 24 to 36 months, this average decreases to 10 to 12 ounces (300 to 360 ml) a day.

2. Bottle-feeding

When you first start feeding solids to your baby, his daily formula intake will usually start to decrease gradually until it reaches around 720 ml.

Once he is eating solids regularly, this number will decrease to about 500 to 600 ml a day of formula in addition to a healthy and varied diet. If your baby doesn’t want to drink this much milk, try giving him foods with milk such as yogurt, rice pudding, or custard.

After your baby reaches a year of age, he can switch from formula to drinking full-fat cow’s milk.

Want to know more about how much milk your baby needs when eating solids? Check out the video below:

Milk and Solids—How Much Is Enough for Your Baby?

Most babies have around 24 to 32 ounces of breast milk or formula a day when they are about 6 months old. When they reach a year, the number will be between 16 and 24 ounces and the remaining nutrition will be from solid foods. Most of the time, babies between 8 and 9 months are already having three meals of “solid” foods each day, but each baby is different.

When your baby is young, he doesn’t eat for pleasure, so experts recommend that you let him regulate how much to eat. He will only do so when hungry. After their morning milk, wait one or two hours and let him eat as much solid food as he wants. Simply offer a nutritious option and let him do the rest.

Many parents are tempted to know exactly how much food their child consumes on a daily basis or want a specific guideline to follow. In reality, your only job as a parent is to give your child healthy foods. He will decide how much he needs to eat. It is important to start encouraging children to eat if they are hungry and then stop when they get full while they are still young.

How to Introduce Milk to Your Baby When Eating Solids

1. Breastfeeding

Experts suggest that you give your child breast milk for their first meal in the morning. Then you can wait a half hour to an hour and give them solid foods. The goal with young babies is not to fill up on solids and sacrifice milk. Until they are a year old, the breast milk is the most important source of nutrition.

By the time your baby starts eating solid foods, he will already be signaling when he wants to breastfeed and when he is full. He will start doing the same thing with solid foods. Most babies can start eating solids when they are around six months old as they can sit up by themselves, won’t push food out of their mouth, and can hold the food themselves.

2. Bottle-feeding

As soon as you start introducing solid foods into your baby’s diet, mealtime will get more exciting. The following steps can make it easier and more enjoyable for both your baby and you.

• Keep your baby seated while eating. You can start off with an infant seat or have him sit on your lap and then when he can sit up by himself, move on to a highchair.
• Encourage your baby to play with and explore his food while eating. This is a great way to help with his development and you can prevent messes with a drop cloth.
• Let your baby hold onto a spoon while you feed him with another to start introducing the idea of utensils. Eventually encourage him to start feeding himself.
• When your child reaches nine months or so, he might be ready to start drinking from a cup. Try filling it with breast milk (or formula) to help wean him off a bottle.
• Always put out individual servings. Chances are your baby won’t finish an entire container of food and saliva can ruin the leftovers. You can refrigerate the rest of the food for three days.
• Don’t force your baby to try a new food if he doesn’t want to. Instead, try it again next time.
• If your baby indicates he is full, listen to him. If he is following the growth charts and his doctor is happy with his growth, he is eating enough.