Baby Feeding Chart by Month: Milk, Solids and Textures From Birth to 12 Months

For the first six months a baby's diet is milk and nothing else. From around six months solids join in, one meal a day at first, and over the second half of the year meals climb to three while milk feeds shrink to three or four.

That arc is the same in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the UK's NHS, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European paediatric society ESPGHAN.

What differs is the detail, and the detail is what you want when a baby is crying at 3 a.m. and you are wondering whether 150 ml was enough. This chart pulls every number those bodies publish into one table, then walks through each stage. Where a cell says "not specified," no authority gives a figure, and that is worth knowing too.

Solid meals by WHO age band, milk as responsive feeding, and the formula figures each body actually gives. General guidance for healthy, full-term babies; individual needs vary.

The feeding chart, birth to 12 months

Milk amounts are for formula-fed babies, because that is the only kind anyone measures. Breastfed babies feed on demand throughout; the AAP notes their intake "tops out at roughly 4.5 oz at a year of age" per feed.

The NHS is the only body that publishes month-band milk volumes after solids start, and it adds "just use this as a guide" to each one. The AAP gives the richest early figures and then stops at 6 months, because from there appetite for solids decides.

What does a newborn eat in the first month?

Milk, often. The AAP says breastfed newborns "usually nurse about every 2 hours," or 10 to 12 sessions in 24 hours, while for bottle-fed newborns "8 times is generally recommended as the minimum every 24 hours."

Amounts are small: "no more than about 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 60 ml) per feed" in the first week, then "gradually eat more until they take 3 to 4 ounces (90 to 120 ml) per feed" by the end of the month.

The NHS does not publish volumes for this stage at all. Its first-days guidance is "feed your baby as often as they want and for as long as they want. This is called responsive feeding," with "at least 8 to 12 times, or more, every 24 hours during the first few weeks" as "a very rough guide."

For bottle-fed babies it says the same in other words: "feed your baby when they show signs that they want it," and judge whether they are getting enough by weight gain and "around 6 wet nappies a day from a few days after the birth," not by millilitres.

How much milk does a baby drink from 1 to 5 months?

Formula-fed babies settle into "a fairly predictable schedule of feedings about every 3 to 4 hours" from the end of the first month, at "at least 3 to 4 ounces (120 mL) per feeding," according to the AAP.

Its weight rule, "about 2½ ounces (75 mL) of infant formula a day for every pound (453 g) of body weight," is the only published way to estimate a daily total between 2 and 5 months, always under the "no more than an average of about 32 ounces (960 mL)" ceiling.

Nothing solid happens in this window for most babies. The CDC says plainly that "introducing foods before 4 months is not recommended," and ESPGHAN's floor is "not before 4 months (17 weeks)." The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adds that "the majority of infants need complementary foods from around 6 months of age," even though the motor skills for purées can appear "between 3 and 4 months."

Being able to swallow a purée is not the same as needing one.

What changes at 6 months?

Solids begin, as an addition rather than a replacement. The CDC: "Breast milk and/or infant formula continues to be the main source of nutrition for your child from 6 to 12 months."

• Milk: the AAP's 180–240 ml (6–8 oz) at each of 4 or 5 feeds. The NHS keeps breastfeeding on demand and says to offer the milk feed after solids.
• Meals: "To start with, your baby only needs a small amount of solid food, once a day" (NHS). The WHO's range for 6 to 8 months is "2–3 meals per day."
• Amount per meal: "Give 1 or 2 tablespoons of food" (CDC); "a few pieces, or teaspoons of food" (NHS).
• Texture: the CDC starts with "mashed, pureed, or strained foods that are very smooth," while the NHS offers soft finger foods from the first day and says there is "no right or wrong way." ESPGHAN asks for "a variety of flavours and textures including bitter tasting green vegetables."
• Iron: ESPGHAN says "all infants should receive iron-rich complementary foods including meat products and/or iron-fortified foods," and the AAP asks for iron and zinc foods from the start.

Our 6 month old feeding schedule lays this stage out as two sample days, and the foods suitable at 6 months page lists what to offer.

What does a 7 to 9 month old eat?

This is the stage where the pattern flips from "milk plus a taste" to "meals plus milk."

• Meals: the NHS says babies "will gradually move towards eating 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch and tea)." The WHO's 2–3 meals a day applies through 8 months; from 9 months its band changes to 3–4 meals, which is the NHS's "towards 3" seen from the other side.
• Milk: "Formula-fed babies may need around 600ml of milk a day, but just use this as a guide" (NHS). Breastfed babies "will adapt their feeds according to how much food they're having."
• Texture: "Offer more mashed, lumpier foods as well as a variety of finger foods" (NHS). The CDC describes the same shift to "thicker, lumpier foods" as eating skills develop. The NHS's rule for finger food is that "pieces about the size of your own finger work well."
• Drinks: sips of water from an open or free-flow cup at mealtimes; no juice (AAP: none under 12 months) and no snacks (NHS).

The common worry here is gagging on lumps. Gagging is a normal reflex that pushes food forward; choking is silent. Our gagging vs choking guide explains the difference, and the texture progression guide shows how to move from smooth to lumpy without rushing. The foods suitable at 9 months page lists what most babies can manage by now.

What does a 10 to 12 month old eat?

By now a baby "should now be used to having 3 meals a day – breakfast, lunch and tea – in addition to their milk feeds," in the NHS's words, and the WHO moves to "3–4 meals per day for infants 9–23 months."

• Milk: "If your baby has first infant formula, they may need around 400ml per day, but just use this as a guide" (NHS). A breastfed baby "may be down to about 3 milk feeds a day."
• Texture: "bigger chunks of soft food and a wider variety of finger foods"; babies "should be finding it easier to pick up small pieces of food and feed themselves" (NHS). This is the pincer-grasp stage; our pincer grasp guide covers it.
• Cow's milk: still not a drink. The CDC says it "is not recommended until your child is older than 12 months," the NHS says the same, and ESPGHAN's position is that "whole cows' milk should not be used as the main drink before 12 months of age." Cooking with it is fine from 6 months.
• Snacks: none needed under 12 months (NHS); from the first birthday, 3 meals and 2 snacks.

See the foods suitable at 12 months list and our guide to what changes at 12 months for the handover to toddler eating.

Where US, UK and European guidance differs

Two of these matter in practice. The 3-to-5-day gap is American only; if you follow it from 6 months you will have tried roughly 45 foods by the first birthday, which is why the 100 first foods list is a year-long project in the US and a six-month one elsewhere.

And the texture question has moved: the CDC still describes starting smooth, while the NHS and ESPGHAN emphasise variety and finger foods early. Our purées vs baby-led weaning guide sets out both routes.

Keeping a record across these months is easier than remembering it. Avo Starting Solids logs every food, texture, allergen and reaction by date, so when the health visitor or paediatrician asks what your baby has tried, the answer is a list rather than a guess.

When should I ask a doctor about my baby's feeding?

Every body frames the chart as a guide and the baby as the authority. Call your paediatrician, GP or health visitor if your baby:

• is not following their growth curve, or has fewer wet nappies than usual
• consistently refuses milk for a day or more, or refuses all solids past 7 to 8 months
• gags and coughs on every texture at 9 months or later
• shows a rash, swelling, vomiting or diarrhoea after a food (and call emergency services for breathing difficulty or floppiness)
• was premature; the NHS says timing for solids should be individual advice from a health visitor or GP

For everything else, the AAP's line holds: "each child's readiness for solid foods depends on their own rate of development," and so does their pace through the rest of the chart.