seperate bottles for pump in style?

[littleme2]

Hi, I'll be going back to work 6 weeks after the baby is born and I am planning on getting the Pump-In-Style. Do I need to buy bottles and if so, what kind and what size? How many do you think I'll need? I work about 70-80 hours a week so I'll be pretty busy. I know bottles depend on what the baby likes but should I get bottles or the bottles with the disposable bags?

When using the pump, do you pump into the bottle or disposable bags?

Also, do I need to get a sterilizer? I thought everything would go in the dishwasher.

As you can tell, I will be a first time mom and I don't know anyone who has a baby so I'm pretty clueless.

Thanks in advance.
Meenu

[Rachels]

I like to store milk in the Evenflo storage bottles rather than bags, but if you use bags, the Gerber ziploc ones are best, I think. It's easier to pump into a bottle than a bag. You can just transfer the milk to whatever bottles your baby prefers. Also, Gerber nipples fit on the Evenflo and Medela bottles. As for sterilizers, I like having one. Often I need to quicky sterilize somethiing but don't want to run a whole dishwasher cycle.

Wow. That's a TON of work hours. Any chance you can cut back a bit?

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[sntm]

(snicker) 70-80 hrs is our new "restricted" work schedule! gotta love medicine...

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03

[Zansu]

I bought extras of both the Medela bottles and the Gerber bottles.

I have 12 Medela bottles, which allows me to have 2 bottles per day to take to work and have 2 extra bottles to take up room in the bottle bag and be available if I have to pump twice. That way, I only have to wash bottles once a week.

When I pump at home, I pump into the Gerber bottles. They work well with the PIS horns.

DS uses Nuk latex nipples. The Medela bottles come with Nuk silicone (which I gave to a friend) and I just toss the Gerber nipples. I've also ordered additional rings and bought enough nipples so I can get through a workweek without washing.

I've also labeled each lid with a day of the week so I can immediately tell how long EBM has been in the refrigerator.

If you're Q4 and your spouse/SO is unclear on the use of a bottle brush, you may want to get enough bottles/nipples/rings/caps to last through several call shifts.

HTH
Suzanne
W&P for Benjamin 5/1/02

[nola]

I bought a bunch of Avent 4oz bottles off of ebay (after I had purchased a few as trials). Someone was selling about 10 or more of them with the size 1 (newborn) nipples and all the other accessories. People will say it was an overkill. I say it was great throwing the bottles in the bucket next to the sink and pulling out fresh ones for the next day. Every now and then I do a massive washing. I think with the hours you are working, etc, you should buy plenty of bottles, nipples, caps, and so forth so that the hardware does not become an issue for you. You deserve it and you can always sell them on ebay when your tour is over.
I don't sterlize. I just soak and wash in hot soapy water (use rubber gloves so your hands don't get burned) and hot rinse very carefully.
At six weeks my baby drank about three 4oz bottles. I expressed my milk about 3-4 times in an 8hr day.
I have an adapter that allows the avent bottle to screw directly on to the PIS horn. The other side I use a medela bottle. I dump the milk from the medula into the avent and stick it in the fridge at work. The medela bottle and the other hardware gets rinsed and air dries for the next session.
Now that she is growing out of the 4oz bottles, I am trying the 8oz Avent disposables. It is nice not needing the bottle brush, but the bags volume is not as accurate. I have had trouble with the liners leaking sometimes, but I am trying another liner brand (target brand liners leaked quite often). The nice thing about these bottles is that you would not need to buy a new set, as I have, when the baby grows out of the 4oz.
Good luck and I hope you stay with the milk expression thing.

[kransden]

I bought extra evenflo bottles at Target. They are interchangable with the Medela ones. I find it easier to pump into a bottle at work. If I am going to freeze the milk then I pour it into the bags with a funnel. The medela bags don't seal so I am not thrilled with them.

Karin