Product Spotlight Series: Bottles (w/o Jan 29)

LaceyBee522

This is probably a dumb question, but I'm asking it anyway. Everyone is talking about freezing breast milk and then warming it up. How exactly are you defrosting the breast milk? Do you run it under the faucet like frozen meat? Put it in the microwave? Just dunk it in hot water (with milk in the bag) and it defrosts fast? 

ramennoodlegif

@LaceyBee522 Never put it in the microwave, as it can burn the baby and/or damage the milk. We always thawed it in hot water, while still in the bag. It's not exactly fast, but it works. 

izza2

@LaceyBee522 -- As @kfren said, microwaving can scald the milk (and remove some of the nutrients) and leave you either waiting for it to cool down (or sticking it in the fridge), or unintentionally hurting LO. My SIL pumps and always sent us bags of milk when we watched her LOs and we just ran it under hot water.

She also gave us general feeding times, so we could at least try to be prepared and have it mostly ready before LO started getting hungry, so that helped (and you'll know that info with it being your own child). 

You can also take some bags out of the fridge to thaw and they'll be okay for so many days (don't remember how long) before they have to be used.

jsl82

@LaceyBee522 as @kfren said you should never microwave milk or formula.  In addition damaging the milk it also will not heat up evenly (think about when you eat microwaved food, and one bit is burning and the next bit is still cold).  I have a bottle warmer we used with DD- it took an eternity for frozen and forever for refrigerated milk.  Sometimes I would run the hot water from the faucet over the frozen milk bag placed in a cup and that would heat it up slightly faster.  Our daycare will put water in a crock pot and warm up the babies bottles in the crockpot- daycare tip for multiples moms. 

Also, my dental assistant when I had DD had a new baby and she was telling me that if we fed formula to make sure we were not using the water from the tap since our water had fluoride.  So we would buy gallons of distilled water to have on hand.

srb1028

@jsl82 I didn't even think about the floruide in the tap water! I am going to be trying to BF and pump but will be using formula if needed to supplement. Thanks for mentioning!

marcus7676

@srb1028 - our pedi wasn't concerned about tap water.  He just told us to boil the water from the tap / filter in fridge, cool, and then mix with formula.  Once DS turned six months, he told me to stop boiling.

srb1028

@marcus7676 That is also good to know about the 6 month rule. Until then, we will just use our water filter jug for formula (that sounds easier than boiling lol).

ETA- or wait, are you to boil and then filter or one or the other? 

marcus7676

@srb1028 - we still boiled water out of the filter.  I'd ask your pedi to see if there are differences in your area since tap water is very different in different areas. 

sunshineandwhiskey

Yup, apparently i'm slacker mom of the year - never boiled the water for DDs formula - ever.  No one ever told me too lol I did use bottle water up at my dads though since he has well water.  

aharv77

@sunshineandwhiskey I didn't either! Before this thread I didn't even realize it was a thing!

Austenista

I've been meaning to say this, it's a misconception that you can't keep formula if baby doesn't finish a bottle. It's good in the fridge for 24 hours. If it's too cold, you can bring it back to room temp by setting the bottle in a bowl of warm water. I've added to a used bottle many a times with no issues. Definitely don't heat it.  

Bottles are overwhelming. I was really overwhelmed. I was planning on Dr Brown's and then LC said out of the blue that she didn't like Dr. Brown's bottles and I was too distracted trying to get BM in and worrying about my baby in the NICU and never asked her why. I'm guessing it was just a preference thing though. 

We use Avent bottles and love them. My H bought this starter kit on Amazon. I still use the brush for cleaning them and the formula powder holder is mighty handy for going out with baby. Those you can buy just themselves and I recommend it. 

I still use the 9oz bottles, and we've obviously bought more of those plus upgraded the nipples for faster flow at this point (I'm currently weaning off formula and my next step is to switch him to a sippy. We're down to just a bottle at night). To wash, I still do what I what I was taught in NICU. I've got two tubs, super hot water in one tub with a dab of dish soap, scrub, drop in other tub, rinse completely, set to air dry. I steam sterilized twice ever and one was in the hospital and then right when we first got home with him. It does seem like a pain at first washing bottles, but now it's just a chore like any other. It becomes a habit. I have more fancy baby bottle soap that I use too but NICU used blue Dawn to clean bottles with. So with Dawn, I've kind of operated under it being good enough for NICU where germs are the scary enemy, then it's good for us here at home. 

MoonOverGoldsboro

I never boiled water for formula either. I filtered with one of those big Brita countertop containers, but just because we do that for ourselves. Talk to your ped. Ours said no need to boil in our area. Like @sunshineandwhiskey, I do use bottled water at my parents, who have nasty iron-y well water...but again, they already drink bottled water themselves, too!

rnielsen321

We never boiled water. As I said previously, straight outta the tap... Hospital and GP both gave the go ahead for our area. 

mytinc

I'd been avoiding this thread.  Now that I've opened it I'm going to attempt to answer a few questions I saw.  

@krashke - Did any one have success just using the bottles that came with their breast pump? Yes.  DS1 drank from the medela bottles with no issue.

I've looked into the Lansinoh storage bags that you can pump into directly. I've not tried those bags for pumping into, but I hated the medela bags.  I didn't feel they fit well onto the pump and I was always worried about spilling when detaching them.

How to Warm milk?  For frozen breast milk we used a pot - ran tap water as hot as we could and set the frozen bag inside.  If it's fresh breastmilk you can leave it at room temperature for 4 hours.  I'd do that if I knew we were going shopping or something - I'd pump fresh and bring that bottle with me for when baby got hungry.  He'd drink it fine at room temperature.

@doxiemoxie212 - And I'm still not clear about which ones work with the breast pumps? Or like, frozen breast milk... you thaw it, and then open the plastic bag thing, and empty that into the bottle? Or there are bottles that you just put the pouch in and then drink from that sort of? We thawed in the bag and then poured it into a bottle.  
how does one find out if they have high lipase milk? Often times the milk will smell sour before it should be going bad.  Also, a baby that has no problem nursing may refuse to drink milk that is thawed from frozen but will be fine with freshly pumped milk.  It is completely safe to drink, but some babies refuse to.  That's when you need to look into scalding the milk and you only need to scald it prior to freezing.  You won't need to with fresh milk.

In general - +1 to never microwaving milk.  Also, with all the talk of flow of various bottles I wanted to point out that the flow is actually from the nipple.  As your child grows you can increase the flow by purchasing new nipples (just nipples, not whole new bottles) so they can get a better flow of the milk.

Also - I think it was stated somewhere here, but yes, Dr. Brown's bottles do fit Medela pumps.

doxiemoxie212

Can you freeze in bottles or do you HAVE to freeze in the bags? I know obv the bags would be more efficient from a storage space perspective, but just theoretically. 

mytinc

@doxiemoxie212 - I think you can freeze in glass bottles.  Depending on how much you want to freeze (as a working mom I had a huge stash of frozen milk) it may not be economical to have your bottles all in the freezer so you have nothing to use and give to the baby.  So I guess it depends on how much space you have the freezer and how much you plan to store.  Bags take up a lot less room.

srb1028

I will definitely ask my OB about the boiling water vs filtered water or if it's even necessary where I live. I know we do have flouride in the water. DH and I drink all of our water from Brita filter jug.

Another question for STMs/STMs+ : How many bottles is it necessary to have and what sizes? So far I only have a few and I plan on pumping mostly.

sunshineandwhiskey

@srb1028 We had 6 - 5oz bottles that we used until DD was 6 months or so.  and then 6 - 8oz bottles we used until we switched to a sippy/milk.  I think most parents buy way more than 6 though so you don't have to wash every day.  My friend had 20 something of each size (the medela brand) so she didn't have to worry about having a clean bottle.  DH and I washed them each night.  

elsie42

Ok I don't know if this should go in this thread or in another place but I'm just gonna ask it here for now. 

What is the process like for introducing a bottle if you also bf? I'll be a SAHM so I don't necessarily need to pump to build a stash like if I were working. But I've also heard people say that they wish they had used bottles every once in a while so that their husband/a babysitter could give one if mom wanted to be away from baby for a bit. Are there certain types of bottles better for this? I know a few mentioned types that they liked because it was most similar to a real breast/nipple. 

sunshineandwhiskey

@elsie42 I believe the recommendation is to wait 4-6 weeks to introduce a bottle. 

Take the following with a grain of salt, because it is definitely my own personal experience, but I will never wait this long ever again.  DD flat out refused bottles, and it was a complete struggle bus to get her to take one.  Like, to the point I had to leave the house, and walk the dog, to even get DH to be able to give her an ounce.  It made it so hard to leave, and so I didn't until i went back to work - and this caused a lot of emotional struggles.  That first day of daycare was the worst ever because I had no idea if she would take the bottle.  

marcus7676

@doxiemoxie212 medela sells little plastic bottles you can freeze in too.  https://www.target.com/p/medela-breast-milk-storage-freezing-containers-12pk/-/A-10697113?

@elsie42 If BFing is going fine, I'd introduce a bottle around 4 weeks. We had to introduce a bottle early on because of latch issues. Some people say that your H or parent should introduce the first bottle, because the LO will get angry with you / want to nurse instead.  I never had an issue giving DS a bottle.  As long as you start with a slow flow nipple, you should be okay with most bottles. Some people claim that certain bottles mimic a breast more, but I'm not sure how much I buy into that. It really is trial and error.

MoonOverGoldsboro

@elsie42 Type of bottle varies by baby, but no matter what kind you use, use the slowest flow nipple and paced bottle feeding (google for some good YouTube videos). That means the baby still has to work at the bottle and won’t get used to the much faster, easier flow of a bottle. Some babies switch happily between bottle and breast, but I have seen many nursing relationships damaged (including my own) because babies get frustrated at the breast once they get accustomed to the free-flowin’ bottle. Again, may not be a problem for your babe, but until you know, I’d recommend the paced approach.

elsie42

Thanks for the advice @sunshineandwhiskey @marcus7676 @MoonOverGoldsboro! I'm sorry it was such a struggle for you sunshine. I've heard other moms say they had that issue as well. I guess we'll just have to see what works for us when baby comes.