Baby's Stomach

The Size of a Baby's Stomach?

Clare Byam-Cook says

According to Gray’s Anatomy (the bible of anatomy & physiology), the stomach of a one day old baby has a cubic capacity of 30mls.  Despite this clear medical fact, many mothers are now being taught that a newborn baby’s stomach is the size of anything from a pea, to a marble, a grape, a walnut or a ping pong ball. They are told that this tiny size of their baby’s stomach means that he can only drink about 7mls of milk at each feed, which is why he needs to feed a minimum of 8-12 times a day. This totally incorrect and misleading advice is, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why so many newborn babies are being underfed and becoming dangerously dehydrated.

It would be far better to explain to mothers that while a breastfed baby only needs a few mls of colostrum in the first few days (because it is very rich and calorific) a baby being fed with formula milk needs much more than this. A formula fed baby will drink about 30mls per feed on Day 1, increasing to roughly 50-90mls by Day 4. From Day 5 onwards, most babies, regardless of whether they are being fed breast or formula milk, will need at least 50mls per feed – and this amount would not fit into a walnut, let alone a pea!