Breastfeeding gear: Pumping specific questions

skyrockets

I have purchased my pump (a Medela In-style) and it came with four small bottles.  My sister also gifted me a small bottle, plus three larger bottles.  I have a free sample bottle (a Nuk) but have not purchased any separate assorted for baby to sample from.  I figured I wanted the pump ahead of time to take a look at it… plus it was on sale!  If the baby doesn't take to the Medela bottles we can shop for other types later.

I plan to try pumping fairly early on (4 weeks, maybe?  I will get some advice from my doctor before starting).  I am not interested in stocking a freezer with breast milk at this point, but want my husband and some other caregivers to be able to give bottles once to a couple times a day.  

I am thinking about the following:

1)  Is there any reason to have the storage bags if I am not freezing the breast milk?  Can I pump and store in the bottles, refrigerate and then heat as needed?  

2)  How much might I want to store in each bottle?   

3)  Do I need things like a bottle brush/rack?  

4)  In other pumper's experiences, am I on the right track to have four weeks as a milestone for this attempt?  

Thanks, ladies!

Junebug060609

Kitchencolors covered a lot. You will need to be mindful of the fridge life BM has as well. Kellymom.com has good info on storage and storage times.

skyrockets

Thanks for your notes, ladies.  I hadn't thought of putting the bottles in the dishwasher so there's that.  The Kellymom.com site is great.

jschwind22

FTM so no personal experience, but I learned in breastfeeding class that around 4 weeks is a good time to pump/introduce a bottle to avoid any nipple confusion for the baby early on as well as refusal of a bottle later if you wait too long.  The lactation consultant that did the class also said that in her opinion there isn't really a "too early" for pumping, although some things I've read have disagreed with that.  I'll be pumping pretty early since I'm going back to work 6-8 weeks PP and will need a freezer stash for daycare.