Apologies if this is a stupid first-time mom question:
Is there a reason I can't just fill 8oz bottles with 4, 5, or 6oz - whatever LO is eating at the time? What is the purpose of buying smaller bottles? I'll just have to get bigger ones eventually, right?
honeydew / 7504 posts
If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have bothered with the small bottles. Because, yeah, I just ended up having to buy bigger bottles once he was taking more than 5oz.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
No reason to get 4 oz bottles. Both of my kids always drank 5 oz, so the smaller bottles were useless.
watermelon / 14467 posts
I never used the larger bottles, so it was a waste for me to have them. My LO never ate more than 5 oz. at a time from a bottle. I'll hang on to them for my next if I'm unable to BF or if he/she is a bigger eater than H is.
nectarine / 2173 posts
I find the big bottles kind of awkward and take up more space, but small ones aren't strictly necessary.
nectarine / 2932 posts
We never bought the smaller ones. Just used the big ones from day one. Very happy with that decision!
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
We actually only used 4 oz bottles - we never used the big ones. Both my girls only ate 4 oz at a time (breastfed) every 2 hours.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
The 8oz bottles were large and cumbersome. I preferred the 6 oz-ers.
persimmon / 1043 posts
I never moved up to the bigger bottles. Both my LOs wouldn't take more than 4 oz at a time.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Well DD is almost 7 months and we have been using the smaller bottoms since she drinks 5 oz breastmilk tops. So we did get a lot of use out of them but now that I'm supplementing it is annoying that I have to buy new bottles!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
My LOdisnt take a lot of bottles (primarily BF) but when she took expressed milk, we only ever used the 4 oz ones. They seemed more manageable to hold to a teeny baby's face. But I think you move up in oz a lot faster with formula.
pineapple / 12053 posts
we also almost exclusively used small bottles. we had about 8 and then i got 2 larger ones that were rarely used!
honeydew / 7283 posts
I think the larger bottles would be more useful for formula fed babies. My DD was formula fed and eventually took 7 oz bottles. My DS is EBF and seems to have maxed out at 5oz bottles.
pear / 1593 posts
Once we switched to Dr Browns we had all large bottles, but if we had found the "right" bottle in the beginning, I would have liked having 4oz bottles since they were less awkward to hold IMO. We tried 4oz bottles in several brands before settling on Dr. Brown - I think it's really just a preference - absolutely not a "need"
ETA: we FF - you absolutely will need the 8oz of you are FF
grapefruit / 4663 posts
We never used our big bottles either. He never ate that much in a sitting (BF).
persimmon / 1050 posts
DS gets pumped BM and we only use 4 oz bottles. He drinks 4 - 5 oz. usually.
pomegranate / 3127 posts
We supplemented so DS drank just 3-4 oz on top of the milk for a few months. I think the big bottles would have made him gassier because of all the extra air space, but I'm just guessing because he didn't start drinking from an 8 oz bottle till much later.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
We never used the big ones. LO topped out at 5 ounces of BM. The bigger ones are more of a pain to tote around.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
We never used big ones and I gave them to my SIL.
persimmon / 1196 posts
Interesting. Do BF babies eat less volume because the BM increases in caloric density to meet their needs? My plan is to BF and then pump when I return to work, but I am trying my best not to count on that working out.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
My LO is 10m and takes 3.5 every 2.5 hours ish. DD1 also never needed more than 4 oz bottles. Both are BF. Formula fed babies will definitely need the bigger bottles, I think.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@lady baltimore: yup. BF babies typically don't increase their ounce intake because the breastmilk changes to accommodate their increased calorie needs. Or so I'm told. 
cherry / 118 posts
We have both the small and large bottles and I wish I didn't have the small. My DD only took breast milk so she never took more than 4-5 ounces but even so getting only the large would have worked out just fine.
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
Even formula feeding we're just now using bigger bottles at 8.5 months, so I liked using the smaller bottles! 
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
We ebf and only used the smaller bottles, 5oz tt or models bottles, I hardly ever used the bigger bottles!
clementine / 812 posts
We use 4oz Playtex drop-ins. The 8oz bottles are huge and I'm really glad I have the 4oz ones. We feed breastmilk exclusively and I don't know if DD will ever need the huge bottles. It's nice for packing bottles to take somewhere--I don't have half empty bottles hogging a bunch of space.
If I were to do it again, I would probably get a brand that has 5 or 6oz bottles. DD often takes 5oz and I can just barely squeeze that in our 4oz bottles.
Honestly though, 8oz bottles will work just fine if you so choose! This is definitely a first world issue
cherry / 211 posts
I think it depends on if you plan to BF or FF and if you BF for how long. I EBF my DS and we never used anything larger than the 5oz tommee tippee bottles. FF babies tend to take in more at a time than BF babies.
pomelo / 5628 posts
My Lo almost never took more than 4oz and for ages only two, so we used two, four and eight ounce bottles, but mostly 4. You can always buy more later if necessary...
cantaloupe / 6164 posts
It depends on your baby! My exclusively formula fed baby never ate more than 5oz at a time, even at 13 months when she weaned. Not every FF baby will need the large bottles. We used the 5oz Tommee Tippee and Gerber Essentials the entire time she was bottle fed (13.5 months). We were gifted a few of the 9oz Tommee Tippees, so we used those occasionally, but most of our bottles were 5oz.
pomegranate / 3604 posts
I would think extra air space = gassier baby. Also he can hold a 4oz by himself but can't manage an 8oz yet. He's FF at 11 months but BFed the first 6.
clementine / 770 posts
Most people buy the smaller bottles to see how well it works for them. Or just as a test to see if their babies take/like the bottles.
cantaloupe / 6171 posts
I've only ever used 5 oz bottles, and lo rarely takes more than 3oz at a time
Eta lo is 15 months and we supplemented bm with formula so she drank both. Since 12 months she's only had bm and wcm
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