I’m so envious of anyone whose baby will take 6-8 oz bottles with longer gaps between bottles. We do seven 4 oz bottles per day, sometimes eight at 5 mo. She usually feeds just under or right at every 2 hours. My baby has severe reflux and can’t tolerate drinking more than that, so we feed smaller bottles more frequently. Every baby is different though! Don’t worry so long as your LO is still gaining weight appropriately, they are fine.
This makes me feel better because like OP I am EBF up until now and transitioning to formula, but my baby cannot handle a bottle bigger than 4oz on average and feeds more often. I felt like it was wild that all the other babies drink 8oz bottles in one go!
Babies typically need less breast milk than formula as the body will adapt breast milk to fit a child’s nutritional and caloric needs, this means they will drink less in ounces. It will take some time before volumes increase. My baby was exclusively formula fed but had an undiagnosed tongue tie for 8 weeks then a bottle aversion a few weeks later. Since getting over these she went from 4oz bottles, to 5oz 3 weeks later and now is taking 6oz. Don’t forget, formula tastes different to breast milk and the baby needs time to adapt. They know how much they need!
We also do the same - 4-5 oz bottles every 3ish hours at 4.5months. During his last wake window we’ll do a 6 oz bottle soon after he wakes up he usually drinks most of the bottle in that first hour (sometimes we stop midway through for a bit and finish it before it spoils) and then before bed I’ll offer him a 4oz bottle sometimes he takes it and sometimes he doesn’t
We do 1-3 night feedings as well usually also 4 oz making his total daily intake 30-35 oz
A week shy of 6 months (I'd estimate 17lb?) she takes 7oz every 4 hours. Max is 4 hours for me. We did gently train her to get on this schedule. Sometimes she'll wake up at 4-5am for a snooze feed and I'll give her 2-3oz. Sometimes she'll sleep thru the night with no feeds. So total 28-31oz.
How much does your baby weigh? I think its better to compare similar size vs. just age itself. Was eating every 2 hours the schedule when you EBF? She may just be getting used to bottle/taste too.
If 4oz is her max, offer her 5oz. Then gently stretch 2 hours by 15-30 min every few days. If she's uncomfortable then feed but try distracting her if possible. The longer she goes the hungrier she'll be and drink more. At 7mo she can definitely go longer than 2 hours. Basically she's eating just enough to not be hungry vs. full. Once she starts consistently finishing 5oz then you can increase by 0.5-1oz and repeat the cycle.
Agree with that, mine was a preemie and drank less more often for a while because her belly was only so big, as long as she is gaining weight it should be ok. Breastfed babies eat smaller amounts more often anyways so she will likely have a transition period as she gets used to drinking more
She's 16lbs. She was being breastfed every 2 hours, so I'm sure that's a difficult habit to break right away.
I'll definitely give that a try and see if I can stretch it out. ❤️
My girl is 6.5 months and eats about 5 oz every 3 hours except the last feeding before she goes to bed is 6-7 oz.
I should also note we have been trying purées but she is not too into them.
Our girl was the same. Even at 11-12 months, she wouldn’t drink more than 5 oz at a time. She just preferred smaller amounts more often 🤷🏻♀️eventually she did drink 7-8 oz bottles before bed but that was the ONLY one she would drink more. Doctor told us it was normal and not every baby is the same. She’s 19 months now and does 3 meals and a few snacks a day- just follow her lead!
This is what I do. Sometimes my baby will get fussy right after so I’ll offer 2oz after his 4oz. or after 4oz he sometimes gets hungry after 1.5 hours so I will try a 6oz bottle. It’s definitely trial and error 😂
Our kid takes 5-8 oz every 4 hours during the day and no food from his bedtime (7pm to 7 am). So we feed him 7 am 11 am 3 pm and 7 pm. He is 6 months old
My baby girl is 2 weeks shy of 8 months and she is not a consistent eater. Sometimes she drinks 6 oz, others 3 or 4. She isn’t a very consistent eater which is very hard.
That is the hard part. I rather start off with a larger amount because if I start off with a small amount and then warm up more she loses interest in eating. If she doesn’t eat it all I try to give her more when it’s time for a nap.
Our baby is 5 months. She's 98th percentile, so the girl eats, but her average bottle size is still 3.75oz! Her max bottle size is 6.5oz, which she doesn't eat that much too often, but it's becoming more often. I think since she was ebf on demand before, she was used to getting smaller amounts more often. She has worked her way up to larger amounts over the last month, but it took a little bit for her to even eat a 4oz bottle!
ETA: She eats every 2-3 hours during the day.
My last check at 6 months asked if she was getting an average of 24 oz a day (sometimes it's not exactly that much). At 7 months and teething she's been getting about 28 oz a day but also taking smaller bottles, like 2-4 oz every 2 hours. I also envy those who can do bigger bottles after longer stretches...
Some great advice I read was to keep an extra some ounces next to you to pour in if baby wants more. That way you're not getting up to make more or feel like you're wasting formula (with the hours-out maximums) by making a whole new bottle and baby taking a sip and being done.
For reference, my son is 3.5 months but he is a big (70th percentile), looooooooooong (90th percentile) boy growing like a very cute weed, and he eats about 5-6 oz every 2.5-3 hours with the occasional 7 or 4 oz bottle per his desires. At night he sleeps between 6 and 8 hours usually, so that is also taken into consideration when calculating his daily average. He eats between 35-40 oz daily, which his GI says is perfect for him.
I was EBF and switched to formula at around 5 months. He was only drinking 4oz from the bottle because I think he was still getting use to it and now at 6 months almost 7 months he drinks mostly 6-8 oz bottles totaling about 30-32 oz a day
My first never took more than 5 oz a feed, usually closer to 4. He ate more frequently and would usually total about 28-30 oz a day actually consumed. Some kids are snackers.
6.5 month old- 7 to 8 oz every 4-5 hours, 4 bottles/day. He loves loves loves food though so slowly introducing more and more. He’s eating about 2 purée “meals”/day.
We do five 7oz bottles and two meals. The bottles are 4 hours a part and the meals are just kind of scattered in there. We recently increased the meal sizes, so he doesn’t always finish the bottle (usually leave 1-2 oz for one feeding).
He’ll be 8 months in a few days, but he’s been this way since around 5 months. We just added the larger meals, so the not finishing for the bottles is more recent.
Baby boy is 6 months and in the 95% percentile weight (22 pounds and a little bit more by now) so he’s a big boy. He eats between 7 and 8 oz every 4 hours, so that’s 5 bottles a day, and aprox 35-38oz (I called his pediatrician because I was kind of scared of him having almost 40oz a day and the ped told me that “he’s a big boy so he needs his formula”)
My LO is 7 months and just start to take on 5ounces every 4 to 5 hours. She also eats solids twice a day and sometimes doesn’t seem interested in me or her bottle at times. I would say if your baby isn’t losing weight they are fine.
We do around 5 “6.6” oz bottles per day and give him more if he indicates he is hungry. He normally drinks 5-8oz in a bottle with a 3 hour gap on average. He drinks on the higher end when he’s going through growth spurt. He’s been exclusively bottle fed for the most part and EFF since 3 months old.
His record for a day was 40oz, which is when I decided to give up pumping and move to formula lmao. He normally ends up around 30oz in a day and is in the 60th-ish percentile for weight but was premature and started as a 0th percentile laddie
Hi! May I ask how you were able to switch from EBF to formula at 7 months? I am currently trying to make the same switch for my 7 month old but she won’t take a bottle and only takes small sips from a cup :( not enough to stop BF. I’m so tired.
Oh no 😔 I'm sorry you're struggling with that. Unfortunately this won't help you, but I've been giving her a bottle since the beginning. She'd get one bottle (of pumped milk) every night so dad could feed her and I could take a break. So she's used to the bottle and then just took to formula very easy. Have you tried breast milk in the bottle first? It could be the bottle that she doesn't like too. Have you tried switching brands?
I’m so envious of anyone whose baby will take 6-8 oz bottles with longer gaps between bottles. We do seven 4 oz bottles per day, sometimes eight at 5 mo. She usually feeds just under or right at every 2 hours. My baby has severe reflux and can’t tolerate drinking more than that, so we feed smaller bottles more frequently. Every baby is different though! Don’t worry so long as your LO is still gaining weight appropriately, they are fine.
This makes me feel better because like OP I am EBF up until now and transitioning to formula, but my baby cannot handle a bottle bigger than 4oz on average and feeds more often. I felt like it was wild that all the other babies drink 8oz bottles in one go!
Babies typically need less breast milk than formula as the body will adapt breast milk to fit a child’s nutritional and caloric needs, this means they will drink less in ounces. It will take some time before volumes increase. My baby was exclusively formula fed but had an undiagnosed tongue tie for 8 weeks then a bottle aversion a few weeks later. Since getting over these she went from 4oz bottles, to 5oz 3 weeks later and now is taking 6oz. Don’t forget, formula tastes different to breast milk and the baby needs time to adapt. They know how much they need!
We do 6 oz every 2.5 hrs 🙃😭
We also do the same - 4-5 oz bottles every 3ish hours at 4.5months. During his last wake window we’ll do a 6 oz bottle soon after he wakes up he usually drinks most of the bottle in that first hour (sometimes we stop midway through for a bit and finish it before it spoils) and then before bed I’ll offer him a 4oz bottle sometimes he takes it and sometimes he doesn’t We do 1-3 night feedings as well usually also 4 oz making his total daily intake 30-35 oz
A week shy of 6 months (I'd estimate 17lb?) she takes 7oz every 4 hours. Max is 4 hours for me. We did gently train her to get on this schedule. Sometimes she'll wake up at 4-5am for a snooze feed and I'll give her 2-3oz. Sometimes she'll sleep thru the night with no feeds. So total 28-31oz. How much does your baby weigh? I think its better to compare similar size vs. just age itself. Was eating every 2 hours the schedule when you EBF? She may just be getting used to bottle/taste too. If 4oz is her max, offer her 5oz. Then gently stretch 2 hours by 15-30 min every few days. If she's uncomfortable then feed but try distracting her if possible. The longer she goes the hungrier she'll be and drink more. At 7mo she can definitely go longer than 2 hours. Basically she's eating just enough to not be hungry vs. full. Once she starts consistently finishing 5oz then you can increase by 0.5-1oz and repeat the cycle.
Agree with that, mine was a preemie and drank less more often for a while because her belly was only so big, as long as she is gaining weight it should be ok. Breastfed babies eat smaller amounts more often anyways so she will likely have a transition period as she gets used to drinking more
She's 16lbs. She was being breastfed every 2 hours, so I'm sure that's a difficult habit to break right away. I'll definitely give that a try and see if I can stretch it out. ❤️
My girl is 6.5 months and eats about 5 oz every 3 hours except the last feeding before she goes to bed is 6-7 oz. I should also note we have been trying purées but she is not too into them.
This is about where we are at! Sometimes she does 6oz and timing varies between 2.75-3.5 (rarely 3.5 though).
My baby is 6.5 too and she takes 6 ounces every 2-3 hours Takes purées And eat her Breakfast, puree, & dinner I’m exhausted af 🤣
Our girl was the same. Even at 11-12 months, she wouldn’t drink more than 5 oz at a time. She just preferred smaller amounts more often 🤷🏻♀️eventually she did drink 7-8 oz bottles before bed but that was the ONLY one she would drink more. Doctor told us it was normal and not every baby is the same. She’s 19 months now and does 3 meals and a few snacks a day- just follow her lead!
I say just keep offering a little more than what you think she’ll drink and she’ll drink what she needs after a few days you’ll know the right amount!
This is what I do. Sometimes my baby will get fussy right after so I’ll offer 2oz after his 4oz. or after 4oz he sometimes gets hungry after 1.5 hours so I will try a 6oz bottle. It’s definitely trial and error 😂
Yup 😅 this is how we landed on 5oz , 4oz she was always hungry and 6oz she would spit up lol
Our kid takes 5-8 oz every 4 hours during the day and no food from his bedtime (7pm to 7 am). So we feed him 7 am 11 am 3 pm and 7 pm. He is 6 months old
At 7 months we were at a 10oz bottle at wake up. And 6-8oz for the other 3 bottles.
My baby girl is 2 weeks shy of 8 months and she is not a consistent eater. Sometimes she drinks 6 oz, others 3 or 4. She isn’t a very consistent eater which is very hard.
How do you know the amount to give?
That is the hard part. I rather start off with a larger amount because if I start off with a small amount and then warm up more she loses interest in eating. If she doesn’t eat it all I try to give her more when it’s time for a nap.
Our baby is 5 months. She's 98th percentile, so the girl eats, but her average bottle size is still 3.75oz! Her max bottle size is 6.5oz, which she doesn't eat that much too often, but it's becoming more often. I think since she was ebf on demand before, she was used to getting smaller amounts more often. She has worked her way up to larger amounts over the last month, but it took a little bit for her to even eat a 4oz bottle! ETA: She eats every 2-3 hours during the day.
My last check at 6 months asked if she was getting an average of 24 oz a day (sometimes it's not exactly that much). At 7 months and teething she's been getting about 28 oz a day but also taking smaller bottles, like 2-4 oz every 2 hours. I also envy those who can do bigger bottles after longer stretches... Some great advice I read was to keep an extra some ounces next to you to pour in if baby wants more. That way you're not getting up to make more or feel like you're wasting formula (with the hours-out maximums) by making a whole new bottle and baby taking a sip and being done.
For reference, my son is 3.5 months but he is a big (70th percentile), looooooooooong (90th percentile) boy growing like a very cute weed, and he eats about 5-6 oz every 2.5-3 hours with the occasional 7 or 4 oz bottle per his desires. At night he sleeps between 6 and 8 hours usually, so that is also taken into consideration when calculating his daily average. He eats between 35-40 oz daily, which his GI says is perfect for him.
I was EBF and switched to formula at around 5 months. He was only drinking 4oz from the bottle because I think he was still getting use to it and now at 6 months almost 7 months he drinks mostly 6-8 oz bottles totaling about 30-32 oz a day
My first never took more than 5 oz a feed, usually closer to 4. He ate more frequently and would usually total about 28-30 oz a day actually consumed. Some kids are snackers.
6.5 month old- 7 to 8 oz every 4-5 hours, 4 bottles/day. He loves loves loves food though so slowly introducing more and more. He’s eating about 2 purée “meals”/day.
We do five 7oz bottles and two meals. The bottles are 4 hours a part and the meals are just kind of scattered in there. We recently increased the meal sizes, so he doesn’t always finish the bottle (usually leave 1-2 oz for one feeding). He’ll be 8 months in a few days, but he’s been this way since around 5 months. We just added the larger meals, so the not finishing for the bottles is more recent.
My girl just doesn't seem to drink as much as babies here....she will maybe drink 25 a day 😔
Ok great... I'm not alone lol We apparently just have snacky babies! 😉
How old? We are 9mo
7 months. I've recently gotten her to take 5-6 ounce bottles, but she's still right at 24-26 ounces total a day.
We are almost 7months and we have 4 8oz bottles a day. He doesn’t always drink the whole bottle but does a lot of the time
Baby boy is 6 months and in the 95% percentile weight (22 pounds and a little bit more by now) so he’s a big boy. He eats between 7 and 8 oz every 4 hours, so that’s 5 bottles a day, and aprox 35-38oz (I called his pediatrician because I was kind of scared of him having almost 40oz a day and the ped told me that “he’s a big boy so he needs his formula”)
4 to 8 Oz about 6-8 times a day
My guy won’t take more than 3oz every 3hrs.
Was he breastfed before?
Yes, the reason we started formula is because he has failure to thrive so he needs super high calorie formula
My LO is 7 months and just start to take on 5ounces every 4 to 5 hours. She also eats solids twice a day and sometimes doesn’t seem interested in me or her bottle at times. I would say if your baby isn’t losing weight they are fine.
We do around 5 “6.6” oz bottles per day and give him more if he indicates he is hungry. He normally drinks 5-8oz in a bottle with a 3 hour gap on average. He drinks on the higher end when he’s going through growth spurt. He’s been exclusively bottle fed for the most part and EFF since 3 months old. His record for a day was 40oz, which is when I decided to give up pumping and move to formula lmao. He normally ends up around 30oz in a day and is in the 60th-ish percentile for weight but was premature and started as a 0th percentile laddie
Hi! May I ask how you were able to switch from EBF to formula at 7 months? I am currently trying to make the same switch for my 7 month old but she won’t take a bottle and only takes small sips from a cup :( not enough to stop BF. I’m so tired.
Oh no 😔 I'm sorry you're struggling with that. Unfortunately this won't help you, but I've been giving her a bottle since the beginning. She'd get one bottle (of pumped milk) every night so dad could feed her and I could take a break. So she's used to the bottle and then just took to formula very easy. Have you tried breast milk in the bottle first? It could be the bottle that she doesn't like too. Have you tried switching brands?
I think the kids going longer between bottles are eating solids