When do I switch my baby from a 4oz bottle to an 8oz. bottle?

Question

I breastfeed my son during the day and give him formula at night. He is currently using a 4 oz. bottle. I was wondering when do I switch him to an 8oz. bottle?
[because my husband and I are going to our vacation home for a week, and I want to pack the right size bottles].
My son is almost 4 months old, and currently has 4oz of formula at night before bed [that keeps him through the night, then when he wakes up for his 6am feeding, I give him a 4oz. bottle of half breastmilk half formula]

**I don't want any arguments about, "why give him formula?" blah blah blah.
Because I gave him strictly breastmilk until he was 2 months old, now he gets both, and it works great!

Answer 1

It doesnt matter when you switch. There is no difference between a 4 and 8 oz bottle other then ones bigger. You can switch when he needs more then 4oz of formula. Good Luck

Answer 2

Whenever you think he's ready. If you're going away for a week it probably wouldn't hurt to pack 2 8 oz bottles and the rest 4 oz. That way you can have some on hand if he needs them. You can switch him now if you want. Personally I thought that the 4oz ones were a waste because you didn't use them for very long. It's really up to you, but it really it's way easier to properly mix formula in an 8 oz bottle. Good luck!

Answer 3

I'm going to echo what a lot of people have already said. We never actually used the 4oz bottles this time around. Knowing that we'd eventually have to use the full sized bottles we used them right from the start and just purchased the slow flow nipples separately. As others have stated, just fill them with as much as you'll be needing for the feeding. Since you know you'll use them eventually (and probably very soon) just go ahead and get them now to take on vacation. If you're worried that your baby will switch to a higher flow nipple during that time then pack the current size and the next size, those don't take up much room.

Answer 4

This is a tough one.. all babies are different... my son used the small bottles until he was off of them at 1 yr. He would use a large bottle at night and once in a while he would have around 6 ounces... but hen he would eat more often than others...I would pack mostly 4 ounce bottles and maybe 1 or 2 of the big ones... you can always warm up more bm or formula if he still seems hungry after 4oz.

Answer 5

I breast fed for three weeks and switched to bottles. My daughter drinks almost 4ozs. I asked my doctor how much she should be drinking he said 3-4 ozs. He said feed her about 21/2 and pull the bottle away or stick the pacifier in her mouth if she is still crying she is still hungry. Now she lets me know when she is full, she will start licking her lips and she is not fussy.

Answer 6

Bring the 8 oz bottles and only fill it to 4. And you don't have to jump to 8 right away. You can do 5 or 6 if you want to. Just bring the 8 oz bottles and that way you're covered!

Answer 7

I switched my son when he started eating more then 4oz. I got tired of getting up to make for formula in the middle of a feeding. I think he was around 4-5months.

Answer 8

Take the bigger bottles with you and then if 4 ounces isn't enough you have the bigger bottles.
Put 5 ounces in them just to make sure he is getting enough. Then when he is finishing the 5 ounces add another ounce the next time and so on. He probably won't finish the whole thing every time, but that's the way they are, just like us, sometimes hungry, sometimes not.
I never heard of anyone mixing but hey, if it works what the heck.
Anyway, I'd say better safe than sorry.
I had one baby that never seemed to get enough and another one that never did take over 4 ounces. So you never know.

Answer 9

i breast and bottle feed aswell its totally up to you anyway switch to 8 oz bottles when he starts to want more milk and you cant fit it into the 4 oz bottle i personally always buy 8 oz from the start that way i wont have to buy 2 setsof bottles why waste money babys cost enough as it is

Answer 10

my son is 6 wks. i breastfed for 4 wks and switched to bottles. at first he was fine with 4 oz. then he would start crying 20 min later. so i upped him to 6 oz. hes satisfied with that.