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FF bottle advice, please?
Hey MoMs! So i'm trying to figure out exactly what all we will need to make feeding easier.I will be formula feeding but I'm going to try and BF while in the hospital, it's just hard for me to sit and feed when I have 2 (3) other kids running around. Any advice for making the bottles or for the whole set up situation, would be great. Thanks Ladies 
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Re: FF bottle advice, please?
My twins were on 2 different formulas + BM fortified. So we bought 3 Dr. Brown Mixing Pitchers. The pitchers are expensive, so if you can find 2nd hand, grab them.
We would make as much formula as they would eat in 24 hours and have it ready to go in the pitcher until they were ready to eat. Then we would pour into bottles as needed.
We bought 9 - 4 oz. Evenflo Classic bottles to keep in rotation and just hand washed them all. We kept a big jug of dishwashing soap on the counter by the sink. We bought bottle brushes and nipple brushes and kept them right in the dish pan. We bought a multilevel drying rack and a drying board to set it on. We dedicated one part of our counter to just bottles. We used the plastic hospital tub to wash the bottles as I did not have a dish pan.
Because the bottles were in constant use, we found it easier to hand wash throughout the day instead of running the dishwasher once a day. Then we would have needed more bottles.
We make bottles as we go. We found it much easier than making picthers. Fill the bottles with water, add formula and shake. The bottles go in the dishwasher after the feed. It is pretty much no fuss. We have 24 bottles and in the beginning ran the dishwasher once a day. Now, we run it every other day.
When we are alone we feed in bouncers or in newborn infant boppies. We sit on the floor in front of the couch using the couch as a backrest and the babies face us. It works great.
I wanted to add that we had to make special formulations of the formula and BM. We could not simply follow the directions on the can. The kids needed a higher calorie count because they were preemies.
Maybe if we could have followed the directions on the can, than it would have been easier to make bottles as needed. But for our situation, it was easier to make pitchers in the special concentrations needed and then pour the bottles on demand.
Oh, we had a big roll of masking tape and Sharpie pens to mark each pitcher with which formula it was and date/time it was made so we could keep track of everything.
My guys were on two different formulas for awhile. As well as some breast milk.
I used Playtex Ventaires and use the rings to color code for each kid/formula. I use the Dr. Brown pitcher to mix up a batch and pour bottles as needed. And no, I never heat them up. They like it cold. And switching to milk will hopefully, be a little bit easier since they are used to cold bottles.
Before the girls were born I bought a case of two ounce ready to feed bottles that you just screw a nipple on. It was great b/c we were just supplementing at that point and their formula intake was sporadic. Once we finished those we moved to powdered formula and I started weaning at 6 weeks.
Now we use a Brita pitcher filled with water and mix four ounce bottles as needed. I have a two ounce bottle I got in the hospital from the breast pump if they need extra. During the day I just pour water and mix as we go. At night I set out all the bottles we need filled with water and then mix as they wake up. So we have formula in the kitchen and the girls room. I handwash the bottles mostly. I took home a plastic bin from the hospital that I throw the bottles in and soak in warm soapy water, when it's full I use a bottle brush (that I also got at the hospital) and clean and rinse them and put them on a bottle rack to dry. It works pretty well.
ETA: they drink room temp bottles. I did buy a First Years bottle warmer for $15 on Amazon and use that if for some reason I stuck a bottle in the fridge. If they are particularly fussy at night I might heat their last bottle too.
We made bottles once a day in a Rubbermaid mixing pitcher and pre-filled the bottles and usually had a bottle with some extra for if they still seemed hungry after finishing. We did heat bottles and it wasn't that big of a PITA although if I had to do it again, I'd only heat to room temp, rather than warm at first.
We had enough bottles to get through a full day of feedings (so at least 16 bottles but I think we had 18) and ran the dishwasher once a day. It was easy to make a pitcher, portion it out and have it in the fridge, ready to go.