Baby Bottles...again!

[daisy1234]

Hi...new mom thinking ahead! I am planning on breastfeeding and then pumping for when I go back to work at 12 weeks. I have read many of the bottle suggestions and it is very overwhelming when I have went shopping and browsed through the bottle sections!

To start out with what and how many should I by???

If I go with Advent should I just buy a few 4 oz reuseables to start...how many is good to start with. Is it worth buying one of those starter kits or should I purchase what I need separately. We hope to introduce a bottle with breast milk around 4-5 weeks. Thank you!

[suzska]

I (personally) think that what size and how many you buy are a matter of personal preference (which kind you use will partly be baby's preference). Some people will say not to but the smaller sized bottles at all, since you will eventually need the bigger bottles anyway. I personally liked the "feel" of the smaller bottles (although I'm using Gerber--but the idea's the same) when I could use them. As for number, once I found something that worked (I only bought one of each brand before then to try), I ended up buying a dozen (yes, a dozen--maybe overkill, but I have my reasons; Gerber's are a lot cheaper than Avent, so I bought four 3-packs or two 6-packs--I can't remember what Target carried for the bigger size). Since my son takes 6 bottles a day, this allows me to wash between 10 and 12 at a time in the dishwasher, and fill them with formula if I want ahead of time (since the formula is "good" for 48 hours, that's 12 bottles). But then I'm pretty lazy. :-) How many you buy partly depends on how often you want to clean them, or in your case how often you might be giving a bottle instead of BF. Oh, now I partly remember how I arrived at 12 instead of 6: I have an Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer (which I really like, BTW) which holds 4 bottles (of any brand); the bottles are sold in packs of 3; the nipples are sold in packs of 2. What's the lowest common denominator of those 3 numbers? 12! So before I started just putting everything in the dishwasher, I would rinse, sterilize, and prepare after every 4 bottles. Now I remember! And the idea of doing 4 bottles and then 2 bottles bothered me somehow.

Good luck, regardless,

--Sue B.
SAHM to Evan Jeffrey 03-11-01

[daisy1234]

Thank you Sue! That is very helpful!

Laura

[kbalchus]

Hi :)! I used Avent with my son and they worked well. I would suggest buying one of the starter kits (the Infant Feeding Set, I think it was called, and was about $20)--at least where I am, it was cheaper than buying the bottles individually. And I liked having both the small and larger sizes.

As long as you're planning on using bottles eventually, I would suggest having them on hand for the birth--I had some difficulty getting my son to latch on and needed to pump earlier than I had expected (I kept working on getting him to nurse also). So at two days postpartum, I was wandering the local Target...would have been much easier if I had everything ready!

Kristen

[mpitman]

My personal feeling is that Avent is not worth the money. In comparison they are expensive. I went with the Playtex disposables - which I realize buying liners ins't cheap either, but you are sure you are getting a sterile environment everytime. Also you can push all of the air out of the bottle so that they are getting pull of milk not air. Also, you can freeze your breast milk right in the bags.
They have such a variety of nipples you should surely be able to find something your baby will like.

[Magda]

Hello. I know this may be kind of late, but if you are planning to put your child in daycare I would buy the smaller bottles.

I work at a nation-wide day care center and our policy is that after a bottle has been heated or been out for one hour the contents have to be disposed of. Sometimes a teacher will heat a bottle and the student will not really be hungry, so you end up wasting a bottle. This is especially true in the beginning when the teacher does not know the baby very well. If this happens a few time it is possible to run short on bottles.

In my opinion, it is really smart to pack smaller portions of extra bottle, than to run out of breastmilk or formula an hour before you pick up your child. (Teachers are not allowed to mix formula or fill bottles in any way at our center either.)

Magda

[Elaine]

We tried Avent but our daughter didn't take to them very well. Lots of dribbling, leaking, etc. I don't know if the flow was just too fast, or if the wide shape just didn't sit well in her mouth, or what. I loved them for cleaning and filling -- so easy -- but it got frustrating for all of us when she was spilling half the bottle out of her mouth!

I tried Playtex Cherubs, which are 6 oz bottles with the more traditional narrow nipple. These were great and my daughter never had a problem with leaking, etc. Now we used Evenflo bottles with either Playtex sensitive-response nipples or Evenflo classic nipples. (They are interchangeable).

You may have to experiment to see what your child likes, so I wouldn't buy more than a few to start.

[Misty1572]

Hi! I know this post is late...but I had to put in my two cents! My DH is three months old and we had a terrible time with bottles. I wasn't prepared because I planned to breastfeed but unfortunately it did not work out. My friends told us to use the Advent bottles so we went overboard and bought about 10 of them. I know many people LOVE thses bottles but they weren't the ones for our DH. She got SO much air from them. She was VERY gassy and feeding was a nightmare. We went through a ton of other bottles ...and switched her formula. We now use the Dr. Brown's bottles and are very happy with them. There are a lot of parts to clean but they are definitely worth it. There are NO bubbles with these bottles and feeding is now fun!!! Of course every child is different. I wish we had just bought one of each bottle to try...now we have all those Avent bottles and no use for them!!! (My friends don't want them because they are all the 4 oz. size!)

[daisy1234]

Misty,
Thanks for your post. I was thinking about buying a few more of the AVENT bottles in case they did work out. If you are not going to use them...would you be interested in selling them? If so please e-mail me.
[email protected].

[opus]

I concur...I bought Avent to start off and found that Dr. Brown's was the way to go. I found the narrow style leaked but the wide style does the trick. My daughter prefers the nipple over Avent, as well.

I had stocked up on the Avent before the baby arrived so, I end up storing my milk in the Avent 4oz bottles. I heat the expressed milk in the Avent bottle warmer (love it) then transfer to the Dr. Brown's to feed. It sounds like a pain, but it's worth it. In the end, I traded the Mylicon drops in when I started using Dr. Brown's!