how many oz does LO need? bottles?

vanilla15

I go back to work today    so I am trying to make sure I have everything lined up so LO can eat while I am away!  I have a bunch of the Medela 6oz botles, but I wanted to get some additional bottles to make sure I always have enough clean bottles at daycare & for me at work (for storing pumped milk).  But before I went and bought more bottles, should I get bigger bottles?  I know I have seen older babies drinking out of much bigger bottles. 

 how much does LO need?  what size bottles do you have?

 thanks!

mrspresley

awww... the first day is always the hardest!

i have heard (and found this to be true with Miss A) that it's not uncommon for BF babies to take no more than 4oz from a bottle at a time.  (so i have a bunch of 10oz bottles for nothing!!) my cousin's baby is the same way too and he is 8 months old now.  a BF baby is less likely to over eat and finish a bottle for the sake of finishing it and will stop when full.  i am pretty sure there are a few babies on this board that take more than 4oz at a time though!

if she is already at day care today i am sure they can give you an idea of what you need to bring, as she may or may not drink as much as normal just b/c she is in a new environment.

i also believe there is info on kellymom.com about how much milk she should get per day

hang in there, and just think about how great it will be to see her at the end of the day!

sanae78

Ditto on the 4oz.  I always bag 4 oz and that's what we give her and she seems satisfied with that.  I don't think breast fed babies take more than 6, generally, so I think you're safe with the smaller bottles.  I have the larger ones, too, and we never use them. 

vanilla15

BF babies only taking 4 - 5 oz or so makes sense.  (though this morning I pumped 8oz!!!!! but I think I may have some oversupply issues, not that she really needs/wants all of that)  I think I will stick with the smaller bottles for now and if we end up needing bigger bottles so be it.

mrspresley:

awww... the first day is always the hardest!

and this is what I am hoping.  I am trying to slowly transition into working/daycare.  My mom is staying home with her today and tomorrow, then on Wed - Friday we bring her to daycare, but my mom is just going to pick her up after a few hours, just so on her first day she isn't there for 8 hours.  Hopefullly the transition will keep me from being a complete weepy mess!

inamra

Hmm, it may depend on the baby, but at least in the beginning, 4-5oz sounds right. In the beginning, B would only take ~4oz. But then after some time, B went up to taking 7oz from the bottle at some point...but nowadays, he's back to ~6oz. We use 8oz Evenflo glass bottles for feeding and I use Lanisoh milk bags for storing.

But yeah, it's hard going back to work! Hang in there mama and hope it goes smoothly!

Married2MrWright

Chiming in late...I hope it went well for BOTH of you today! It will get easier, promise.  As Jaime wrote, EBF babies generally only take 3-4 oz. at a feed since your milk is adjusting to meet their nutritional needs as they develop (unlike formula which is at one constant for calories/nutrients therefore FF babies need more and more quantity as they grow/develop). So plan on 4 oz. per feeding while you're apart.

FWIW, I did buy some Medela glass bottles (they're 8 oz.) to store my pumped milk in the fridge. I always provide refrigerated milk for Libby during the week and freeze the excess (she only talks 4-7 oz./day by cup from my mom or DH while I am at the office, I come home at lunchtime and nurse her too). Turns out she won't drink previously frozen milk so I've given my whole stash to an adoptive mama...and continue to give her my excess milk each week (I pump about 32-40 oz. more a week than Libby takes).  HTH!  Kellymom.com has a good chart to go by for pumping milk with a milk calculator too:

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

GL!

Married2MrWright

vanilla15:

BF babies only taking 4 - 5 oz or so makes sense.  (though this morning I pumped 8oz!!!!! but I think I may have some oversupply issues, not that she really needs/wants all of that)  I think I will stick with the smaller bottles for now and if we end up needing bigger bottles so be it.

I generally pump between 5-9 oz. when pumping both breasts for 5-7 minutes. My supply for pumping is stronger in the mornings...between 8-11 a.m.  I generally pump ONCE a day while at work and she's covered for 2-3 days of milk at home. That's how I had so much to donate.

MrsZiz

Like the other ladies said, Bella only ever took 4 oz at a time from a bottle. I read on kellymom (I think it was there) that BF babes take an oz for each hour you are away. I was gone about 14 hours (I work 12.5 hour days!) so she would end up taking between 10-14 oz total during the days I was working. 

B would ONLY take playtex bottles with the latex nipples so I generally sent 4- 4oz bottles to day care and that was more than enough for her. I did end up buying bigger bottles but it was a total waste, she never drank more than 4 oz. If she wanted more, they could always pour an extra ounce or two into the bottle that she just drank. I did set a limit though for the first week of 14 oz total for the day. I wanted to be sure I could keep up with her! I was pumping 18-20 oz a day so I told them after week one that she could have up to 16-18 oz but she never took that much so we ended up with extra milk in the freezer.

Sorry that you have to go back to work! I remember vividly how stressful and how tired I was. I worried about her all day and called to check on her every couple of hours Luckily my SIL didn't mind. She texted me pics of her at least once a day which was really nice!  

lola808

inamra:

Hmm, it may depend on the baby, but at least in the beginning, 4-5oz sounds right. In the beginning, B would only take ~4oz. But then after some time, B went up to taking 7oz from the bottle at some point...but nowadays, he's back to ~6oz. We use 8oz Evenflo glass bottles for feeding and I use Lanisoh milk bags for storing.

I have 8 oz bottles and A will usually drink around 6 oz for a regular feeding. On occasion, my mom has had to give him a little extra, or sometimes he won't finish it all. But we usually measure out 6 just to be safe.