Z had a bad latch when nursing, so any bottles that had nipples designed to be like mom didn’t work. I tried Avent and Tommy Tippee. We eventually when you Dr Browns Options. Yes, washing them sucks. But the long nipple was perfect and the vent helped SO much. I never even had to burp him and he stopped puking and spitting up from air getting down. They were so worth it.
This time I wanna try Smilo. They have a similar nipple and are supposedly designed to be like Dr Browns... minus the ten million parts to wash!
@kiwi2628 Bought the whole starter package plus extra bags with DS. Not a fan. It's not really realistic for most that you'll be able to pump enough milk from one boob into one bag for a whole bottle. So you still end up either having to re-pump into the same bag (iffy with safety mixing milk at different temps) or having to cool and transfer for one bag to another, which defeats the whole purpose. I also didn't like the caps on the bags. They made it so they didn't stack flat on top of each other. Takes up way too much space in the freezer.
Over the weekend, I lost my source for free bottles to pump into. I was going to have to switch to a freezer bag system soon anyway.
So... if thinking exclusively about pumping... what bottles would you recommend?
I’m looking for something that has a cap for travel, and doesn’t have leak problems when traveling. A wide neck that fits Spectra flanges would be a bonus.
I'm wanting to prep all of the bottles (and pacifiers, teething toys etc) by washing them all. Is washing them with soap and water enough? Do I need to bleach them or do anything else? I was thinking of doing a standard "restaurant sanitation": wash (soap/water), rinse, bleach water (and then probably rinse off again).
@sammierose464 I just usually wash all bottles/part, pump parts and pacis with water/soap then sanitize them in boiling water for however long the directions tell me too.
sort of an off-shoot, but our middle two were at an in-home daycare from early on and she switched them both to a sippy cup by 5 months. It just had never crossed my mind to start that early, but it really made for easy transitioning (and was especially great for the one who never took a bottle well anyway). It was like magic for us and i was determined to do the same with our youngest. Turns out i am kind of lazy and did not make it happen quite as early, but still by about 8 months. (I still nursed all of them well past that but found that they switched between that and a cup with zero issues). May not be right for everyone, but it was really great for us. (Man, I miss our sitter...she was the best).
We tried the Dr. Browns with DS1 but no matter what i tried they just leaked like crazy. Even spoke to their customer service on the phone for help. We ended up going with the Avent Classic bottles (I think we had a free one from a registry gift) and haven't looked back since. Both my boys took to them easily and we never moved past the first nipple stage and 5 oz bottle since they were only ever on BM. Super easy to clean and label.
@kiwi2628 it might be a baby personality thing, but we never heated bottles for either of my boys. When they were tiny the nanny would run them under warm water to help loosen up the cream at the top and swirl to combine, but otherwise they were fine with a cooler temp milk.
Somewhat related, but if you're labeling bottles for daycare (or storing pumped milk in the fridge for a few days), a dry-erase marker works really well for label-free marking. It washes off easily, and you aren't constantly replacing labels.
Re: bottle warmers We had them and loved them. DS would take the milk straight from the fridge without issue. However with bm you don't know the content... sometimes that was fine. Other times there was so much fat in the milk not warming it up was a problem. As he got older it was less of an issue and there wasn't so much fat. He switched to straight from the fridge easily with cups.
As for bottles themselves: We loved dr Brown's and didn't feel they were too hard to clean. The older ones were like 5 pieces, so I can understand. But the new options ones are 2 or 3... no issues. Basically get 1 small bottle of 3 or 4 kinds (not more than unless necessary) and see what your baby likes. They really will tell you regardless of your plan.
I hate hate hate Dr. Browns bottles. Too many damn pieces and there are too many places for mold to hide.
Re: washing. We washed in the dishwasher and never had any issues.
As far as temp, we fed room temp or cold bottles. Made it much easier to transition DS to regular milk once he was off of formula. Even for the short amount of time that I was able to pump, he got cold breast milk.
We decided to go with the Avent anti-colic. I have always had stomach issues on and off so i wouldn’t be surprised if baby does too (not sure if it’s actually linked at all but I figure it can’t hurt). I’m planning to wash them in the dishwasher. My friend is giving me a sterilizer for the microwave so I will do that too the first time at least. I do have the dishwasher basket for nipples and small parts so hopefully that will work!
I'm breastfeeding and I always limit the amount of bottles I use because of nipple confusion but the one I've recently found was the joovy boob. And I only purchased 2. I may buy a few more but that's pretty much it.
Re: Product Spotlight: Baby Bottles
This time I wanna try Smilo. They have a similar nipple and are supposedly designed to be like Dr Browns... minus the ten million parts to wash!
Over the weekend, I lost my source for free bottles to pump into. I was going to have to switch to a freezer bag system soon anyway.
So... if thinking exclusively about pumping... what bottles would you recommend?
I’m looking for something that has a cap for travel, and doesn’t have leak problems when traveling. A wide neck that fits Spectra flanges would be a bonus.
May not be right for everyone, but it was really great for us. (Man, I miss our sitter...she was the best).
@sammierose464 I boil them in hot water before using the first time. After that I just wash with soap and hot water.
@kiwi2628 it might be a baby personality thing, but we never heated bottles for either of my boys. When they were tiny the nanny would run them under warm water to help loosen up the cream at the top and swirl to combine, but otherwise they were fine with a cooler temp milk.
We had them and loved them. DS would take the milk straight from the fridge without issue. However with bm you don't know the content... sometimes that was fine. Other times there was so much fat in the milk not warming it up was a problem. As he got older it was less of an issue and there wasn't so much fat. He switched to straight from the fridge easily with cups.
As for bottles themselves:
We loved dr Brown's and didn't feel they were too hard to clean. The older ones were like 5 pieces, so I can understand. But the new options ones are 2 or 3... no issues.
Basically get 1 small bottle of 3 or 4 kinds (not more than unless necessary) and see what your baby likes. They really will tell you regardless of your plan.
Re: washing. We washed in the dishwasher and never had any issues.
As far as temp, we fed room temp or cold bottles. Made it much easier to transition DS to regular milk once he was off of formula. Even for the short amount of time that I was able to pump, he got cold breast milk.