Bottle Feeding Mamas

[sleepymonkey]

So I'm 90% sure we're end up formula feeding baby boy like we did DD. Even if we do end up BF, it is important for me to for him to take a bottle. For those bottle feeding, especially STM+, are you planning on just getting one type of bottle or are you going to have a few options right from the start and see what works best? With DD, we tried a bunch of different ones before settling on the Playtex nurser (she did well with it and I liked the ease of cleaning). I would like this LO to use the same but I don't know if I should also have a few other kinds in case he doesn't like them or they cause him issues. I know I probably am overthinking this but that's what I do.

[BabyStandish]

DS refused the bottle after 4 months so we have about 5 or so different bottles on hand that we plan on using and finding out which one baby prefers. I think it's better to have a few options. I forget exactly which ones we have, I know we have medela, advent, mami, dr. Browns, maybe a couple others. We are definitely going to work harder with the bottles this time around because that sucked.

[emmalynn]

We didn't use bottles much, but we bought one and then once she was good with it we bought more of that kind.

I would see if you can buy a couple of different kinds to get started to see what baby takes to. Otherwise you can see if friends have old bottles you can borrow to experiment with. Hopefully you won't have a picky kid and you can just use whatever bottle you prefer.

I've been seeing ads for a bottle that has a compartment for formula built in, so you can have both the water and formula ready to go and then just push a button to mix. I thought those were pretty cool

[jennyelf]

We still have the variety of bottles from the first round, plus enough of our friends have other bottle types, I'm sure we'll find something that works. I'll be returning to work full time at 9-12 weeks, so kiddo's getting a bottle somehow!

[elmo1414]

We used the advent natural that the nurse recommended with DD and then used the same with ds. As a side note both were able to easily switch between these bottles and the breast. I just had no supply at all and eventually went to exclusively formula.
With twins this time I am anticipating just using formula and already have a stash of advent bottles that I am hoping to use. Just going to get some new nipples.

[hpnegirl]

Get a starter pack for a couple different kinds. With DS1, he would take some of them, didn't care for others, and a few of those he took let so much air in they just plain wouldn't work for my gassy baby.

This time around we have all the ones we tried except the ones we used for the majority (after a year, I felt it was time to toss them). I'll be buying a new pack of those.

I preferred avent of all the bottles we tried (what we used). DS would take dr Brown's, playtex, and avent until we moved to the next level nipples. He then would only be content with the avent ones so we stuck with those. I preferred that system since it also has sippy cup nipples you can use on the bottles. I credit that for helping us lose the bottles and pacifier by a year. While we have all the others, I think we may just try going straight to the avent system this time around

[hpnegirl]

A note to anyone with the avent classic bottles: they're no longer made and finding the nipples was a PITA back in 2015... they have the classic+ out now but the nipples weren't compatible at the time, though they may have fixed that issue now (doubtful). I don't think they changed the natural at all though I don't have experience with those

[sleepymonkey]

Thanks, ladies! DD wasn't too picky, although some of them seemed to cause her more gas (she was a very gassy baby). I just hated the ones with a bunch of different parts to wash so when we found the Playtex drop-ins and she took well to them, we were sold. We got rid of all the bottles she didn't use pretty quickly and still have some of the Playtex, though I think I may just throw them out since they're over 3 years old and well used. I think we'll probably try to start with the Playtex again but have a few more on hand in case he doesn't do well with them.

[shandorfml2]

We used playtex air vent bottles for DS never used anything else. Will be using them for this one as well! I did change the nipples (slow flow, medium then fast) as he grew.

[PirateCat]

How many bottles do I need? I plan to breastfeed but will need bottles when I go back to work at least.

[hpnegirl]

Jan 25, 2017 10:49:26 GMT -5 PirateCat said:

How many bottles do I need? I plan to breastfeed but will need bottles when I go back to work at least.

4-5, id think?

For my completely bottle fed baby, I know we went through an average of 10-12 as a newborn, 8-10 until 4ish months, and then settled into 6-8 for the remainder as he took more with each feeding, but we also put the unused stuff back into the fridge since it was never warmed

[lastkiss]

We used the Playtex nursers with DS too and loved them. Hopefully these ones will like them too.

We do have another set of bottle, I think Advent, because DH forgot to pack the liners for the nursers when we went to the DR when DS was 14 months. DS hated those bottles so he didn't get much milk for a week. Moral of the story: double check you have liners if you're leaving the country!

[chknma]

I was just complaining to DH about bottles last night....well about washing bottles

We tried a few for both before we found the best fit

DD1 born free
DD2 lansinoh momma

I try to avoid bottles with too many pieces- dr browns, born free unless really needed.

I remember there were a few hat took different brand nipples so you could try different nipples before committing to a whole system, but it's been 3 years and my brain is too tired to remember

[jennyelf]

Jan 25, 2017 10:49:26 GMT -5 PirateCat said:

How many bottles do I need? I plan to breastfeed but will need bottles when I go back to work at least.

Depends how often you want to wash and if you are also collecting breastmilk. 

At daycare, kiddo went through 4-6 bottles a day (we only filled them 2-3oz because if he didn't finish the bottle in an hour, DC had to toss it and I wanted to minimize wasted breastmilk). So we had about 20 bottles so we could throw 3 days worth in the dishwasher at a time and still have enough bottles the next morning. Fortunately kiddo liked the evenflo bottles which are ridiculously cheap. I also had 10 collection bottles for breastmilk (I needed 4 a day). 

[nikonine]

We have a variety of small bottles and there were certain ones that worked better for DD but she had pretty bad reflux and we ended up using Dr. Browns pretty successfully. It's nice to try different ones out to see what works best though. We only had 3 bottles because I didn't want to have a boatload of them floating around- we just handwashed them as needed and at the end of each day.

[loubug]

With DD it wasn't the kind of bottle that made a difference. She was breastfed for 2 months so I picked one that said it mimicked nursing. She still fought eating until we figured out it had to be warm for her to eat. Once I warmed her bottles, she would take a bottle easily and quickly. If I went out and it wasn't warm enough for her, she wouldn't eat it. People liked to comment,"oh I just didn't warm bottles for my LO so they wouldn't expect it" or some comment along those lines . But DD refused to drink anything room temperature or cooler so if I wanted her to eat, it had to be warmed. Turns out most places have a microwave somewhere so I got good at asking to go into break rooms  .

[hpnegirl]

loubug I think that's actually common for babies that are BF- they don't want the cold stuff. They had the warm stuff, why would they want it cold? (Hopefully that doesn't come out/off the wrong way)

DS1 never had anything warmer than room temp formula so he didn't know the difference. I'm pretty sure that if he'd had warmed bottles from the start, he wouldn't have taken them from the fridge. He wouldn't even take room temp after a while because he'd gotten so used to drinking cold formula. My aunt BF for a while at the beginning and always had to warm up her DD's bottles once she weaned.

[lupincat]

I haven't read the whole thread yet but we used the Tommee Tippee when we started supplementing at birth and luckily DS took them just fine.

[sleepymonkey]

loubug, DD was ok with room temp bottles but would not drink it cold. She would spit it out and cry until it was warmed. Even now, at 3, she's not a fan of cold milk and prefers it warmed.

[setsuna17]

Omg DD was the worst eater. Finally she would eat out of the Playtex drop in ones but it had to be with an old school brown rubber nipple. They were such a pain to find! For little boy, I'm slowly collecting different types of starter bottles to see what he'll take. I learned the hard way that buying all the same kind of one bottle means your kid won't drink out of it.

I also never gave her warm bottles because I wanted her to get used to room temp stuff.

I am really fascinated by the new nuk ones that have multiple holes in the nipple like the breast.

[BabyStandish]

setsuna17 I just looked at those nuk ones after you mentioned them. I'm thinking we are going to have to try those too. They look pretty cool.

[loubug]

Jan 25, 2017 12:22:47 GMT -5 sleepymonkey said:

loubug , DD was ok with room temp bottles but would not drink it cold. She would spit it out and cry until it was warmed. Even now, at 3, she's not a fan of cold milk and prefers it warmed.

Turns out DD has no problem with cold milk or water now. When we first tried cups and solid food at 6 months-she looked at me like I was crazy and wouldn't take anything but formula till 9 months. I'm thinking she is never going to eat or use a cup. Well, the month she turned 1 she decided she loved real food sippy cups of all kinds. She eats all day now, almost anything I give her and will drink any temperature liquid. Happened in a week's time and she was done with bottles. 

Kids are crazy. I thought, I've had one so I know what to do. Nope, still felt like I had no clue. 

But I forgot to add what bottle we used: Phillips Avent Natural Glass Bottles. Loved having them glass because they held up better to my frequent washing. DS plastic bottles got so dingy looking so quickly and made me feel like they weren't getting clean (even if that wasn't true.) The glass held up great to being put in the dishwasher every night. 

[sleepymonkey]

loubug, DD was really easy to get off bottles and she actually took to straw cups long before she could figure out a sippy (I know most kids is the other way around). But she still wants her milk warmed up and she prefers other drinks to be room temp, though she will drink them cold if she has to. Chocolate milk is the only drink she will drink any way she can get it (and she doesn't get it often.) Kids are so strange.

[PirateCat]

loubug, I was eyeing the Avent glass ones. Glad to hear you like them!

[katie0919]

Jan 25, 2017 9:51:25 GMT -5 sleepymonkey said:

So I'm 90% sure we're end up formula feeding baby boy like we did DD. Even if we do end up BF, it is important for me to for him to take a bottle. For those bottle feeding, especially STM+, are you planning on just getting one type of bottle or are you going to have a few options right from the start and see what works best? With DD, we tried a bunch of different ones before settling on the Playtex nurser (she did well with it and I liked the ease of cleaning). I would like this LO to use the same but I don't know if I should also have a few other kinds in case he doesn't like them or they cause him issues. I know I probably am overthinking this but that's what I do.

My DS#1 used the Playtex nurser and I LOVED it, so I went ahead and bought the same for DS#2...well, he wouldn't take it. AT ALL. However, that being said, I nursed DS#2 (DS#1 never took to nursing - he was a "lazy" nurser so he wasn't gaining the weight he needed being straight on the boob, so I exclusively pumped with him for a year).

So, anyway, DS#2 loved the boob so when I tried a bottle when he was like maybe 10 weeks old - it didn't go well and I had to go back to work when he was 12 weeks so I stressed big time. I think we tried 7 or 8 different bottles before he finally took the Lansinoh Momma. What I love about that bottle is it's just as easy to clean as the nursers. There are no bags, but it was still just 3 parts: nipple, ring, bottle. I couldn't recommend that bottle more. I loved it, and hope DS3 will take it also (or the nurser, but I will try the MOmma first). Since you are going straight to bottle, baby *should* be easier to train on any bottle...but I wold prob have 2-3 available just in case. 

[katie0919]

Jan 25, 2017 10:49:26 GMT -5 PirateCat said:

How many bottles do I need? I plan to breastfeed but will need bottles when I go back to work at least.

Don't get too many until your babe gets here and she settles on one...then you can purchase more. I like to have at least 2 days worth of daycare bottles on hand (3 bottles a day at daycare - and actually I think it was more like 4 bottles at first, when they were little and bottles were smaller/more often). So, I pumped at work and on my three pump breaks, and I just filled up three bottles and put the lids on, and so those were ready for daycare the next day. I would pack up my pump bag that night with the remaining 3 clean bottles. But I actually probably had 8-9 on hand. It's just easier the more you have. In case dishwashers don't get turned on, you need a couple extras throughout the day, etc.

[icedtea]

This thread is useful. I've given basically no thoughts to bottles—largely because we're getting the Kiinde system, but also because they intimidate the hell out of me.

[river]

Thank you for this thread! It's super helpful - I'd already registered for a couple different types, but seeing some of the recommendations helped me focus.

[cubbiebear325]

We used Dr. Brown's bottles for daycare. We tried a few different ones and DD by far did best with those. We had 16 I believe? Though I was silly and got 8-4oz and 8-8oz which is pointless, you can put 2 oz in an 8 oz bottle. We hand washed and set on drying rack every night after daycare. Hoping this kiddo likes the Dr. Brown as well. They are a PITA to clean with all the parts but really nice for decreasing gassiness!

[icedtea]

I registered for the doc brown's starter set. I am hoping I can start there and see. Glad to hear they're helpful!