How Many Calories Does a Baby Need – Q&A with a Neonatal Nutritionist

Question from Tiny Organics: Question for you! We’ve gotten a lot of questions this week around calories (how many calories are in each meal). How often do you + pediatricians recommend that parents get a certain # of calories in for each meal to their child? In what circumstances do you recommend calorie counting?

Answer from Neonatal Nutritionist: Regarding calorie counting for babies and toddlers, not only do I think it's not necessary but it can be really overwhelming for the parent. Unless the baby was underweight and had failure to thrive maybe in that case I might. In that case thought they would be working with a health care professional who would be changing their formula or diet and tracking their calories for them though.

Focus on Overall Intake

For most parents though we just ask them to be aware of how much milk/formula they are drinking and how many meals they are eating.

When estimating calories they are estimated per day not per meal, as babies consume different quantities of breast milk and formula (which has a lot of calories), and consume different numbers of meals depending upon their age and development. For this reason, it's hard to give an estimate per meal. Meal intake could be anywhere from 30-50 calories when starting out to a few hundred as they get older.

Daily Caloric Needs

Caloric needs should be estimated on a daily basis, based on weight. For babies and toddlers following their growth curve, the general recommendation is:

• 82-102 calories per kg of body weight per day
• For easier calculation, you can estimate about 40 calories per pound.

Age-Based Caloric Guidelines

Here’s a general guideline for average calorie needs by age:

Newborns (0-3 Months)

• 100-120 calories per kg of body weight per day.
• Example: A 3.5 kg newborn would need about 350-420 calories daily.

Infants (4-6 Months)

• Approximately 100 calories per kg of body weight.

Older Infants (7-12 Months)

• About 80-100 calories per kg of body weight.

Toddlers

• 1-Year-Old: About 900-1,000 calories per day.
• 2-Year-Old: Approximately 1,000-1,200 calories per day.
• 3-Year-Old: Around 1,200-1,400 calories per day.

These are averages and can vary based on factors like activity level, growth spurts, and individual metabolism.

The Role of Breast Milk and Formula

Breast milk and formula typically provide around 20 kcal/oz and gives most of their calories. So, if someone really wanted to track (which I wouldn't recommend as its totally not necessary and would drive them crazy!) They could estimate daily calorie needs, subtract out milk they drank, and divide the remainder up between the number of meals and snacks they eat.

Remember, it's always best to consult a pediatrician for personalized recommendations based on individual growth and health.