Baby bottles - how many of each size did you use?

mbeeman85

I am registering for bottles and I was wondering how many of the 4-5 oz size and how many of the 8-10 oz size I will need..

VelvetElegance

I was stumped on this part too. I ended up getting two 3 packs of 4 oz bottles and 1 3pk of 9 oz bottles. I figure it will be a while before my LO is scarfing down 9oz, so we'll start with three for now.

cassoppea

I think this depends on your plans for feeding your LO.  If you are planning to EBF then you probably won't need as many (or really any).  If you are planning on pumping or formula feeding you will need more.

We have about 9 four ounce bottles and 6 eight ounce bottles. I work, so DD gets bottles of BM/formula when I'm away and we also supplement  when I'm home- so she is bottle fed at nearly every meal. However, my DD is 5 months and still only drinks a max of 4 oz at a time.  The eight ouncers are used but we could do without them right now.

I think we could definitely survive with a lot less.  I would probably just register for the small size now and buy the larger ones when you need them.  Or, you can always buy just larger ones so you don't have to buy more later.  I also wouldnt buy too many of one kind just yet until you figure out what your LO likes.

HTH!

 

mbeeman85

The plan is to be pumping almost entirely when I go back to work after maternity leave.

Thanks for the tip

cougarlicious

If you're planning on pumping then you may not need bigger bottles. My son is over nine months and has never gone over 5oz in a sitting. I nurse him at bedtime and on weekends, but he gets pumped bottles while I'm at work. I made sure to always use slow flow nipples and make sure my nanny didn't overfeed him. Now that he's eating lots of solids, sometimes he won't even finish the five ounces.

ilovebijou

We used the smaller 5 oz Born Free bottles until dd was over a year. You could fill them up to at least 6 oz and she never drank more than that. We had 9 bottles and that was enough. I would run the dishwasher usually every night with bottles. I also exclusively pumped so I had medela bottles that I pumped with but we usually used the Born Free for dd. We've added a few 8 oz bottles since she gotten older since she still gets a bottle before bed and drinks more now. I'm so glad I got the smaller bottles (rather than listening to friend say just get the larger size) because it would have been such a large bottle to only have 3-4 oz in there.

CrazyToast

We used about 6 of the 4oz bottles.  We had drop-ins most of the time, which is much faster to clean.  We were up to about 8 total 8oz bottles.  We whittled it down to 3, cleaning them faster, so we wouldn't have a build-up of dirty bottles.

Fisherman'sWife

I agree with others not to worry about large bottles yet. I am sending my three month old to daycare with five bottles for a ten hour period. I am going to pump at least three maybe four times in that same time so I need six to eight bottles with me at work. In total. That's about 11-13 bottles per day and nursing at night. 

iristony

I was an exclusive pumper. I had way too many bottles. I washed them by hand because I had to wash my pumping stuff anyway and rarely put in dishwasher.  I think 4-6 of each size is more than enough unless you ae using dishwasher and need more.  It is not that expensive to have to go out and buy 2 more if you think you need them at later date.  Also, we were still using the 5 oz Born Free for like 9 months.

jamlsull

We FF & DD started eating more than 4 oz. pretty early on-I think around 2 months.  She has always ate a little more at each bottle & less bottles through the day.  Right now she has 2 9 oz at daycare & we have 5 at home.  For the smaller bottles I think we had maybe 6 of them.

I think it just depends on if you're going to FF or BF & on how your LO is.

Rob & Tori

I actually have a different opinion than most on here.  We originally bought 6 4oz Dr. Browns bottles.  My husband and I found that we were constantly washing them.  Maybe we are both lazy but this was driving me nuts so we went out and bought a couple more of the 4oz bottles.  We have recently transitioned into the 8 oz bottles and I have 9 of those.  I get 3 ready at night for daycare the next day and then I have the rest to use during the night and such.  If I am not up for washing all the bottles one night it can wait till the morning since I have the extra bottles.  One thing that did dawn on me when we transitioned is why I would spent so much money on 4 oz bottles when I could get 8oz bottles and only put 4 oz in it.  Lets face it, bottles are expensive!  Looking back I would not have bought the 4 oz bottles at all and just used the 8 oz to use that money on the diapers. 

drpayne

I have a 7 month old and I feel like we haven't used the small bottles in a really long time.  He's currently taking 7 oz in his two day care bottles.  I now have all of these 4 oz bottles to store.  You may want to wait and see what kind of eater LO is.  Also, you can always put 4 oz of milk in an 8 oz bottle...

drpayne

I wanted to add... we use drop-ins for feeding but I have a TON of the little Medela bottles for pumping.  I ordered extra of those on Amazon.  I would have several of those sitting in the fridge at any given time and needed more of them at work when I pumped.  I'd wait to combine them for bottles or pour into freezer bags. 

CarlaAndJames

We have 7 5oz bottles and 3 9oz bottles. I didn't think we'd need the bigger ones while she was EBF but got them just in case. So many people on the bump said their BF babies never had more than that in a bottle anyway.

Well she's now at 5.5oz at 4 months, and if she goes up past 6 at any point I'll have to buy new bottles. Seems silly to me now because they are the same price and you can certainly put 4oz in an 8oz bottle without causing any problems. I wish I had bought all bigger bottles.

I do have enough drinking bottles, pumping bottles, and pumping parts to go 3 days without washing. I hate washing them on weeknights!

CarlaAndJames

also, if you buy more pumping bottles, I highly recommend the evenflo ones. They are half the price of the medelas and actually a little bit bigger. But they still fit in the medela cooler and everything perfectly.

Ashley&Scott

We only got the 9 oz as recommended by a friend. That way you can use them the whole time & not need to worry about storing 2 different sizes.

hmp1

Looking back, I would have only bought the big bottles. We used Born Free and switched to the bigger bottles sometime around 5 months. Now we only use sippy cups except a bottle at bedtime. I recommend 8 bottles.  When DS was younger I sent 5 bottles to daycare just in case (he is there 8-6).  I wash the bottles in the dishwasher every night.  By the time LO was old enough to hold his own bottle he had no trouble with the bigger one.  Who cares if you only end up putting 4 oz in the bottle, but better to be prepared for a hungry baby eating 7 oz at a time.  DS sleeps through the night and I attribute it to "tanking" him up with a 9oz bottle before bed.

okate0213

I skipped the four oz bottles, I don't really get why everyone buys the two different sizes. We filled the 9 oz bottles with however many oz he was eating never got above 6. I EBF and left pumped milk while I worked. We had 4 bottles total.