Let’s kick things off with bottles!
What brands did you love? Did you hate? Did hand/dishwasher washing make a difference? How many did you need? What flow rate for nipples? Did the number of parts to assemble make a difference? If you pumped, was a particular brand easier than others? What size bottle? Did you receive advice from a reputable source about ergonomics or anything else specifically related to bottle drinking? Is there a question I’m forgetting that is relevant?
FTMs: when you look at bottles, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away.
I recommend leaving products designed to wash, dry, or sanitize bottles for another week. Also, let’s avoid getting too sidetracked into breast vs bottle; most babies will drink from a bottle and most mothers will need this knowledge at some point even if primarily breastfed.
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize):
https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requestsAll product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the top of the page to find previous threads.
Re: Product Spotlight: Bottles
We then tried Dr Brown’s Natural Flow 4 oz bottles, designed to reduce colic. DD didn’t really care, I found it difficult to determine how much she had eaten (a major concern), DH never figured out how to assemble the six parts (including cap; parts were often lost), impossible to wash by hand without multiple sizes of bottle brush. The 8 oz version was even harder to clean. We liked that it had ultrapreemie and preemie flow rate nipples.
We sampled Tommee Tippee: DD was meh, the wide mouth made for easier hand washing, the molded plastic was a little odd.
We sampled Avent 4 oz but I don’t remember anything notable.
We settled on Comotomo 5oz , which DD and I LOVE. Flexible nipple and flexible cup made of silicone are supposed to mimic the breast, super simple for DH to assemble (3 pieces plus a cap that we never use). Wide mouth allows for easy hand washing. There’s also an 8 oz version that at 16 months we haven’t yet used. There are three nipple flow rates, but because we nurse, we’ve stuck to the low flow rate and been perfectly happy with it. Leakage basically only happens when the bottle is upside down and being sat on (position plus pressure). Expensive and difficult to find in stores, but since we don’t have a dishwasher, we just wash them immediately after use and only have three, and ordered off Amazon.
This is time I’m excited about trying Comotomo bottles!
We had about six on hand for a single day, washing them twice.
I'm going to wait for this little one before I buy a days supply of bottles and maybe breast feeding will go better this time.
I do have the adaptor to pump straight into the bottles with my Medela pump. However I didn’t find it very convenient so I didn’t use the adaptor much.
Also I’m mainly a stay at home breastfeeding mom. I started introducing the bottle around 4 weeks and neither of my children had problems nipple confusion.
My biggest advice for new moms when it comes to bottles though is to buy just one or two different styles and find out which your kiddo will take before committing to a brand! You don't want to end up with five bottles of one type that your baby refuses to take. Fyi, Amazon/Target registries both send sample bottles in their "welcome boxes," when you do a baby registry.
We originally started with Munchin Latch System. The blue vents under the bottle started leaking and I ended up having to throw out an entire starter kit.
If anyone decides to go with Dr. Brown, I highly recommend getting the Boone drying rack and an attachment that stands on it so you can hook various bottle parts on it. And really, that goes for anyone with a bottle!
We did combo breastfeeding/formula and DS didn’t have any issues with confusion or latching (even with a lip and tongue tie that was not diagnosed).
For the formula or supplementing moms I highly recommend a formula pitcher/mixer. It saved so much time and headaches when we found that. It could make a days worth of formula (24 hour in fridge max) and we wouldn’t have to think about it again. Pour and go! Even if I was tired I wouldn’t have to worry about measuring incorrectly.
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
At first we only hand washed but after 6 months or so we went to the dishwasher. The hooked up directly to the spectra for pumping so it was super easy.
DD was not fussy about bottles so we never had to switch. We did try dr brown bottles for a while bc she was such a spitty baby but I HATED them. They were a pain to clean! So I would only get something like that if you HAVE to.
BFP: 8/11/18 Due: 4/26/18
That being said, once the MAMs got him used to taking a bottle he would drink out of everything. Now more often than not I just put the Medela nipple on the storage bottles (by some miracle we're still breastfeeding at 9+ months so that's what I'm storing pumped milk in) - he takes that just fine.
I put everything in the dishwasher because it's just so much more manageable. I have a little bin that holds the parts and I just run it once every day or two.
I was always told not to buy or register for a ton of bottles ahead of time and I think this was good advice. One or two of a few different ones is plenty, because you never know what baby will prefer. Plus as you register and sign up for things you sometimes get samples.
+1 for getting a Boon drying rack
+1 for a dishwasher basket for parts/nipples
+1 for not buying too many at first till you figure out what baby likes
I was eyeing the comotomo, so I'm glad to see a few positive reviews here for it!
Anyway, I am really interested in the glass nuk bottles. And think I want to get a few of those for in the house. And maybe a plastic one for on the road.
+1 for the boon rack, love the tree and flower parts.
+1 for the dishwasher rack thingy. We washed pacifiers and teething toys with it too.
i used the medela advanced w/ a hands-free pumping bra. it worked fine, i just absolutely hated pumping. i had the largest shields and while it made it slightly less uncomfortable, every pumping session was dreadful. b/c i was a SAHM for the first year, i didn’t have to maintain a terribly large freezer stash, so i basically quit pumping altogether after about 6mo.
but i’m working now, and will need a good system. i’m kinda stressing over the logistics of it all. has anyone given any thought to the willow pump? since there isn’t much i have to buy for this baby, i am resolved on investing in it. it looks promising!
ETA: SHIT! sorry, guys, wrong thread 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Eta: do we need to sanitize? One source: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/ask-well-how-to-clean-baby-bottles/
Hiw is many bottles do you need if you are breast feeding vs. formula? I’m going to go for the como tomo bottles but was wondering how many I need and what size.
thanks!
I would also if you are buying the ComoTomo bottles, don't open and clean them all until you know baby will drink from that type of bottle. Some babies are super picky and you may have to experiment until you find what works. We were lucky that DS would take basically whatever, but my niece for example would only take one specific type.
SAHM, mostly breastfed but we had to supplement with formula because DD had rickets (third tri placenta passes a lot of calcium to baby, and we missed third tri entirely) so also used expressed BM/formula in comotomo bottles.
We had three bottles for 2-3 bottle feeds/day, and washed them promptly afterwards, so probably only 1 or 2 were used on a daily basis. It’s important that we had the extras when we were out for a while, if someone was babysitting, or if one got yuck (thrown on the ground/lost in the car).
in other words, you don’t need many if EBF, but you should have some - I’d say minimum 3.