Reasonable care and balanced approach: how much should a child eat at 4 months

Each new month in the life of a little man is a whole era. Just think about the distance he travels in just a year. A completely helpless creature right before our eyes, day after day it becomes smarter, more mature, stronger and stronger.

This is a natural process, guided by Nature itself, although not without the active participation of parents. But, let’s not talk too much, but move on to an important issue that is relevant today - feeding a 4-month-old baby.

• Complementary feeding at 4 months. It's already possible!
• How and what is acceptable to feed a baby at 4 months
• How much of what

How to determine the amount of food a baby needs?

Everything in the world is relative, and the amount of nutrition a child receives in infancy is determined by the average pediatric norm.

The Bulgarian School of Pediatrics, which was one of the first to pay increased attention to the nutritional diet of newborns and children under 1 year of age, conducted a number of studies. Based on them, standards emerged for how much food a child should receive at a certain age. How much a child should eat at 4 months was calculated from averages.

The domestic pediatric school abandoned the exact numbers that a child should follow from a scientific point of view and began to be guided by the concept of a relative norm. It takes into account factors of external and internal influence, the individual components of each child.

How much a child eats at 4 months began to be determined not by an average figure, but by his health, weight, degree of physical development and even the presence, absence and composition of breast milk from the mother.

And this turned out to be the most reasonable and justified step that could be taken.

How much should and how many grams does a child eat at 4 months?

The approximate (attention, approximate) norm of food consumption for a child aged 4 months is 800 g of breast milk or formula per day. But one baby was born weighing 4 kg or more, and the other was premature, with minimal weight - this must be taken into account.

An important role in deciding the amount of food in the daily diet is played by the type of feeding (natural or artificial). The nutritional mixture contains a predetermined amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates per 100 g of dry product. The quality of mother's milk depends on the physical condition of the woman and what she ate during the day.

A baby with good physical development, born on time, has a higher growth rate and need for nutrients than a weak one. Much depends on the time of year, the need to regulate heat and water balance, and the presence or absence of congenital or seasonal diseases.

When a child is sick, he eats less, or even refuses food altogether. With colds affecting the mucous membranes and snot, it is much more difficult for him to suck on his mother’s breast or pacifier.

Experienced pediatricians who have observed hundreds of children believe that when breastfeeding, the baby himself regulates the amount of food he needs. For an artificial plant, the approximate norm is determined to be a conventional figure of 800 g.

The only thing that can be said with certainty is how many times a child eats at 4 months, because his digestive system, which is in the stage of intensive formation, must receive food every 4 hours. 24 hours – 6 feedings a day. He will also ask in the 7th - there is nothing wrong with that, feed the baby.

Regime and diet of a four-month-old baby

At this age, the baby still eats at least 5 times a day, and the weight of what is eaten is about 1/6 of the total body weight. As a rule, the amount of food consumed per day for a four-month-old baby varies within 900 ml. A single serving of mother's breast milk or infant formula is about 200 ml.

However, at this age, the baby begins to get acquainted with other products. The first complementary food for a four-month-old baby is vegetable puree. Pediatricians also recommend supplementing your child’s diet with fruit juices, but only if your child is not prone to allergic reactions. Each new dish is introduced into the baby’s menu in small portions so that his stomach gradually gets used to the new product.

So, the daily diet of a 4 month old baby will look something like this:

• First feeding: breast milk - 200 ml. If the baby is bottle-fed, then the amount of infant formula should also be at least 200 ml.
• Second feeding: vegetable puree - 150-200 ml. Pediatricians recommend replacing a quarter of vegetable puree with fruit puree. You can also add the yolk of a boiled egg and 1 dessert spoon of vegetable oil to the vegetables.
• Third feeding: breast milk or infant formula - 200 ml or 175 ml of main food and 25 ml of fruit juice (apple). After 1-2 weeks at this time, you can add about 20 g of baby cottage cheese.
• The fourth and fifth feedings consist of breast milk or infant formula in the amount of 200 ml.

As you have already seen, the basis of a four-month-old baby’s diet is still mother’s milk, since it provides the baby’s body with all the necessary substances. Fruit juices, vegetable purees, cottage cheese and egg yolk are additional sources of healthy vitamins and microelements that perfectly strengthen the child’s immunity. Therefore, you should not give up this diet, but new foods should be introduced gradually, in minimal quantities. If after feeding your child there are signs of an allergic reaction, consult your pediatrician and replace the products with others.

Nutrition based on science

Breastfeeding, according to scientists, allows the baby to decide for himself the amount of food he needs. Artificial feeding can be calculated using a scientific approach:

1. Calculation of the amount of milk or formula in relation to weight. From 2 to 4 months - this is the weight divided by 6. 4200 (for example), divided by 6 is 700 g of food needed by the baby .
2. How much formula a child eats at 4 months is determined by dividing weight by height, after which the result must be multiplied by 7.
3. An even more complex system in which 1 liter of milk roughly equals 700 kcal. For 1 kg of a child’s weight, 125 kcal is needed.
4. As an axiom, the accepted figure is 800 ml at 4 months, plus 50 ml each subsequent month.

There is no disagreement on the question of how many times a child should eat, but the problem is how much time children eat at 4 months is a rather controversial topic. The baby, developed and healthy, sucks on the mother's breast until completely saturated.

When artificially feeding, you need to try to ensure that he eats the prescribed amount. How you calculated it there, whether it’s enough for him or not is a separate question. Do not push, but also do not let you sleep while eating. There must be a reasonable, golden mean in everything.

How can you tell if your baby is full?

Parental care and affection, a reverent attitude towards the baby cannot be limited to simply memorizing the numbers of how much a child should eat at 4 months, and categorically introducing them into everyday practice.

The main criterion for the amount of food consumed should be the baby’s well-being and mood. A loving mother can determine for herself whether the baby is full if she carefully monitors his behavior.

Excellent indicators in this regard are:

• good mood;
• sound, peaceful sleep;
• absence of causeless negative emotions (frequent crying);
• uniform and healthy weight gain;
• 12-15 urinations per day;
• the prescribed number of bowel movements, normal stool consistency.

To understand whether a baby is ready for the introduction of complementary foods, it is not enough to focus only on his age: you need to determine whether the child’s weight has doubled from the weight with which he was born, whether he has no repulsion reflex of the tongue, whether he can hold objects in his fist, whether he is getting enough whether he eats his usual food and is interested in the contents of his parents’ plates.

4 months is the age when you can gradually start feeding your baby.

We should not forget that with the introduction of complementary foods, the amount of milk may change slightly. In principle, feedings at four months are not much different from feedings at two months. Is it just the volume of milk consumed by the child?

How much should a baby eat at one feeding?

The volume of one feeding for a newborn up to the 10th day of life is calculated by the formula: 10*n, where n is the day of life from birth (daily volume - 70*n), the frequency of feeding is at least 7-8 times a day.

For a child over 10 days of life, the approximate one-time and daily amount of food can be seen in the table

Explanations for the table

The table shows approximate nutritional amounts for healthy children with a body weight appropriate for their age.

The most important column in the table is the daily amount of food, i.e. How much should a child eat per day?

Now free feeding is very popular from the first days of life: feeding on demand as often as the child asks.

In the first month of life, this can be useful in case of hypogalactia in the mother - frequent breastfeeding stimulates lactation, and there is more milk. But if the mother has a lot of milk or artificial feeding, frequent and erratic feeding can lead to overfeeding, regurgitation, intestinal colic, and diarrhea.

The approximate amount of food for a child is especially relevant for artificial babies. You need to focus primarily on the daily volume. It should not exceed the figures given in the table. The frequency of feedings should be no less than indicated in the table.

Many mothers are interested in whether it is possible to feed their baby more often. Can. But within reasonable limits.

• The minimum interval between feedings should not be less than 2 hours (during this time the milk is completely evacuated from the stomach to the intestines).
• If the number of feedings is greater than recommended in the table, then the volume of one feeding should be less so that the daily amount of nutrition corresponds to the age of the child.
• The daily volume of formula for a child of the first year of life should not exceed 1 liter.

If you feed a child 10-12 times a day with the same volume as is recommended for one feeding on the package of formula, a month-old baby will receive more than 1 liter per day, this will lead to colic, diarrhea, regurgitation, skin rashes, the child may gain weight normally or even less than normal due to regurgitation and diarrhea, and the mother will think that the formula is not suitable for the child, she will change the formula, treat the child, etc. But you just need to reduce the daily amount of food.

Rules for complementary feeding at 4 months

1. Gradual introduction to natural vegetable and fruit juices.
2. The amount of first feeding is a quarter of a teaspoon of apple or zucchini puree. The next day - a little more, then - even more, and so bring up to 5 teaspoons of complementary foods by the end of the month.
3. After introducing yourself to a new product, be sure to monitor the child’s body’s reaction.
4. Give complementary foods before the main feeding.
5. By the end of the fourth month, it is necessary to introduce the child to new mandatory foods: carrots, beets, egg yolk, low-fat cottage cheese.
6. Maintain a two-day period between introducing each new product.

Rules for creating a diet for a nursing mother at 4 months

The diet of a nursing mother at 4 months after the birth of a child has its own nuances:

• It is better to stew cabbage to prevent the formation of gases in the baby;
• It is better to cook meat and fish by steaming, baking or boiling;
• consume more dairy products than in previous months to provide your baby with calcium;
• For vegetables and fruits, preference is given to local and seasonal ones; exotic and imported ones are best excluded;
• eat meat at least 4 times a week;
• cook with eggs at least three times a week;
• do not abuse sweets, the child may develop diathesis;
• eat 5-6 times a day, about half an hour before putting the baby to the breast;
• introduce herbal teas with caution, once a week, observing the child’s reaction;
• introduce new foods once every three days and watch the baby’s reaction;
• doctors recommend keeping records of all foods and how the child’s body reacted;
• be sure to drink at least 3 liters of liquid, preferably warm - there will be more milk;
• Start consuming honey with half a teaspoon.

At 4-5 months, the baby’s incidence of colic decreases, but a nursing mother’s diet should not yet include fermentable foods. Other foods that can cause colic are introduced gradually; if bloating appears, they are excluded from the menu for a couple of weeks.

Foods that provoke colic and flatulence in a child:

• whole cow's milk;
• cabbage;
• bell pepper;
• cucumbers;
• pears;
• grape;
• raisin.

To ensure stable lactation, a nursing mother should get enough rest and take walks every day. It will be useful to engage in light physical activity and do exercises.

Daily walks in nature will improve your mood better than chocolate