@EErin86 I used the adapters and pouches for pumping, but never tried the holder and nipples. I’ll have to give those a shot because only washing the pump parts and nipples would be so much better!
@spottedginger I am dreading this as well. MH was a huge help with washing, but also I think having multiple sets of parts and using a microwave steam sterilizer thing (can't remember the name and my friend is borrowing ours right now) each night was a time saver. I also refrigerated my parts in a wet/dry bag between uses at work but I read somewhere that it's no longer recommended to do so? I reeeaaalllyy hope that is not the case.
I'm interested to look into the kiinde system this time @EErin86!
Me: 32 DH: 32 BFP #1: 1/23/2012 DD: Born 9/20/2012 BFP #2: 12/30/2017 DS: Due 9/10/2018
I'm a little put off by it TBH. I think this is a worst case scenario gone wrong and these strict and unrealistic guidelines have been made. I don't plan on making major changes really at this point. I use medela quick clean wipes on my pump parts between sessions, I'll frequently swap out my bottle brush and make an effort to use a separate sponge, but cant guarantee that will happen. But I can 100% guarantee that I won't be using a separate wash basin to clean my bottles and pump parts.
@nlc8424 that seems like a really great way to convince someone not to even attempt pumping. I can’t imagine trying to make all that happen while pumping at work. Besides, it’s not like your nipples and breasts are sterile when you’re nursing. I’m fairly certain that refrigerating pump parts wasn’t recommended when I had DS, but it worked for us and assuming this LO is full term and healthy, I’ll almost certainly do it again.
I'm a little put off by it TBH. I think this is a worst case scenario gone wrong and these strict and unrealistic guidelines have been made. I don't plan on making major changes really at this point. I use medela quick clean wipes on my pump parts between sessions, I'll frequently swap out my bottle brush and make an effort to use a separate sponge, but cant guarantee that will happen. But I can 100% guarantee that I won't be using a separate wash basin to clean my bottles and pump parts.
*spelling
Yeah... That's not going to happen. I'll do my best to keep things clean but that's a level of unrealistic for my household that's reaching a level of down right funny.
So, I do clean out the sink first before washing baby stuff and I do keep separate bottle brushes/sponges and a drying rack that are only for baby stuff.
While I do think the article you shared is pretty unrealistic for a lot of people, I will say some do need to step their game up! I had a nanny-(who lasted for like 2 days before I said hell no) who took the dirty bottles and put them straight in the unwashed sink, squirted a little soap on them (then chastised me for having the wrong kind of soap) and ran some water while she "washed" and rinsed (there was no soaking in hot water involved). Then to me, the real kicker was that she then put the "clean" bottles back on to the counter where all the dirty dishes had been without sanitizing or cleaning it in anyway first!!! Next to other dirty dishes!!!! Are you freaking kidding me!? You don't put the clean bottles on the counter where the raw meat prep dishes from dinner the night before were!!! And for pity's sake there's a freaking dedicated baby bottle drying rack on the other side of the sink where only clean dishes go. How is that not the logical choice? It's even the closer side of the sink! From that point forward I assumed no one understood basic sanitation and explained that when you come in to cook or do dishes in a kitchen that you personally didn't clean first, assume someone rubbed raw chicken on every single surface. Then clean the damn sink and counters!!! Especially when cleaning/prepping bottles for an infant!
It was forever ago but I thought I read from a reliable source that breast milk actually fights off bacteria to an extent. Which is why you can let breast milk sit out longer or put an unfinished bottle in the fridge for later
@spottedginger What about using the dishwasher most of the time and hand-washing/scrubbing once a week? Or maybe a quick rinse-scrub to get off any residue and then sterilize? Sterilizing isn't *too* time-intensive because part of that time is totally hands-off. I don't think I sterilized beyond the very first time though. But it's simple enough to do while you're getting other things ready for the morning, instead of just adding time like hand washing. IDK, I almost always hand washed but I was working less with DD, so I'm still trying to figure out how everything is going to work this time around.
2/13 Blighted ovum, D&C -- 6/13 MC -- 8/14 DD born -- 3/17 MC -- 9/18 DD2 born Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
It was forever ago but I thought I read from a reliable source that breast milk actually fights off bacteria to an extent. Which is why you can let breast milk sit out longer or put an unfinished bottle in the fridge for later
I heard that as well. I used to know someone that swore putting a little BM on small cuts would help them heal faster too. Not sure how true that is though...
@stothi agreed that some people need to step up their game, no doubt. But I commonly wash out my sink anyway and the bottle brush gets used for nothing but sippy cups or bottles. I am lax on the sponge but may change my tune. I'm guessing that these guidelines came out that was based on a sad case where mom didn't have great access to a clean/sanitary place to pump, possibly didn't store milk properly, and then possibly didn't wash parts and bottles well, leading up to an infection. I generally agree that we can't be careful enough with sanitary issues and babies, but I don't wash my bras every single day and they directly touch my nipples which touch the pump shields. So that's an inherent risk.
And yes @EErin86 I believe you're right about breastmilk having antimicrobial properties.
CDC has to have strict guidelines in the event that someone follows them and has an adverse event I suppose.
I want to use glass bottles as well @smsaulino and plan to try the joovy ones as well as avent glass. I wish there were more ways to store frozen milk without plastic, though... but we were going to try the milkies trays, and possibly try pumping directly into the new lanisoh bags, if I'm back at work, down the line. I was also going to get the warmer in case DH has to go from frozen sticks to feeding in a short period of time, or even thawed sticks in a cold fridge bottle. I'm just nervous about the aven't tho, bc I know they may not be as sturdy with quick temperature changes, where the joovy ones are supposed to be able to tolerate that better (but also $$$ considerably more :#)
@BusinessWife I don’t know if this helps but I got a sample of the Boon silicone bottle and it’s pretty rad. Not sure how much money they go for, but it’s an option!
For those of you planning to use glass bottles, if you’re also planning on sending your LO to daycare, make sure your provider is ok with glass. Some aren’t.
@nlc8424 Looking at that makes me want to laugh. I’m fairly certain that would take up every waking hour.
@spottedginger Thank you for asking that about less cleaning time. Hopefully people have tricks for quicker washing. Medela does have a residue remover which is great but smells strongly so I’m not sure a newborn would be okay with it. The separate basin is easy. I use two ziplock disposable Tupperware containers in my sink that I put in the dishwasher (alternating one at a time.)
So I think I've decided to forego the Spectra [pump] bottles in favour of the joovy ppsu ones, just to mainly pump into (with the joovy adapter). And then the joovy glass ones for feeding. But this way whether H grabs a pumping bottle or a feeding bottle, the same rings/nipples will fit. Does this sound like a good plan?
Then I want to mix the pumped milk and pour into the milkies trays. That way we can prep bottles the night before by breaking the sticks into the glass bottles to thaw in the fridge overnight, H can pop in the warmer, boom.
Just wondering how many / what size pumping bottles to get if I'm mostly home, maybe working part-time. It looks like the ones that came with the pump are just the smaller 4/5 oz., so I'm not sure if I should just start with a pair of those? Or go ahead and get four so I have extra? Then I guess I can play by ear and see of my supply lends itself to pumping in the bigger bottles down the road, right?
@BusinessWife anything to simplify life sounds like a great plan to me. I'm not sure how other moms did it, but I would always use frozen milk for Mondays and then fresh the rest of the week, then freeze Fridays supply. Nothing wrong with constantly rotating your supply though!
As far as number of bottles, I found it helpful to have 8 to pump into. So I would bring 4 with me for a day at work pumping 3 times, and then if something happened for whatever reason and they didn't get washed, I had enough for a backup set the next day. Also, I was totally fine with the 5 oz bottles, if I ever had anything extra than that I would stop and switch over to a new bottle. My supply was average, just enough basically.
@nlc8424 Thank you so much! So now at least I won't feel too bad about getting four to start. And then go from there I guess, if I need more. I am hoping I don't have to go back to work full-time outside the home, so I feel like if I were only part-time, then four might be enough? Because I wouldn't necessarily be there all day, or if I were I would have a little more time at home to get them ready for the next shift. Getting all 8 of the joovy ones is going to run me a little over a hundred bucks! :# so maybe better to wait and see how it goes, before I commit to that.
@BusinessWife you could also bring some freezer bags with you in case you pumped extra and needed to pump into the bottles. I know you were hoping to stay away from plastic, but if you just used some freezer bags as a back up plan that shouldn't be too bad.
@BusinessWife I like the joovy bottles a lot. I never pumped into them but those are the only ones we ever used for feeding. I second @nlc8424 - just keep a couple freezer bags or kiinde bags with your spare pump parts in an office drawer or in your pump bag in case of emergency. We did end up using the larger bottles, but because we were supplementing and got to larger oz feeds (bm increases calories over time so you don’t need the same volume increase to get to needed calories like you do with formula).
@BusinessWife We never needed more than the 4 oz bottles for feeding, and that size always worked for me for pumping, so I'd stick with those and only get the bigger ones later on if you find you need them. I used different bottles for pumping and for feeding, too. I brought 4 bottles to work for pumped milk (I was only working part-time last time, too); I had a couple of freezer bags stored in my pumping bag as backup, but I never needed them. I rarely worked 8 hour days at that point, either, so # of pumping sessions might change that a bit. I would pump into 2 bottles, then pour that together into 1. Then next time I'd pump into 2 again. Depending on whether I was doing a 3rd pumping session (usually not), I could combine those and still have 2 bottles to pump into (I'd have to rinse/wash at least one at that point, but that was easy enough).
I always just froze the milk I'd pumped and kept rotating through my stashed supply. I did usually pump some extra, so it made more sense to me to just keep freezing and using the oldest. Plus, I wasn't working every day so it was simpler for me to just get it into the freezer and pull some out when I needed it instead of keeping track of how much I had used and how old it was and all that.
2/13 Blighted ovum, D&C -- 6/13 MC -- 8/14 DD born -- 3/17 MC -- 9/18 DD2 born Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
How many breastmilk storage bag does one need? I registered for 100. Is that too many, not enough, or good enough to get started? I have no idea.
Me: 34 | DH: 33 Married Aug. 2013 TTC #1 Sep. 2016 ***TW***
BFP Jan. 15, 2017; MMC Mar. 4, 2017 at 10w6d BFP Jun. 5, 2017; MMC Aug. 2, 2017 at 11w6d BFP Nov. 20, 2017; ended in CP All the tests. Everything normal except treated for ureaplasma and DH potentially has high DNAF. BFP Dec. 25, 2017; EDD Sep. 5, 2018; DD arrived Aug. 26th My chart: https://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/63f71d
Follow-up question. When you get a breast pump from insurance, I know it comes with all the parts but does it also come with some freezer bags or bottles to pump into?
Follow-up question. When you get a breast pump from insurance, I know it comes with all the parts but does it also come with some freezer bags or bottles to pump into?
If it comes with any it'll be basically samples so like one or 2 bags and 2 small bottles for pumping. At least that's how mine was.
@SkilledSailor my spectra came with two small four or five ounce bottles, just to pump into. But you would still need some other kind of bags or other freezer storage solution for your stash.
Follow-up question. When you get a breast pump from insurance, I know it comes with all the parts but does it also come with some freezer bags or bottles to pump into?
Mine came with two bottles to pump into last time. And I ended up with two freebies from somewhere that also had the flat lids for storing milk (I think they’re Nuk). I think most pumps come with two bottles.
2/13 Blighted ovum, D&C -- 6/13 MC -- 8/14 DD born -- 3/17 MC -- 9/18 DD2 born Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
@SkilledSailor My insurance is so cheap I literally got a PISA in a box. Just the pump, power cord, and one set of tubing/valves. I had to purchase bottles separately (which I had in advance and was so glad I did).
@BusinessWife - We never needed anything larger than the standard 4/5oz Medela bottles. Since you mentioned pumping - breastfed babies won't increase number of ounces consumed like formula fed babies do because breastmilk changes composition as baby gets older to match what they need. Occasionally when DS was really hungry he'd take more than the 4oz I had put in a bottle so we'd supplement a bit from another bottle, but we never needed bigger bottles.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ MMC 8/5/15 at 8 weeks DS born 9/13/16 BFP 1/13/18 - EDD 9/20/18 - It's a boy!
Re: Product Spotlight 4/9: Baby Bottles + Accessories
I'm interested to look into the kiinde system this time @EErin86!
BFP #1: 1/23/2012 DD: Born 9/20/2012
BFP #2: 12/30/2017 DS: Due 9/10/2018
I'm a little put off by it TBH. I think this is a worst case scenario gone wrong and these strict and unrealistic guidelines have been made. I don't plan on making major changes really at this point. I use medela quick clean wipes on my pump parts between sessions, I'll frequently swap out my bottle brush and make an effort to use a separate sponge, but cant guarantee that will happen. But I can 100% guarantee that I won't be using a separate wash basin to clean my bottles and pump parts.
*spelling
I’m fairly certain that refrigerating pump parts wasn’t recommended when I had DS, but it worked for us and assuming this LO is full term and healthy, I’ll almost certainly do it again.
So, I do clean out the sink first before washing baby stuff and I do keep separate bottle brushes/sponges and a drying rack that are only for baby stuff.
While I do think the article you shared is pretty unrealistic for a lot of people, I will say some do need to step their game up! I had a nanny-(who lasted for like 2 days before I said hell no) who took the dirty bottles and put them straight in the unwashed sink, squirted a little soap on them (then chastised me for having the wrong kind of soap) and ran some water while she "washed" and rinsed (there was no soaking in hot water involved). Then to me, the real kicker was that she then put the "clean" bottles back on to the counter where all the dirty dishes had been without sanitizing or cleaning it in anyway first!!! Next to other dirty dishes!!!! Are you freaking kidding me!? You don't put the clean bottles on the counter where the raw meat prep dishes from dinner the night before were!!! And for pity's sake there's a freaking dedicated baby bottle drying rack on the other side of the sink where only clean dishes go. How is that not the logical choice? It's even the closer side of the sink!
From that point forward I assumed no one understood basic sanitation and explained that when you come in to cook or do dishes in a kitchen that you personally didn't clean first, assume someone rubbed raw chicken on every single surface. Then clean the damn sink and counters!!! Especially when cleaning/prepping bottles for an infant!
Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
And yes @EErin86 I believe you're right about breastmilk having antimicrobial properties.
CDC has to have strict guidelines in the event that someone follows them and has an adverse event I suppose.
@spottedginger Thank you for asking that about less cleaning time. Hopefully people have tricks for quicker washing. Medela does have a residue remover which is great but smells strongly so I’m not sure a newborn would be okay with it. The separate basin is easy. I use two ziplock disposable Tupperware containers in my sink that I put in the dishwasher (alternating one at a time.)
Then I want to mix the pumped milk and pour into the milkies trays. That way we can prep bottles the night before by breaking the sticks into the glass bottles to thaw in the fridge overnight, H can pop in the warmer, boom.
Just wondering how many / what size pumping bottles to get if I'm mostly home, maybe working part-time. It looks like the ones that came with the pump are just the smaller 4/5 oz., so I'm not sure if I should just start with a pair of those? Or go ahead and get four so I have extra? Then I guess I can play by ear and see of my supply lends itself to pumping in the bigger bottles down the road, right?
As far as number of bottles, I found it helpful to have 8 to pump into. So I would bring 4 with me for a day at work pumping 3 times, and then if something happened for whatever reason and they didn't get washed, I had enough for a backup set the next day. Also, I was totally fine with the 5 oz bottles, if I ever had anything extra than that I would stop and switch over to a new bottle. My supply was average, just enough basically.
I always just froze the milk I'd pumped and kept rotating through my stashed supply. I did usually pump some extra, so it made more sense to me to just keep freezing and using the oldest. Plus, I wasn't working every day so it was simpler for me to just get it into the freezer and pull some out when I needed it instead of keeping track of how much I had used and how old it was and all that.
Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
Married Aug. 2013
TTC #1 Sep. 2016
***TW***
BFP Jun. 5, 2017; MMC Aug. 2, 2017 at 11w6d
BFP Nov. 20, 2017; ended in CP
All the tests. Everything normal except treated for ureaplasma and DH potentially has high DNAF.
BFP Dec. 25, 2017; EDD Sep. 5, 2018; DD arrived Aug. 26th
My chart: https://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/63f71d
Follow-up question. When you get a breast pump from insurance, I know it comes with all the parts but does it also come with some freezer bags or bottles to pump into?
Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
MMC 8/5/15 at 8 weeks
DS born 9/13/16
BFP 1/13/18 - EDD 9/20/18 - It's a boy!