https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:37:01 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1619754 Wed, 07 May 2014 15:36:58 +0000 Pumuckl 1619754@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If your LO likes more milk in the mornings and less in the afternoon I would get bigger bottles for those feeds. My LO never drank more than 6oz and that still fit in our Medela bottles.<br /> As a side note, it is totally normal that they have feeds where they don't eat as much. I did a couple of weeks of weighted feeds at home before I went back to work and noticed that the first afternoon feed was always way smaller than all the others. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1619744 Wed, 07 May 2014 15:30:06 +0000 jetsa 1619744@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We use the small dr. Browns bottles, he's 7.5 months. I don't think we'll ever use the big bottles I bought at this point. He eats 5 oz, 3 times per day at daycare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1619734 Wed, 07 May 2014 15:25:46 +0000 Pirouette 1619734@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: that makes sense. i think there definitely is a difference in fat intake between different mother's milk, and obviously babies have different metabolisms just like adults! so often we try to lump mothers and babies together like we are all the same, but that's not the case! my girl came out starving and has not stopped eating...it's just who she is. i eat a lot too :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1619056 Wed, 07 May 2014 12:14:15 +0000 Anagram 1619056@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We give LO 5 oz of breastmilk at a time but put it in the 8 oz bottles. </p> <p>I think even breastfed or breastmilk fed babies eat differently. My LO has mostly been a baby with a smaller appetite, but I have a friend whose baby drinks 36 oz of breastmilk a day and always has. And she also eats a TON of solids, like whole containers of adult greek yogurt plus fruit for breakfast, followed by an 8 oz bottle of breastmilk. </p> <p>Her LO is a couple of weeks younger than mine but she's not that much bigger. Maybe a pound bigger? Like my LO is 28% in weight and drinks about 25 oz a day total and her LO is about 50% and drinks 36 oz a day in breastmilk plus more than twice as many solids. </p> <p>So I think it's just a difference in metabolism or maybe mom's breastmilk fat levels or SOMETHING. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618968 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:45:37 +0000 Meltini 1618968@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have smaller and larger bottles. LO and DH both prefer the larger bottles because LO has an easier time getting the last drops out of the bigger one. No clue why that is but he gets angry at the end of the small bottles but is fine with the 9 oz bottles. I say do whatever works but the bottle size has zero impact on baby ingesting air. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618952 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:40:04 +0000 Pirouette 1618952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@char54: that makes me feel a little less abnormal haha! </p> <p>@danda: that makes a lot of sense. In my case, I know pumping isn't indicative, but i pump the same way (9ish in the am, then tapering as the day goes on). And i do have oversupply, so i'm guessing that makes a difference. That said, she does seem to have a bit of bottle preference, but I don't know that that's really a bad thing, since i work full time, but i guess it could be problematic in the future for my supply. she seems to prefer bottle during the day and breast at night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618938 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:31:12 +0000 danda 1618938@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The amount of air in the bottle would have zero effect on how much air your baby is taking in.</p> <p>The lactation consultant at my hospital said a breastfed baby doesn't need anything over 4 oz at a time...my guess is it's because it will help prevent a bottle preference (not all moms would have over 4 oz available in the breast at once) but she didn't go into detail.</p> <p>I've been struggling with changing feeding habits of my 10 month old right now and I asked the daycare what is typical for breastmilk in a bottle in their experience. They said they have seen anything between 3-8 ounces and it can change for a baby over time but sometimes stays at or close to the same volume the whole time until significant quantities of solids are being consumed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618933 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:28:27 +0000 Charm54 1618933@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I EPed and dd started taking larger portions (6oz) around 4 months . Now at 7 months she has 2x6oz and 2x8oz bottles a day </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618928 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:26:40 +0000 pmerr 1618928@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At 8 months we switched to 8oz for about a week at 6months, but then realized he was needing more food during the day, so went back to 4 5oz bottles a day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618916 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:23:18 +0000 lawbee11 1618916@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD is 9 months old and we've only ever used the small bottles. The max we feed her in one sitting is 5oz. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618908 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:21:30 +0000 Pirouette 1618908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: usually just once! she's been taking 18-20 oz while i'm at work lately, which seems like a ton, but she's still spacing her feedings every 3+ hours, and not spitting up, and definitely poops and pees a lot, so i really don't think she's being overfed? her typical day after i leave has been 7-8 ounces around 9-10, 5-6 ounces around 1pm and maybe 3-4 around 4ish. she BF at some point before i leave, but not for very long in the am, and then BF for a long time after i get home. last night she also woke up hungry and sucked down 6.5 oz in the middle of the night - i usually BF at night, so i don't know if that's unusual. She's gaining weight really well, and was IUGR, so maybe she is still playing catch up a bit? i dont know!</p> <p> @PurplePeony: yea my LO has been waking up hungry more too, but she eats and then goes right down so i don't mind so much. I really can't fathom how she's hungry in the middle of the night after eating so much during the day, but she clearly is. I'm not ready for solids either! i'm waiting until her 6mo appt. i can't believe it's already almost time :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618854 Wed, 07 May 2014 11:02:52 +0000 PurplePeony 1618854@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD just turned 5 months but she doesn't ever eat that much in one feeding! If she did, it would probably come right back up, so I'd rather her have more frequent feeds than larger ones. We use Avent glass bottles and I got the smaller ones because I figured the big ones would be heavy. I guess we're lucky that she seems satisfied with 4 oz because I was hoping we wouldn't have to buy new bottles -- the glass ones are pricey!</p> <p>She has been hungrier lately, she added a second MOTN feeding about two weeks ago (but it's usually before I go to bed, so I don't mind). She had been going from about 6:30-3:30 but now it's more like 6:30-10:30 or 11, then at 3:30 as usual. I think she's about ready to start solids, I'm just not sure *I* am ready for that yet! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618764 Wed, 07 May 2014 10:31:02 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1618764@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did go to the larger bottles, but we usually only filled them about 6-7 ounces. </p> <p>7-8 ounces seems like a lot!! How many times per day? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618685 Wed, 07 May 2014 10:15:48 +0000 MrsKoala 1618685@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pirouette: My DS is EBF and he has definitely increased his intake between 1 month and now. At 1 month, his bottles were 3 oz and we are now up to 4 oz at 3 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618634 Wed, 07 May 2014 10:04:27 +0000 Smurfette 1618634@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We only used 9oz bottles. Like Adira, stopped to burb halfway. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618585 Wed, 07 May 2014 09:55:50 +0000 Adira 1618585@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pirouette: The 9oz bottles didn't seem to bother Xander any, but it's also the only thing we ever used, so I don't know the difference! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618576 Wed, 07 May 2014 09:53:56 +0000 Pirouette 1618576@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: ah, ok that's good to know! we do stop and burp her a lot, i just figured the more extra air in the bottle, the harder it would be on her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618535 Wed, 07 May 2014 09:45:45 +0000 Adira 1618535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We only ever had the Avent 9oz bottles (until I got a Medela PISA which came with bottles, we never used those), so I always just put however much was needed in those! We didn't seem to have an issue with too much air or anything. Just burp well after!</p> <p>ETA: Oh, and we would often pause after every ounce to burp, just to slow him down from drinking too fast. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-size-and-amount-of-breastmilk#post-1618521 Wed, 07 May 2014 09:42:21 +0000 Pirouette 1618521@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you fed your baby pumped breastmilk, at what point did you increase to larger bottles (or did you)? We've been using the smaller bottles, but she will sometimes take 7-8 oz in a 30 minute period - so we have to refill the bottle after round 1. but other times, she'll drink 2-3 oz, depending on the time of day. Do I switch to larger bottles and just not fill them all the way at certain times a day? i worry she'll get too much air that way. or do i use a larger bottle in the morning and smaller one in the afternoon? not sure if i should order some larger bottles at this point. She's just under 5 months.</p> <p>Also, she seems to be eating more the past few weeks, but everything i've read said BF babies do not eat more between 1 and 6 months. anyone else find that not to be true? it's possible she's just breastfeeding less, and taking more from the bottle, but it seems to be around the clock when she's bottle fed at night too... </p>