Normal breastfeeding patterns for babies 1-6months

Dr Jackie Kent has published statistics from the “normal breastfeeding relationship”

A baby at 1 month of age takes roughly the same milk volume at 6 months of age. As your baby grows their surface area is relatively less so their energy requirements are less, once your milk supply has become established usually in the first couple of weeks of breastfeeding it stays roughly at that same volume.

Click on the reference link  to read the whole paper
Breastfeeding 1-6 months                           Average                           Range
Number of breastfeeds                                      11                                    6-18
Average breastfeed (mL)                                  75                               30-135
Duration of breastfeed (minutes)                   16                                   5-37
Breastfeeding session*(mL)                           101                              55-234
Duration of session* (minutes)                       33                                12-67
Storage capacity (mL)                                      179                             74-382
% Of milk removed (mL)                                  67                                43-92
Fat content of milk (g/L)                                  41                                22-62
24-hour intake breastfeeding (mL)              798                         478-1298

* Session
• Feeding from one breast
• Feeding from two breasts if the baby commenced feeding from the second breast within 30 minutes of finishing feeding from the first breast
• A cluster of feeds if the baby feeds again from the first breast within 30 minutes of finishing from the second breast

Reference:  Kent J, Mitoulas L, Cregan M, D R, Doherty D, Hartmann P. Volume and frequency of breastfeeding and fat content of breast milk throughout the day. Pediatrics. 2006;117(3):387-95.