December 2018 Moms
hkom
member
Product Spotlight 7.9 - FOOD STUFF
hkom
member
How is everyone planning on feeding their baby?
This is a catch-all for all types of feeding techniques (breast, bottle, and combo) and the products that go with (pumps, bottles, storage, cleaning, etc.) and just general insight/advice.
This is the one thing I have been avoiding on my registry because I have absolutely NO idea where to start.
This is a catch-all for all types of feeding techniques (breast, bottle, and combo) and the products that go with (pumps, bottles, storage, cleaning, etc.) and just general insight/advice.
This is the one thing I have been avoiding on my registry because I have absolutely NO idea where to start.
Re: Product Spotlight 7.9 - FOOD STUFF
-What is the threshold (is there one?) for whether or not I need to bother with an automatic pump vs can I survive with a manual pump?
-How many bottles do I need?
-How many different types of bottles should I get to start?
-Are those special bottle drying racks necessary or can I just put them in my existing dish drying rack?
• BF exclusively for 2-3 months, try to build up small freezer stash
• Introduce bottles of breast milk so DH can help with feeding (I have sample bottles from Dr. Brown and Avent)
• Hope to all that is holy that LO likes both or either bottle
• Thrift around for a bottle rack if not already purchased...if our regular bamboo rack was damaged in the move
I really need LO to take to a bottle before six months, because we're moving in June again. I need to travel solo to our next duty station to find housing - just like I did before we moved to Alabama. DH is cool to be a single dad for a few days while I find our next address. If LO doesn't take to a bottle, then I may be forced to travel with him - which will significantly slow down the house hunting.
Dx: Unspecified IF
BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks
BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
I was actually told to ask the LC at the hospital for the manual one to have, so I did and I was not charged extra for it (beyond the ridiculous hospital bill).
My goal is to BF exclusivity for 4 months and then slowly begin introducing cereal and veggies. Then to continue to BF until 1 year (same as what I did with DS).
I just... have no idea how to even begin to have a plan for this.
1. What is the threshold (is there one?) for whether or not I need to bother with an automatic pump vs can I survive with a manual pump? A: This depends on how often you plan to be away from your child, how often you intend to pump, and what you need to be doing when you pump. You can get bras to make pumping hands free. Check to see if your insurance company provides an automatic pump for free.
2. How many bottles do I need? A: Depends on whether you will be exclusively breastfeeding, formula feeding or both and how often you like to wash things. Newborns eat every 2-3 hours. You could wash the same bottle over and over again, but that is not very convenient. I think 6-8 bottles is a good amount to have in rotation.
3. How many different types of bottles should I get to start? A: I say 2-3 different types of bottles to start. You might get some for free in different registry gift packs. From there, Amazon Prime is your BFF.
4. Are those special bottle drying racks necessary or can I just put them in my existing dish drying rack? A: Necessary, no. But I found mine to be very useful because bottle parts are awkwardly shaped and it's nice to have all the bottle parts together when you are tired AF and trying to get a bottle together.
If you plan on breastfeeding but also want to bottle feed on occasion, make sure to get PREMIE bottle nipples. They have the slowest flow and best mimic the pace of breastfeeding.
If you're going to formula feed or supplement, the Dr. Brown's Formula Mixing Pitcher is the best $10 you can spend! You can make a whole day's worth of formula and either store it in the pitcher in the fridge or fill up the bottles to take to day care easily. It mixes the formula in a way to avoid air bubbles to make it gently on baby's stomach. https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Browns-Formula-Mixing-Pitcher/dp/B001I481LM
This was the best soap I found to clean stuck-on breast milk. A little goes a long way. I would throw a few pumps into soapy water and soak my pump parts and bottles in it for a few minutes as needed at the end of the day before washing them. Worked great.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6F2QJC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
My bottles spilled when I traveled with them with nipples and the bottle top on them. These caps prevented spillage (pretty much every kind of bottle has its own version). I would just pop the nipple on it when ready to feed and viola. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BAJNG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@echo-charlietango FWIW I house-hunted when my son was 4 months! We saw four houses, I think, before I made my decision. I just fed him in the realtors van as needed. But I also had a kid who didn’t take bottles, so. That said...
AVOID THIS IF AT ALL POSSIBLE! Force your partner to give a bottle at least once a week, if not more often!
We used the Kiinde system which was fine, easy to pump milk into. But again, my kid didn’t really take bottles so I don’t have a ton of experience. I’m collecting all of the brands and we’ll see what this one decides she wants.
TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
-What is the threshold (is there one?) for whether or not I need to bother with an automatic pump vs can I survive with a manual pump?
Since you're returning to work id strongly recommend an electric. I was a poor responder to the pump and had a lower supply so I was pumping upwards of 25 minutes to get what I needed.
-How many bottles do I need? 6-8 or so, you'll want 4 or so for work for pumping then some at home for feeding.
-How many different types of bottles should I get to start? 1-2. You don't know what baby will take so no need to buy a ton. I got a few for free from registries and with my pump.
-Are those special bottle drying racks necessary or can I just put them in my existing dish drying rack?
you don't need one but I had an additional space for the bottles because I just didn't have enough room with the other dishes (I don't have a dishwasher).
my daughter ate every 3-4 hours until she was 1. I pumped three times at work. I had a battery adapter and car adapter to pump on the go if needed. Unless you have an oversupply you will probably need to pump 3x a day at work if you're gone 7-8 hours. You can pump under a cover so no one sees your goodies. Keeping up your supply can be hard work. I had a tough time and I would feed her when she woke up, pump 3x at work, feed her when I got home and before bed, then pump after she was asleep. It was "free" but it was hard effing work.
Ill introduce a bottle once a week at least to make sure we don't struggle with that transition.
My job is great regarding pumping time so I'm not worried about that stress, I just hope I have more milk this time. I hope to BF until this baby is one but if I can't formula for us.
BUT my SIL, her youngest (2 this month) woke every 3 hours at night until she was 13 months! Which Is not normal, but you can't pick what your baby does lol
2. Start pumping right away and feeding bottles as well, maybe week 2. I wish I would have started pumping sooner so my DH or mom could have fed the baby and given me a chance to sleep. My LO was never picky about bottles. We just used some sample ones we were given and dr. Browns glass bottles since I wasn't a fan of warming up plastic. I bet we only had 4 bottles and that was plenty. I never actually fed my LO from the medela bottles that came with the pump, just used them for storage.
3. I still use our boon drying rack (the one that looks like grass) it was nice to keep LOs stuff all together and small parts of the bottles didn't get lost. I would set pacifiers there as well once I sanitized them.
As as far as bottles, I wanted glass, which narrowed down our options to Dr Brown or Avent. My son ended up having to see an OT who recommended we use the Dr Brown bottles because of the shape of the nipples, but they do have extra parts to clean. How many you need depends on how often you plan to bottle feed. I went back to work when DS was 4 months old and was already getting baby oatmeal and some veggies, so he only took 2 bottles on a typical day and I nursed him in the mornings and evenings.
From 4-6 months his schedule was:
6:15 Nurse
9/9:30 Bottle
11/12 Cereal w/ purée
2/3 Bottle
5/5:30 Nurse
8:30/9 Nurse And cereal w/ purée
I would pump in the car on the way to and from work and twice (3 times, if I was lucky and someone took my class) at work.
As far as the drying rack, we got one as a gift and love it, but they are by no means necessary. It is nice that it hold smaller pump parts, nipples, pacifiers, etc better than a typical dry rack. We still use it to dry regular dishes.
Just because it is aldo feeding related, I would not recommend the baby food makers. Someone gave me a used one, but I found it
much easier to steam a large batch on the stove and blend it in my blender. I could make huge batches this way and freeze it in ice cube trays. I would buy different fruits and veggies each weekend and make several batches of them. That way, he always had variety and we always had enough in the freezer.
I agree with others who said get 2 different kinds of bottles to start with, and see what baby will take. Some are picky, some aren’t.
If you plan to exclusively breastfeed and then return to work, you still want to introduce the bottle early so baby accepts a bottle. Baby may not take a bottle if you are around, so catch some rest or leave the house and let your husband or mother or someone who doesn’t smell like mama give the bottle.
Also, you never know what your supply will be like. Like @Jens_Hoes, I had low supply. For me, this meant I had to pump more frequently and supplement with formula.
Still, pumping 2-3x during a normal 8-9 hour workday is totally standard if you want to maintain your supply. If it’s not feasible to do that, then you are likely to see a (maybe big) decrease in supply, and have to be prepared to supplement with formula. If you can’t pump during the day, it can be feasible to continue breastfeed in the morning and at night, but you would need to supplement with formula during the day and potentially morning/evening as well.
Once you go back to work, baby will be using a lot of bottles, whether it’s breastmilk or formula, plus you’ll have pump parts to wash if you’re pumping. I totally recommend having a separate drying space for bottles and pump parts. Doesn’t need to be a fancy rack that’s marketed for baby bottles, but those bottle parts you want to get clean and then sterilize, so I think a separate space is a really good idea.
Then DS 1 was born and nothing went according to plan. He had to be in the NICU for blood sugar issues and they had to start giving him formula from day one so his body could regulate on it's on. We came up with a new plan to BF and supplement back with formula. It ended up being a good plan because I ended up producing very little milk.
Our schedule was every 3 hours. I'd BF and hand over to DH and he'd bottle feed while I pumped to try and keep my production up. When DH went back to work after a couple of weeks, I dropped some BFing and would pump and feed at the same time except right before bed where I'd BF, pump, and feed. When I went back to work, I'd only BF at night. I'd pump during the day at work and FF during daycare.
Anyway, I'm assuming my milk production won't magically multiply, so our plan is the same this go around.
*Rainbow 8/2015*
*Expected Rainbows 12/2018*
*Loss of Twin 5/2018*
Pump: I had a double electric. I probably could have used a single since I often just did one boob at a time due to feeding off one or having to massage one while I'm trying to pump.
Bottles: I have 2 x 12oz and 6 x 5 oz. Plus I keep 2 at daycare and a couple at my moms. This did me fine since I didn't give bottles at home until we weaned at 14 months. Now I find with a bottle before bed and one during the day I'm constantly washing them but still not a huge deal.
We used the Philips Avent bottles with no issue. I know it's often recommended not to buy too many of one type in case baby doesn't take to that one though. We also did plastic over glass since I like that baby can hold them versus being too heavy.
Other Accessories:
Bottle warmer - some people are against them. I LOVE mine. I still use it daily. I have the Kiinde one. It also defrosts frozen breast milk to the perfect temp and has a timer.
Sterilizer - I invested in a plug in one versus microwave one. I did the boiling thing for a while and got annoyed and invested in one and I love it. It's large before 6 months I did bottles, nipples, pacifiers, etc. Well worth it. It also extends your bottle / nipple life because it's not at a rapid boil for 5 mins (therefore eating away the plastic).
Dry Rack - GET ONE! I got the grass style one. I love it. Even now with sippys and bottles going in the dish washer I still put on the grass to dry after or else I find they get a musty smell. I'm getting a bigger one now with number 2 coming
Milk bags - I bought 2 boxes to pump and freeze. I didn't go through them all since I took 12 month maternity leave so wasn't too worried about a stash. **invest in a sharpie pen to write your dates on the bags since when frozen you'll need to watch the date plus you'll want to include the number of oz as when frozen it's hard to tell how many oz it is.
*NOTE*
- breastfeeding makes you STARVING. Keep snacks next to anywhere you might feed. I was guilty of devouring granola bars and banana bread in the middle of the night in bed while I was awake feeding DS.
- Keep lanolin next to any area you're breast feeding in since your nipples will hurt like a bitch for a while.
- Invest in a good feeding pillow whether your BF or FF. Try some out and decide what works for you. I chose the Jolly jumper and used it for ever. Even H used it when feeding DS a bottle because it was more comfortable for everyone.
As for feeding solids - before you buy anything start considering whether you want to do traditional weaning or baby led weaning. It's a sensitive topic among some so I won't get into it but the supplies you need (ie. baby bullet) will change.
We have lots of time to work on figuring out what we need for this but just mentioning in case anyone put a baby bullet on their registry. I did but didn't take it out of box until I knew what I was doing.
AND if you're making your own baby food, invest in the silicone style trays (like ice cube trays almost!) and freeze. Then pop out and put them in freezer bags with the type of food and date on it. It will save you SO much space compared to the little baby containers that freeze in themselves.
Edit for spelling.
As for bottle warmers, we ended up giving ours away. Since mostly frozen milk was given, it had to be thawed in hot water and was warm before it was poured into the bottle.
Another item you may want to register for are the milk storage bags. Personally, I found the target brand ones most cost effective and easiest to pour from. We never had any leaks with those. I got some medela ones and nuke ones as a gift and I always dropped some milk when pouring, which made me want to cry.
As for your questions:
-What is the threshold (is there one?) for whether or not I need to bother with an automatic pump vs can I survive with a manual pump?
Take the free pump from insurance. I had no luck with a manual but I have friends who had no luck with the automatic and ONLY used the manual. It depends on how your shaped and what your body responds best to.
-How many bottles do I need?
This depends on how often you want to do dishes. I think we had 8 or 12 some small and some large.
-How many different types of bottles should I get to start?
I was super worried about this. I had heard some different babies liked different bottles. I liked the Dr. Browns so bought a big set of those but also registered for the sample packs of 3 or 4 different brands and planned to open them one at a time. I opened the Dr. Browns first and they worked great so I was able to return the rest.
-Are those special bottle drying racks necessary or can I just put them in my existing dish drying rack?
NO! The less clutter the better. If you need something target has a cute little grass drying rack with a little flower that holds the nipples and rings. It small and cute and I don't hate it on the counter. I don't have a drying rack but if I did I may not have even bought that. I try ti avoid things that only have one purpose.
We EBF last time for the first six months (breastfed for 2 years), and hopefully that'll work this time, too. Nonetheless, I had a container of formula sitting around when we started; I never had to open it, but it was a nice security blanket anytime I'd fret that things weren't working to know that I had backup. I'll do the same this time.
Nursing accessories: we didn't really bother with pads because I didn't really leak. Lanolin was a lifesaver (we tried Earth Mama Angel Baby Nipple Butter, but for some reason Maggie would absolutely refuse the breast when I used it). Breast shells to slip in my bra were at least once the only way I was able to tolerate having a shirt on when my nipples cracked. We used a nipple shield a couple times, but had to try a few different sizes before we found the one that fit.
Pumping: I still have my old Medela PISA, but will get a new pump through insurance. If they cover it, I'm hoping to go with a Spectra. I bought the Freemie cups (which can be compatible with the PISA), which were a waste IMO; the suction wasn't as good as with the standard Medela parts, and there was nothing discrete about them. Even if they hadn't been very obviously visible through my shirt (which maybe wouldn't be a problem if you're part of the IBTC), it's not like it does anything to disguise the pump noises. I'll stick to the Lansinoh handsfree pumping bra that I liked last time. I also still have my Lansinoh manual pump, which I found super effective and comfortable (just not practical for pumping at work, since you can only do one boob at a time).
For pumping accessories, I liked the Lansinoh storage bags over the Medela ones. I gave away our microwave sterilizer because I almost never used it; I think my Instant Pot has a sterilize function, so I'm hoping that'll be a nice shortcut. Also, I bought a used Sarah Wells pumping bag from a friend and found it a great investment; stylish and discrete, made setup easy (just unzip the side panel and voila! your pump is right there!) and spacious enough to carry everything I needed to and from work (including a laptop).
For bottles: we have quite an assortment from when Maggie spent a month at daycare not eating (pro tip: don't wait until the last minute before your kid starts daycare to introduce a bottle; nipple confusion is mostly a crock, bottle refusal is very real and very stressful). I'm hoping Marion sticks with the Nuks, just because I have more of those than anything else. I'll only offer Dr. Brown as a last resort, because we don't have a dishwasher and washing all those teeny tiny pieces by hand sounds awful. I liked our Boon countertop grass drying rack, but won't use it this time because our counter space is much more limited.
Post-bottle life: We never used sippy cups because of the potential concerns for oral development; the Munchkin 360 cups (and similar) were AWESOME once we moved past bottles, and it has made the transition to an open cup super smooth.
Solid food introduction: We also never bothered with purees, because lazy. No baby bullets or anything of the kind, just baby-led weaning. Benefits: she's the least picky toddler of all time and eats everything we eat and then some (the only thing she's ever refused at a meal is chili, which is odd because she likes beans, meat, tomatoes and spicy things, but whatever). Drawbacks: we're still very much struggling with getting her to use silverware. If that is the route you go, fair warning that those teeny little baby spoons with the pointed tips that are great for feeding your kid purees are utterly worthless for getting your kid to self-feed; something a little closer to a standard spoon is much preferable. I don't have any book recs, but do suggest an infant CPR class (we never had a problem with choking, but it definitely was peace of mind when she'd gag on something).
I read it cover to cover and found it helpful.
I really appreciate all the benefits and I wanted to do it but when the time came I couldn't handle it. So rather we followed the principles (ie. not waiting 3 days between new foods, giving options, etc) but with purees and worked up to larger pieces pretty fast. DS eats just about everything now and is not picky at all so I really liked the principles applied with traditional weaning for us and I'll probably do the same thing this time around.
I have really bad anxiety and while BLW is supposed to make meal times easier it physically made me sick and I couldn't commit.
Dx: Unspecified IF
BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks
BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
Same goes for formula, especially in baby cereals and such!
AFM I am going to try to breastfeed but if my supply is really low again I will supplement or formula feed. I fully plan on not driving myself crazy with it like I did last time.
Pumps—Agree with using insurance to get the electric pump because it’s more expensive and I think easier for most people. If you end up needing a manual one it’s at least significantly cheaper to buy.
Bottles—As many have said get a couple of types to make sure you have one baby likes. Then, don’t be like me! Return the ones you aren’t using and buy more of the ones you are. I only had about 4 bottles in use for months and it was annoying. Introduce a bottle early even if you’re breastfeeding because if baby doesn’t take one later it becomes an issue. As someone else said, nipple confusion in my experience is pretty much bs.
Just some tips on breastfeeding. I plan to get a little plastic drawer set so I can have a breastfeeding station. Last time I just had stuff on tables and I was constantly looking for what I needed. It’s easier to have one spot where all your creams, snacks, pads, medicine, whatever is going to be.
Breastfeeding made me SO thirsty. As soon as she latched I would need a huge drink of water. I recommend having a water bottle or something always with you for that reason.
I used the angel baby mama nipple cream stuff and it worked ok, but plain old lanolin is thicker and that worked better for me.
Lansinoh makes these soothie gel pads for your nipples. They go in the fridge and then you put them on after feeding. They were a life saver in the beginning for me.
I was also afraid to BLW, though I never understood why it’s controversial. I think it’s just a matter of preference. Choking has always been a huge fear of mine so we started with good old purees. I’m even a lazy SAHM and ended up using the pre-made stuff for the most part. I like when things are easy.
TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
As for solids i did cereal and purees with my first and BLW with my second and I will for sure be doing BLW with this baby because it is one million times easier when you already have kids.