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I EBF'd Xander, so I needed bottles both for daycare and at work for pumping. I wasn't sure based on your description if you're planning on doing that as well?

In my case, I needed 8 bottles total - 4 to send to daycare and 4 to bring to work for pumping. I only had the 9 oz bottles - never used the smaller ones.

As for nipples, we needed 4 nipples for the 4 bottles we sent to daycare. I used the slow flow nipples our entire year of nursing so that he'd never (hopefully) prefer the bottle over the boob!

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Some babies are also picky and you have to kind of figure out which bottle works best for them. Xander was easy-going and took to our Avent bottles without an issue, but I agree with @catomd00: that you may not want to buy a ton until you know what kind your baby will take.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: yes she takes 3 4-oz bottles while there. This will differ by baby somewhat, but most BF babies don't take more than 5-oz per feed (in my experience). Breastmilk changes in composition as baby grows so they don't need more volume like they do with formula

I agree - don't stockpile just because you like the bottle - I went trhu 3 brands before finding one DD will take! Target sells single bottles so I bought one of each until I found one she took.

Neither of my EBF kids ever took more than 4oz at a time so I used the small bottle only.

I wouldn't buy that many to start. Maybe just 1 or 2 of each brand you like because you never know what your baby will take and what he/she will refuse. LO was EBF and we had a lot of success with the Tommee Tippee bottles. We registered for the newborn starter kit then eventually bought more. Because she was EBF she never drank more than 5 oz at a time so we didn't use the 9 oz bottles. Had she been FF we would've needed those, though.

I registered for a starter pack of Dr. Brown's which my baby will have nothing to do with. It took a LOT of trial and error to find a bottle that he would tolerate. The Dr. Brown's ended up not being a total waste though, because they fit onto my pump (Medela PISA), so I use them to pump into.

My breastfed baby appears to be an anomaly because he takes anywhere from 5-7 oz from a bottle. Right now I have three 9 oz bottles for him, but I'm not back at work full time.

I pump into the 4-5 oz bottles that I have, but I have an oversupply so I am always wishing I had bigger ones.

Basically, I'd pick one, maybe two brands to get a newborn/starter kit for and then wait and see how you use them and what your baby prefers.

I'd also skip the small bottles. Even though C was FF, we only used the small bottles for a few weeks. This time around, we got just Avent 9oz bottles. We currently have 10 total.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: My baby would straight up scream and refuse certain brands of bottles, and was totally cool with starving himself if it meant he had to drink out of a Tommee Tippee (which most babies LOVE!). I found I got a lot of free bottles from doctors offices, when I registered at places, etc. and we found a winner out of those options (Lansinoh mOmma - breast shaped design).

I have 2 LOs that are 2 years apart. Both were EBF and we've only used Comotomo bottles.

I agree with other posters - don't buy a ton of bottles until you know what LO likes. If you want to try the Comotomo bottles, buy 1 bottle (or a two pack) to see what you think. If you are EBFing, LO will likely only get one bottle a day while you're on maternity leave (so you don't need to have a ton of bottles until you figure out what you are doing).

Both LOs would get 2-3 bottles while I work, so I think we had 4 small bottles and 6 large bottles. The small bottles come with level 1 nipples, the large bottles come with level 2 nipples, so you'd definitely want to buy the smaller bottle.

Like @gilmoregirl: my EBF babies drink more than average (up to 7 or 8 oz per bottle). So don't stock up on the small bottles assuming you can use those.

If wouldn't buy 4 oz bottles. Even when R was on BM, she would take 5 oz bottles. At first she took Advent and then she wouldn't touch them. We tried tons of bottles, TT were the ones that she put up less of a fight.

I wouldn't buy a lot till you know what the baby likes. I bought individual bottles and tried them all.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I don't, I use the regular slow-flow nipples. I maybe should have, but tbh, we didn't do much research before starting bottle-feeding: LO wasn't getting enough from nursing and we needed to start supplementing immediately, so we just got what seemed like the easiest as fast as possible! but, that was almost 5 months ago that we started supplementing, and it's gone really well--every once in awhile she'll refuse the breast and prefer the bottle, especially in the afternoon when my supply is lower, but for the most part she'll nurse first. especially motn or first thing in the morning--I have no problems getting her to latch then!

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I think you can eventually get a baby to take a certain type of bottle if that's all you give them. It's a learning experience for them. However, I tried Avent with my daughter first and it was awful (the flow was reallyyyyy fast and the nipple seemed really long, so she was gagging.) That's where my recommendation for getting a bottle that looks more like your breast comes in.

Gerber first essentials is what worked best for us (plus side they are super cheap!) The bottles with the wider nipples just weren't her thing (and interestingly don't come close to my small boobs!)

Also, if you have a Medela pump, the Gerber First Essentials bottle fit the pump, which is awesome because they're way cheaper than the medela bottles. Even if your LO doesn't eat out of the Gerber bottles, I'd still get them as extras to pump into.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: nope, never heard of them! I just used medela bottles and medela nipples. I also never used bigger bottles. I will say that I'm going to buy extra for baby #2 though (bottles, nipples and pump parts), just because washing all of it every day is such a drag as an exhausted working parent.

Here is my experience after two babies:
1. I registered for two kinds (Tommee Tippee and Dr. Browns) to first see which ones the baby liked. I had no idea which ones to pick but I knew that Dr. Browns were used a lot and I liked that Tommee Tippe went up to 9 oz.
2. DS1 used Tommee Tippee with no problem so that's what we went with. DS2 also had no problem with them.
3. I only BF for a few weeks with each I needed more bottles. I don't want to be washing bottles all the time so I'd rather have more. I also WOH. Right now I use 12 bottles - DS2 drinks about 6 bottles a day so I always have some clean ones ready to go. By the time DS2 was 1, he only drank 3 a day so I was able to pack away about 6.
3. DS2 used the same bottles - I just bought new nipples. I haven't changed the nipples on the bottles yet - they are still at the slowest flow and it doesn't seem to bother him. With DS1, he followed the natural progession with flow. So I guess it totally depends on baby!
4. I agree not to buy the small size bottles - just go with the larger. DS1 had outgrown that size by about 2 months and DS2 did at about 3 months.

Echoing what others have said: don't get a lot of one type of bottle because your LO may or may not be picky. I thought the same about my LO (oh, he'll take anything I give him), until I actually tried. And we started pretty early, too. He hated the first 3 brands I tried to give him, and we are now happily using 2 other brands. Lot of trial and error.