March 2019 Moms

Product Spotlight: Bottles and Accessories

Bottles, nipples, formula holders, bottle warmers, bottle drying racks, bottle coolers/lunch boxes, etc...
DD1: June '16 DD2: March ‘19 :::: Married since 2011 :::: USN Wife ::::

Re: Product Spotlight: Bottles and Accessories

  • - I love the boon grass drying racks & the tree accessory things

    - we started with tommee tippee bottles because they were widely available and recommended for BFing moms, but I found them to be a pain in the ass to clean 

    - switched to como tomo bottles and loved them (felt good in the hand, baby liked them, super easy to clean, etc). Have even converted some friends and family to them. They are not as widely available as other brands (I got all mine from amazon) and they are quite expensive. I only used the slow flow nipples because I was trying to keep it as close to breast as possible. 

    - we used a kiinde bottle warmer for a while because it was “safe”, but ultimately the cleaning cycles etc were annoying so we went back to hot water in a cup to warm the milk and eventually started heating on the stovetop. 

    Me: 30 DH: 31
    Married: 2012
    BFP #1 Sept 2014, MMC Dec 2014 | BFP #2 May 2015, DD Jan 2016 <3 | BFP #3 May 2017, MC July 2017 | BFP #4 Jan 2018, MC Feb 2018 | BFP #5 July 2018, fingers crossed
  • We used the nuk bottles which my DD liked (as well as the nuk pacifiers). We were lucky in that we never had to buy a bottle warmer.  I breast-fed about 50% of the time and supplemented with formula until around seven months. For the formula, we just use room temperature water and she took it excitedly. If I pumped and had a bottle of breastmilk to give her, she took it right out of the fridge.  Unless you have a picky kid about how they take their food, I would say a bottle warmer is a waste of money
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  • I used medela bottles and their calma nipples because I was pumping with a medela pump. They’re 3 parts but not difficult to clean. DD just took them cold. If your baby will take a cold bottle I highly recommend it! Whatever they don’t eat goes right back in the fridge (as long as it’s still cold) for next time.

    I sent bottles with lids and one nipple to daycare each day and they cleaned it or kept it in the fridge with the bottles and reused it for the next feeding. I recommend getting one for each day of the work week at least.

    I second the boon drying rack and tree. We still use ours. Bonus, it’s great for drying wine glasses!
    DD1: June '16 DD2: March ‘19 :::: Married since 2011 :::: USN Wife ::::
  • Dd was flexible, but we used medela bottles because they fit the pump. Also, I really liked having bottle soap so I didn't worry about residual chemicals.
    BabyName Ticker BabyFetus Ticker
  • We started out trying Tommee Tippee and Avent Naturals. DD would dribble milk everywhere with the TT, so switched to Avent. We had no feeding issues with these bottles and DD was never gassy. I hope this baby likes them too, since we have a nice stash and I just found few packs of brand new nipples clearanced out!

    Since I EPd for a few months, I was doing a lot of washing and sterilizing of bottles and pump parts! I loved Dapple soap because it was plant-based, dye free, and didn't smell funky. I used a microwave steam sterilizer and also loved the steamer sterilizing bags. They were awesome for travel or if you had to go somewhere with the bump. I also loved my Boon drying rack, but I wish I would've bough the bigger size.

    We did not end up using a bottle warmer. I didn't produce enough breast milk to freeze or really stockpile, so a lot of the time, she would just get room temperature breast milk from my last pumping session mixed with formula. We did room temperature nursery water for a while, before just filling up gallons of water from the tap and letting them sit out on the counter. 
  • Here’s a sterilizing hack I just remembered. If you have any microwave safe glass container with a loose fitting lid, like a Pyrex casserole, you can put a half inch of water in it, toss in all the bottles, nipples, pacifiers, pump parts, etc and nuke it for 2 minutes. (Possibly) free sterilizer that you can also use to make dinner!
    DD1: June '16 DD2: March ‘19 :::: Married since 2011 :::: USN Wife ::::
  • I second the Dapple soap and I second (or third?) the Boon drying grass & trees. I didn’t mind seeing the bottles & pacifiers on the counter when they looked so cute. 

    We used Medela bottles with pump at first, and switched to Tommee Tippee as she got older & could take more milk in a feeding. Still have a nice stash & will use w new baby as well, as long as she likes them. 

    I sometimes supplemented with a goat milk formula but could never find a formula container that was small enough to send just one or two powder servings to the sitter. Has anyone found a small formula container that isn’t the size of a portable snack cup? Thanks. 
  • mamakate1616mamakate1616 member
    edited September 2018
    @keikilove my SIL had a bottle shaped thing that held a couple feedings’ worth of formula, which maybe is easier to transport than the round formula storage things. I’ve also seen bottles that have it integrated inside and you can just release it into the water. Those always intrigued me. 

    When we started supplementing at ~11 months DD would absolutely *not* take the powder formula. I was getting frustrated wasting breastmilk trying to ease her into it so we switched to the ready to feed formula. It went so much easier and since we only had to make it about a month it wasn’t too painful in terms of cost.
    Me: 30 DH: 31
    Married: 2012
    BFP #1 Sept 2014, MMC Dec 2014 | BFP #2 May 2015, DD Jan 2016 <3 | BFP #3 May 2017, MC July 2017 | BFP #4 Jan 2018, MC Feb 2018 | BFP #5 July 2018, fingers crossed
  • I started trying to use the medela bottles because they went with my pump, but my daughter turned out to be a huge spitter (both after the breast and the bottle). We found that Dr. Brown bottles helped and we stuck with these. They also come in a very large size, which was good because my giant baby also likes giant bottles. 

    And for me a dedicated sterilizer was worth the money. I would throw everything from my day, including bottles from daycare and my breast pump pieces right in at the end of the day and it was a lifesaver. 
  • So this is probably a terrible question. Do you actually have to sterilize? I just hand washed/ dishwashed everything.  :#
    Me: 30 DH: 31
    Married: 2012
    BFP #1 Sept 2014, MMC Dec 2014 | BFP #2 May 2015, DD Jan 2016 <3 | BFP #3 May 2017, MC July 2017 | BFP #4 Jan 2018, MC Feb 2018 | BFP #5 July 2018, fingers crossed
  • JLaVO888JLaVO888 member
    edited September 2018
    I never sterilized a thing and DD is healthy as can be. 
  • I sterilized occasionally (every other week probably) and we didn’t have problems...
  • @mamakate1616 I counted the dishwasher as sterilization  :D
  • Phew! I’m glad to hear from you ladies lol! 
    Me: 30 DH: 31
    Married: 2012
    BFP #1 Sept 2014, MMC Dec 2014 | BFP #2 May 2015, DD Jan 2016 <3 | BFP #3 May 2017, MC July 2017 | BFP #4 Jan 2018, MC Feb 2018 | BFP #5 July 2018, fingers crossed
  • I didn’t love the Boon Grass, but the bottle tree was great.

    We went through a lot of different bottles because of reflux, exclusive pumping,etc. we tried Dr. Browns, nuk, natursutten, como tomo... Perosnally, I felt like a lot of the bottles that promised to relieve gas pains really didn’t work. We ended up sticking with Natursutten glass bottles.

    I though the bottle warmer was awesome and used it all the time. We also had one for the car which probably wasn’t necessary but super convenient considering how much we traveled.

    For formula, we would use one of those water bottles that keeps beverages hot for 12 hours. We woile bring some warm water and mix the formula when he was ready for a bottle.


  • @mamakate1616 I didn’t have a dishwasher, which is why I was sterilizing. I am not sure it will get as much use now that I am not washing everything by hand...
  • I see a lot of recommendations for the Boon grass/tree drying things. Maybe this is a dumb question, but is there a reason bottles can't just go in our regular dish drying rack?
  • @lucysmom2016 it just keeps them upside down to help drain the water. You could do just a regular drying rack or even just a towel, but with dishwashers a lot of people don’t have them anymore. The little spikes are closer together for all sorts of little things and the little tree is good for pacifiers and bottle nipples too.
    DD1: June '16 DD2: March ‘19 :::: Married since 2011 :::: USN Wife ::::
  • Thanks, @meggyme. That makes sense. We've got pretty limited counter space, so I was planning to do without one of these, and just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I was missing.
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