How much breast milk does a baby eat?

Making sure your child gets enough food is a basic biological drive of parenthood. So, how much breast milk does a baby eat? This is a common question parents ask themselves. Exactly how much your baby eats at each feeding is difficult to know, most babies tend to eat their fill and show when they don't want more. 

Therefore, in today's society where we are used to being able to control things that make us anxious, many people experience the frustration of not knowing exactly how much the baby is eating at each feeding time. The need for control may be because the baby is breastfeeding in a different way to how you might imagine it would happen. When imagination and reality collide, it can be frustrating and it is therefore not surprising that we try to control the situation.

How much breast milk does a baby eat?

During breastfeeding, babies control how much they eat and it is not possible to assume how much they are getting. Children place their own orders for the next meal, so the more often they breastfeed, the more milk is produced and vice versa. The baby is by far the best at sucking milk out of the breast and cannot be compared to pumping breast milk, for example.

Research has speculated on whether or not breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity and overweight later in life. One reason why this could be the case is because children breastfeed according to their sense of satiety and thus learn to control their food intake according to feelings such as satiety.

Can a baby eat too much?

If you have a baby who is vomiting a lot, it may look like the baby is vomiting huge volumes, but they are usually vomiting the abundance of a hungry baby and it looks more than it really is. Try to be confident that your baby knows how much to eat and listen to your baby's signals when they want to feed. If you feel anxious and scared, this can actually inhibit your baby's ability to breastfeed and make it more difficult for your milk to flow. The BVC ensures that your baby is healthy and growing properly.

Here you can read about the nutrition that babies receive through breastfeeding.