Formula Feeding Guide (Australia): How Much, How Often, and What the Tin Leaves Out

This formula feeding guide for Australia starts with how much: around 150 mL of formula per kilogram of body weight a day until 6 months, then about 100 mL per kg from 6 to 12 months. A 5 kg baby takes around 750 mL across 6 to 8 bottles. The tin's feeding table is only a guide.

The figures come from the NHMRC Infant Feeding Guidelines(opens in a new window) and Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window). Breast and mixed feeding are in our guide to how much milk a baby drinks.

How much formula does a baby need?

A formula-fed baby usually takes around 150 mL per kilogram of body weight each day until 6 months, and about 100 mL per kg from 6 to 12 months.

The guide is a daily amount per kilogram, because a 3.5 kg newborn and a 5 kg newborn of the same age drink different amounts. Weight is the anchor; age only changes the rate.

NHMRC · Infant Feeding Guidelines

Bottle-fed infants up to 6 months require about 150 ml/kg body weight each day to meet their nutrient needs. Some will require more (up to 200 ml/kg), others less.

The NHMRC adds a middle step the tin often skips: from 3 to 6 months the guide eases to 120 mL per kg. Some babies from 6 months settle closer to 90 mL per kg once solids are on the menu.

At the far end, the Queensland Government(opens in a new window) says babies have formula or breastmilk until 12 months old, with solids building up alongside milk.

Formula feeding amounts by age

Per-kilogram figures are the NHMRC's, and worked totals follow Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window). Each per-feed figure is a typical daily total divided by that row's feeds, so a heavier baby, or one who feeds less often, sits at the top of the range.

Reading the table:

• Feed counts. NSW Health(opens in a new window) puts newborns at about 12 feeds a day in the first month and about 8 by 2 months. Tresillian(opens in a new window) has a 3 to 5 month old feeding every 3 to 4 hours.
• Every row is a guide. The NHMRC labels its own table "a guide only".

Weight sets the amount, age sets the rate, and the baby sets the pace.

How much formula for a newborn?

In the first four days a newborn takes around 30 to 60 mL of formula per kilogram a day. At 3.5 kg that is about 10 to 25 mL a bottle, rising each day. From day five the guide is around 150 mL per kg a day, roughly 50 to 75 mL a feed at 4 kg.

The first four days are small on purpose. A newborn's stomach is tiny and the amount rises day by day, so 20 mL on day two is ordinary.

How often do formula-fed babies feed?

Newborns often feed about 12 times a day in the first month, every 1.5 to 3 hours, and by around 2 months many babies settle at about 8 feeds a day. Those are the NSW Health(opens in a new window) figures for all newborns, formula-fed babies included.

Tresillian(opens in a new window) describes the change: young babies may want to feed more often, and older babies usually drink more formula at one time. So the day moves from many small bottles to fewer, larger ones. Tresillian recommends demand feeding, where the baby signals hunger and the parent responds, rather than a clock-driven schedule.

Hunger cues arrive before crying. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) suggests feeding on demand when a baby shows those cues. It describes the end of a feed the same way: the baby pulls away from the teat, sucks more slowly, and pauses for longer.

Because you hold the bottle, you control the flow more than a breastfeeding parent does. So watch the baby more than the level in the bottle.

What the tin covers, and what it leaves out

The tin tells you how to mix one bottle correctly. It does not tell you how much your baby wants today.

The scoop instructions: follow them exactly

Scoop sizes differ between brands, so the NHMRC(opens in a new window) advises using only the scoop from that tin, levelling it, and never adding half scoops or extra scoops. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) spells out why. Formula made too weak can leave a baby hungry and growing poorly. Formula made too strong can cause constipation and excess weight gain.

The feeding table: a guide

In the NHMRC's words, the amounts formula packages recommend for various ages are "a guide only and does not necessarily suit every infant". Pregnancy, Birth and Baby tells parents the same: use the label as a guide, and expect your baby to need more or less than it says.

NHMRC · Infant Feeding Guidelines

Formula is designed to remain at a constant strength and as an infant grows it is the amount of formula that should increase, not the strength.

Formula strength never changes with age. A bigger baby gets more water and more scoops in the same ratio. The Raising Children Network(opens in a new window) adds that a stage 1 formula suits babies from birth to 12 months, and moving to a stage 2 or follow-on formula at 6 months is optional rather than better.

Formula preparation guidelines: how to make a bottle safely

Boil fresh tap water, let it cool to lukewarm, add the water to the bottle first, then the levelled scoops, and throw away anything left in the bottle an hour after the feed starts. The steps below follow the Raising Children Network(opens in a new window) and the NHMRC's preparation table.

1. Wash your hands and work on a clean surface, with a sterilised bottle and teat.
2. Boil fresh tap water and let it cool to body temperature. Raising Children Network says that takes at least 30 minutes. Cooled boiled water can sit sealed in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
3. Read the tin for the water and scoop numbers for the feed size you want, then pour the water in first.
4. Fill the scoop loosely from the centre of the tin and level it off. Do not press the powder down, and do not add extra scoops.
5. Seal, shake until dissolved, then test a few drops on the inside of your wrist. Just warm is right.

The time limits matter as much as the mixing. Raising Children Network and Pregnancy, Birth and Baby give the same ones.

Warm a fridge-cold bottle by standing it in a jug of warm water rather than a microwave, which heats unevenly and can burn a baby's mouth. Many babies are happy with formula cold, and there is no need to warm it at all if yours is.

Signs your baby is getting enough formula

Plenty of wet nappies, steady weight gain, and a baby who is alert and content between feeds are the signs Australian guidance relies on.

• Wet nappies. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby and the NHMRC both count six or more wet nappies a day as the everyday check. Tresillian sets its floor at five or more, with poos that are not hard or dry. Our by-age guide to how many wet nappies a day explains what a heavy nappy feels like.
• Weight. The slower signal. Your child health nurse plots it at each visit, and consistent gain along your baby's own centile line matters far more than any single bottle.

A baby who finishes 90 mL one feed and 150 mL the next is behaving like a baby.

What changes when solids start

Around 6 months, solids begin as tastes alongside milk, and the formula guide eases from 120 to 100 mL per kg a day. Formula stays the main food until 12 months. The NHMRC notes that some babies drift closer to 90 mL per kg as meals grow.

From 6 months you can start offering cooled boiled water in a cup, and Raising Children Network suggests aiming to move off the bottle by 12 months. After 12 months a healthy toddler does not need formula, including toddler or stage 3 formulas, and cow's milk can become the drink.

Our guide to how much milk a 1 year old drinks covers that switch, from the last bottle of formula to cow's milk in a cup. If you are choosing first foods, our guide to starting solids in Australia walks through the NHMRC timeline.

How much formula for a 4 month old? One typical day

A 4 month old on formula usually takes around 120 mL per kg a day, about 840 mL at 7 kg, often as 6 bottles of around 140 mL. Feeds often come every 3 to 4 hours through the day, with 1 or 2 milk feeds overnight, in a feed, play, sleep rhythm.

That feed timing comes from Tresillian's guide to routines at 3 to 5 months(opens in a new window), which also puts the daytime naps at 2 to 3, totalling 3 to 4 hours. The day below is one way it can look for a baby around 7 kg. It is an illustration of the rhythm, not a plan to follow.

Six feeds of 140 mL come to 840 mL. On a real day one bottle is left half done and another is finished with a hungry look. Across a week the total still lands near the guide, and that week-level view is the useful one.

Our guide to night feeds by age covers when that overnight bottle tends to drop away.

Keeping the amounts straight without doing the maths

Formula feeding gives you something breastfeeding never does: a number on every bottle. The catch is remembering them. Was the 3 am feed 120 or 150? Did your partner do the 6 pm one? By the time the child health nurse asks how much bub is taking a day, the honest answer from memory is a guess.

A written note of each bottle, on paper or in an app, turns that guess into a total you can read across the week.

In BabyLog, a bottle feed opens with the time and your baby's usual amount already in, so a routine bottle often saves in two taps. A partner or grandparent can join as an editor with a six-digit code and log to the same baby from their own phone, and the home screen shows the day's bottle count and total mL. The feeding tracker app page covers breast feeds and timers too.

Bottle logging is on the free plan, so you can start free with tonight's bottles.

Common questions