Bottle sizes/Feeding amounts

belizeitornot · March 2011

We mostly BF but also give bottles 2x a day with pumped BM to save my nipples. I have a few 5 oz Medela bottles (that I actually can get 6oz in) but I'd like to buy some more so I don't have to wash bottles every dang day between pumping and feeding. I have 3 Dr Browns but they don't hold more than 4 and we give H 5-6 oz in her bottles now...so I just use those for pumping.

How many oz of BM do babies eat max? Does it make sense to buy 8ozers or just buy more of the 5oz Medelas?

If we switch to formula, does that make a difference? Do babies eat more formula than BM? I am trying to BF as long as I can, but it's been rough and I can say with 99% certainty when she gets teeth, we'll be moving to formula.

kastle · March 2011

babies aren't supposed to have more than 32oz of formula. Not sure if there is some "limit" for BM (I suspect there is not).

I would buy 8oz bottles for flexibility. Right now we give Sprout 4x 7-8oz bottles/day at almost 8 months (he's a chowhound though...and weighs like 22lb or something).

Sofka · March 2011

buy the 8oz bottles

we use Playtex drop-ins

2vthokies · March 2011

A five ounce BM bottle is really big for such a young baby. My 5.75 month old drinks a five ounce BM bottle, but she's big (18 lbs). Babies stomachs are only as big as their fists. Having said that, all babies are different and you know what your baby needs. Generally speaking BF babies don't change their milk intake all that much between 6-12 months. This is because the composition of BM changes to meet the baby's needs as the baby gets older. It may decrease some as solids are introduced. Formula babies do require more as they get older because the composition doesn't change. I think the formula max is 32 oz because of the iron content. The range for "normal" BM intake is 19-30 (I think). I've never fed formula, but I would imagine that you will need the bigger bottles for later if you switch to formula. Hope that helps.

doggylovr · March 2011

I used 8 oz bottles for a long time....even when i only had 4-5 oz in them.....of either BM or formula

bh2720 · March 2011

they all drink different amounts...it's really all over the map. but there's really no reason to buy the small bottles, I'd just go for the 8oz ones.

[Also, this may be too alarmist of me, but for our next baby, I'm going to get all glass bottles. I keep reading stuff about how even BPA free plastic may still have dangerous chemicals and it just freaks me out. Born-Free makes glass bottles with rubber sleeves for them so they are easy to grip and would break less easily.]

and I can totally sympathize about the sore nips,brings back some not-so-great memories! if you haven't already heard of it, one thing that was a total miracle product for me was all-purpose nipple ointment. I had a prescription for it from my OB and it was way better than the lanolin or anything else I tried.

mommmyz · March 2011

We BFed until 6 months, and he never took more than 5 oz, usually 4. With formula he still never went above 6 oz. bottles. We used the Playtex drop-ins, 8oz. bottles.

Artslvr · March 2011

5 - 6 oz. does seem like a lot, she must be a good eater!

Ditto getting the 8 oz. size bottles.

WinesNotWhines · March 2011

I'd get the 8 oz bottles. Even if she never eats more than 5 oz, you can always put 5 oz in an 8 oz bottle. M plateaued at 5 oz bottles. From what I've heard, babies tend to drink more formula than BM.

QueSrah · March 2011

Even if you switch to formula eventually and she doesn't take more than she has now, you'll need a little larger bottle to mix the formula in. The "recipe" for formula is in 2 oz. increments, so it sounds like you'd be making 6 oz. and needing a little extra room to shake things up - barely squeezing 6 oz. of liquid into a Medela bottle doesn't mean you'd have room for 6 oz. of water plus the powder. (Unless you're together enough to make a pitcher for the full day and pour it into bottles from there. I never managed to get a pitcher to do that.)

DD typically had 5 oz. bottles by 4 months and only ever worked up to 6 oz. by age one even on formula. We were using Avent bottles for her, so I got her the 8 or 9 oz. bottles because the 4/5 oz. ones were way too small and I didn't like the Medela and Evenflo bottles I used for pumping to make formula - the wide mouth is MUCH easier.

belizeitornot · March 2011

Thanks ladies, I'll get the 8oz bottles.

She is a very aggressive eater, which is part of why we've been having such problems BFing. I do have the APNO though, it is a godsend! She does STTN (9ish hours, yes, i know how lucky we are!) and takes a solid afternoon nap so she only winds up getting 5 feedings a day. We had been doing 4oz bottles the two times she gets them but she was still hungry after. Our pedi said we could give her 5-6 since we don't know for sure how much she's getting from the boob at those feedings and she should be getting between 25-30oz a day. She's still in the 50th% for weight so I'm not worried we're overfeeding.

Mrs.Handy · March 2011

bh2720:

they all drink different amounts...it's really all over the map. but there's really no reason to buy the small bottles, I'd just go for the 8oz ones.

[Also, this may be too alarmist of me, but for our next baby, I'm going to get all glass bottles. I keep reading stuff about how even BPA free plastic may still have dangerous chemicals and it just freaks me out. Born-Free makes glass bottles with rubber sleeves for them so they are easy to grip and would break less easily.]

and I can totally sympathize about the sore nips,brings back some not-so-great memories! if you haven't already heard of it, one thing that was a total miracle product for me was all-purpose nipple ointment. I had a prescription for it from my OB and it was way better than the lanolin or anything else I tried.

DH insisted that we get glass bottles for this reason. None of them have broken so far! We still haven't used our 8 oz bottle that came in our gift set. DS only drinks 4 oz or so at a time. But it seems like this would be different for formula.

Artslvr · March 2011

zerf77:

Thanks ladies, I'll get the 8oz bottles.

She is a very aggressive eater, which is part of why we've been having such problems BFing. I do have the APNO though, it is a godsend! She does STTN (9ish hours, yes, i know how lucky we are!) and takes a solid afternoon nap so she only winds up getting 5 feedings a day. We had been doing 4oz bottles the two times she gets them but she was still hungry after. Our pedi said we could give her 5-6 since we don't know for sure how much she's getting from the boob at those feedings and she should be getting between 25-30oz a day. She's still in the 50th% for weight so I'm not worried we're overfeeding.

That explains a lot. I didn't think you were overfeeding, I was just thinking wow, she's a great eater. And sleeping 9 hours is fabulous - where is the emoticon for "jealous?' OK, just imagine this face is green. Tongue Tied

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