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Feeding schedule for a 5-month-old baby
✓ Last verified against the official sources on 1 September 2026.
Still milk only — solids come at around 6 months
The NHS advises waiting until around 6 months before starting solid foods, and never before 17 weeks. So at this age milk is still the whole story: breast milk or first infant formula, and nothing else is needed.
Don't push past roughly 200 ml per bottle — little tummies don't need more per feed.
What changes this month
Still milk only, but this is a good month to start watching for the readiness signs: staying in a sitting position with their head steady, coordinating eyes, hands and mouth well enough to look at food and get it to their mouth, and swallowing food rather than pushing it back out.
An example day
This is what a day could look like. It is an example, not a prescription: your baby tells you when they are hungry, and that shifts from day to day.
Feeds tend to get a little further apart and a little bigger around now, and some babies start sleeping longer stretches. That is a change in rhythm, not a sign that they need food — a baby who wakes more is usually going through a growth spurt.
| Around | What |
|---|---|
| 7am | Milk feed (160–200 ml) |
| 11am | Milk feed (160–200 ml) |
| 2.30pm | Milk feed (160–200 ml) |
| 5.30pm | Milk feed (160–200 ml) |
| 7.30pm | Milk feed (160–200 ml) and bed |
| overnight | Many babies now sleep through; some still wake for one feed |
Signs your baby is genuinely ready (usually around 6 months): staying in a sitting position and holding their head steady, coordinating eyes, hands and mouth, and swallowing food rather than pushing it back out.
What about breastfeeding?
With breastfeeding you don’t count millilitres — feeding responsively is the guidance, and your baby regulates the amount. The volumes above are for formula; the number of feeds a day is still a useful reference point either way.
Working it out for your baby
The rule of thumb is 150 ml per kilo of body weight a day, spread across the feeds — capped at 200 ml per bottle. Work it out with your baby’s weight →
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