A 5-month-old typically drinks 24 to 32 ounces of breast milk or formula per day, spread across five or six feedings. The exact amount depends on whether your baby is breastfed or formula-fed, how much they weigh, and how hungry they are on any given day.
Daily Totals for Formula-Fed Babies
The standard guideline for formula is about 2.5 ounces per pound of body weight per day. An average 5-month-old weighs roughly 14 to 16 pounds, which puts the daily total somewhere between 28 and 32 ounces. Most babies this age take 6 to 8 ounces per bottle, four or five times a day.
That 2.5-ounce-per-pound formula works well as a starting point, but it has a ceiling. Most pediatricians suggest capping formula intake at around 32 ounces in 24 hours. Babies who consistently want more than that may be ready for other signs of developmental changes, or they may be comfort-sucking rather than truly hungry.
Daily Totals for Breastfed Babies
Breastfed babies between 1 and 6 months old typically consume 24 to 30 ounces per day. If you’re pumping and bottle-feeding expressed milk, individual bottles usually run 3 to 4 ounces each. Breast milk is digested faster than formula, so breastfed babies often eat more frequently, sometimes every 2 to 3 hours during the day.
One thing that surprises many parents: breast milk intake doesn’t keep climbing the way formula intake does. A breastfed baby at 5 months often drinks a similar daily volume to what they drank at 3 months, because breast milk composition changes over time to meet growing nutritional needs without requiring more volume. If your baby seems satisfied and is gaining weight steadily, there’s no reason to push more.
How to Tell Your Baby Is Getting Enough
Ounce targets are useful guidelines, but your baby’s own signals are more reliable than any chart. A well-fed 5-month-old produces at least five or six wet diapers a day, gains weight consistently at checkups, and seems content between feedings. Growth curves matter more than hitting a specific number on any single day.
Hunger looks different at 5 months than it did in the newborn stage. Your baby will turn toward the bottle or breast, open their mouth, get fussy, or try to suck on their hands. When they’ve had enough, you’ll notice a distinct cluster of behaviors: releasing the nipple, pressing their lips together, turning their head away, or getting suddenly distracted by the room around them. A single one of these signals doesn’t necessarily mean “I’m done,” but two or three together usually do.
Signs of Overfeeding
A 5-month-old’s stomach holds roughly 6 to 7 ounces at a time. Pushing past that limit in a single feeding can cause real discomfort. Overfed babies tend to spit up more than usual, pass loose stools, swallow extra air that leads to gassiness and belly pain, and cry more frequently. If your baby is already prone to fussiness, overfeeding can make it noticeably worse.
Overfeeding is more common with bottle-fed babies (both formula and expressed breast milk) because it’s easier to keep a bottle flowing even after a baby starts giving “full” signals. One simple strategy: offer smaller bottles more often rather than larger bottles less often. If your baby drains a bottle in under five minutes and seems uncomfortable afterward, try slowing down with a slower-flow nipple or pacing the feeding with short breaks.
What About Starting Solid Foods?
At 5 months, some babies are showing early signs of readiness for solids: sitting with support, reaching for food, and losing the tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food out of their mouth. Most guidelines recommend waiting until around 6 months, and solids should not be introduced before 4 months.
Even if your pediatrician gives the green light to try a few spoonfuls of pureed food at 5 months, breast milk or formula remains the primary source of nutrition for the entire first year. Early solids are about exploration, not calories. A teaspoon or two of puree does not replace a milk feeding, and you should always offer breast milk or formula first, then solid food afterward. Your baby’s total milk intake shouldn’t drop because of a few bites of sweet potato.
When Intake Changes Day to Day
Five-month-olds are not machines. Your baby might polish off 30 ounces one day and only want 24 the next. Growth spurts, teething discomfort, a mild cold, a busier-than-usual day of rolling around on the play mat: all of these affect appetite. What matters is the pattern over a week or two, not any single day’s total.
If your baby consistently falls well below 24 ounces per day, seems lethargic, or has fewer wet diapers than usual, that’s worth a call to your pediatrician. On the other end, a baby who regularly exceeds 32 ounces of formula and still seems unsatisfied may benefit from a feeding assessment to make sure they’re not confusing discomfort or boredom for hunger.