diff --git a/consumer.go b/consumer.go
index 62b0bfc..0077344 100644
--- a/consumer.go
+++ b/consumer.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ func New(streamName string, opts ...Option) (*Consumer, error) {
 			logger: log.New(ioutil.Discard, "", log.LstdFlags),
 		},
 		scanInterval: 250 * time.Millisecond,
+		maxRecords:   10000,
 	}
 
 	// override defaults
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ type Consumer struct {
 	logger                   Logger
 	store                    Store
 	scanInterval             time.Duration
+	maxRecords               int64
 }
 
 // ScanFunc is the type of the function called for each message read
@@ -157,6 +159,7 @@ func (c *Consumer) ScanShard(ctx context.Context, shardID string, fn ScanFunc) e
 			return nil
 		case <-scanTicker.C:
 			resp, err := c.client.GetRecords(&kinesis.GetRecordsInput{
+				Limit:         aws.Int64(c.maxRecords),
 				ShardIterator: shardIterator,
 			})
 
diff --git a/options.go b/options.go
index 6fa53bc..b8248aa 100644
--- a/options.go
+++ b/options.go
@@ -64,3 +64,12 @@ func WithScanInterval(d time.Duration) Option {
 		c.scanInterval = d
 	}
 }
+
+// WithMaxRecords overrides the maximum number of records to be
+// returned in a single GetRecords call for the consumer (specify a
+// value of up to 10,000)
+func WithMaxRecords(n int64) Option {
+	return func(c *Consumer) {
+		c.maxRecords = n
+	}
+}