Bottles
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Thought I would chime in, too. I nursed when with my daughter and pumped while working for over a year, so we had lots of fun with bottles! We adored the Tommee Tippee bottles and the Breast Flow bottles worked well, too. The TT bottles cleaned easier and she perferred them. We always used the slow flow nipples though as they are recommended for breastfed babies because the milk flows slowly from the breast, too. My daughter was never able to handle anything more than slow flow.
Kudos to all of you moms that exclusivley pumped!! I pumped only at work and it was quite a commitment and a LOT of cleaning!! We also had nursing isssues in the beginning. My daughter did not latch until 8 weeks and that was only with a lot of determination and weaning from a nipple shield. I was thisclose to pumping exclusively, but I am glad I didn't have to. Mostly because of the cleanup, lol. Well, that and I kind of liked not having to share the feeding duties when I wasn't working. Tired of Aunt so and so holding the baby? Time for a feeding!! hehehe0 -
Well, that and I kind of liked not having to share the feeding duties when I wasn't working. Tired of Aunt so and so holding the baby? Time for a feeding!! hehehe
I completely admit to doing this to my MIL.0 -
Well, that and I kind of liked not having to share the feeding duties when I wasn't working. Tired of Aunt so and so holding the baby? Time for a feeding!! hehehe
I completely admit to doing this to my MIL.
I literally did this to everyone. I think one person made a comment about never being able to feed the baby, so I let them know they could come over while I am at work if it is that important, but otherwise I would be feeding the baby with no exceptions. I kicked into crazy possesive mama bear mode the moment she came out!0 -
I currently breastfeed at night and pump milk for use during the day while I'm at work. The 5oz medela bottles that come with nipples work great for my son and me. He had not problems going from breast to bottle daily. The bottles also fit my breast pump so I can pump milk directly into the bottle.0
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I'm was an EP'er with my first two and will do that with this kid too. I used breast flow with the first son, and then avent classic with the second son. I bought the Avent naturals for this kid when I found them on clearance at target. I try not to buy too many because you never know what your kid will take. My first two sons were not picky and would drink from anything, so I'm hopeful that my daughter is that way as well.0
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Hi All! I was just over at my friends' house for the weekend, and they are engineers from MIT who have two kids and developed a new system for pumping, storing, heating up, and feeding the baby breastmilk. They are really excited about how it is working with their new baby, so I thought I would share it.
Being a first-time expectant mom, I am totally reliant on their explanation of its advantages:
*You pump from any brand pump directly into the "bottle," which is a plastic bag (I didn't ask if it was BPA-free, etc, but you can ask them) that you store in the freezer until you are ready to use. Before this product you would have to pump, then transfer it into a bottle.
*When you are ready to use it, simple screw the nipple onto the bag and put it in the holder. The baby drinks directly from this. You can do all of this with only one hand while you hold the baby.
*They have a breastmilk warmer that does not allow the breastmilk EVER to overheat, with no hotspots or nutrient damage due to overheating. It fits with this system or with any other size/brand bottle.
*The bottle system uses way less parts (I think you only have to wash one or maybe two parts).
* The nipple is a one-way flow (apparently everything else on the market actually dribbles out milk if turned in the wrong direction).
*The baby actually has to work a little to get the milk, just like he/she would at the breast, so the baby won't easily become over-reliant on the bottle.
*The bag is disposable, and priced competitively with other high quality bags.
Right now, only the breastmilk warmer is on the market but the bottle system is being market tested in select stores in about a month, and should be widely available fairly soon after that. The brand for all of these is called "Kiinde," and the breastmilk warmer is called Kozii. The Kozii is on Amazon. You can check out the brand website for updates on the products and contact them there if you are interested in learning more. They gave me a test sample and I'm so excited to try this out when my baby comes!
Dude, this sounds awesome! I remember seeing that Medela has a way to pump directly into storage bags, but if you're not using a Medela pump, you may be SOL on that one. (ETA that my pump is an Avent pump, so oh well, though they do have this http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Avent-10-Storage-Starter/dp/B00018XCS8 - I may pick that up depending on how much pumping I do!)
Also, I would guess your friends' storage bags are BPA-free. All the ones I see for sale nowadays (Medela, Lansinoh, etc) are BPA-free, so it seems to be the market trend.
Here's the Medela one that you can pump right into, but it's made to be compatible with Medela pumps (not sure if it would work with any others): http://www.diapers.com/p/medela-pump-save-breastmilk-bags-with-easy-connect-adapter-50-ct-309625
Frankly, I like the storage bags that you can pour from, like these:
http://www.diapers.com/p/the-first-years-ziploc-brand-milk-storage-bags-25-ct-2-pk-299892
http://www.diapers.com/p/ameda-store-n-pour-getting-started-kit-109010
I stocked up on Lansinoh storage bags last time, which were admittedly messy when I poured into bottles :frown: I gave away some unopened ones as part of a gift basket for a baby shower, so I might have to do that again with the rest! Thankfully it wasn't a big investment, since I bought them in bulk on Amazon.
Tell your friends they need to make Charleston, SC a test market! I have lots of non-MFP friends who are having babies, too, including one here in Charleston who's due a week before I am
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Well, that and I kind of liked not having to share the feeding duties when I wasn't working. Tired of Aunt so and so holding the baby? Time for a feeding!! hehehe
I completely admit to doing this to my MIL.
Oh, TOTALLY, plus it's a great excuse to either kick them out of the room or sequester yourself somewhere else when your in-laws piss you off (as mine so often do). I won't whip out a boob in front of them, sorry, and I don't give a crap how much my MIL wishes I were close enough with her that I would. I wouldn't whip it out in front of my own mother. The only people who'll see me breastfeed without a cover are my husband, my 2-year-old son (because he's too young to care/notice), and my sister, not counting any medical professionals.
Also, I've considered EPing to avoid the frustrations/guilt I had with breastfeeding (though now I'm like, let's be gung-ho on BFing, and EPing is a good fallback assuming I don't have issues producing again), and one of the resources I was checking out gave some good shortcuts to help. One of them was that breastmilk is good for long enough while refrigerated that you can take your pump parts, put them in a Ziploc, and just refrigerate them between pumping sessions (I imagine you get used to cold breast flanges!). All you have to do is clean/sterilize them once a day, which I could totally handle once my older child goes to bed.0 -
Follow-up question for everyone - how did your chosen bottles handle leaks?
Like I said, I used Born Free bottles, which had a million parts to wash, and were supposed to be leak-free. I always had a couple of bottles/parts that leaked (I could never narrow it down to which bottle/part it was because I had so many dang bottles). Born Free says not to close them too tight, make sure all the stuff is in place, etc., and I did all that but still had leaks. They weren't huge, but formula/breastmilk would run down the side of the bottle and drip on me, on my son, on anything I put the bottle down on, and cause a sticky mess :grumble:
I know a lot depends on your child and how well s/he takes to a certain bottle, but I'd like to avoid bottles that consistently leak, too!0 -
I used Dr Brown last time around, which was quite awhile ago (8yrs) and although I think they helped with gas (but how do you really know for sure?? Imean my daughter certainly was fussy and we had to go through quite a few diff. types of formula) but anyhow, my biggest complaint after I actually started using them, was having to wash all the parts. What a pain in the *kitten*! Now those bottles are not BPA free, so I need to get new ones and still not sure what to get. I pumped for about 6 wks with my daugter and mixed breast milk with formula, and this is what I plan to do again. I really want a bottle that is simple, with just the bottle and nipple.
I also dont plan to heat up the formula, like it did with dd. Believe it or not, I am still heating up milk for her and she is going on 8!! Actually she can do it herself lol!!!
SOrry I cant offer advice, but I am definitely hoping for some opinions on the "simple" bottles!0 -
Follow-up question for everyone - how did your chosen bottles handle leaks?
Like I said, I used Born Free bottles, which had a million parts to wash, and were supposed to be leak-free. I always had a couple of bottles/parts that leaked (I could never narrow it down to which bottle/part it was because I had so many dang bottles). Born Free says not to close them too tight, make sure all the stuff is in place, etc., and I did all that but still had leaks. They weren't huge, but formula/breastmilk would run down the side of the bottle and drip on me, on my son, on anything I put the bottle down on, and cause a sticky mess :grumble:
I know a lot depends on your child and how well s/he takes to a certain bottle, but I'd like to avoid bottles that consistently leak, too!
I didn't have any problems with leaks with the breast flow and the avent classic, but I know that others have complained about Avent ones leaking.
Also - side note on the Lansinoh bags or whatever they're called, I used these exclusively (I have a medela pump), but a little tip I found was to just slice of about 1/3 inch on the bottom of the bag (at a diagnal) and use that as a pour instead of trying to get it out of the part where I had "sealed" it. So basically tip the bag upside down and slice. No mess, no problems.0 -
It's so funny you say this! Just this past weekend, I was visiting with my BIL and SIL, whose due date is about a week after mine. Their daughter is about to turn one, and my SIL just quit pumping about two months ago. They did not intend for her to get pregnant again this quickly, so she was semi-joking that she was not going to breastfeed this baby, that her boobs were still "tingling" from all that nursing and pumping!
Then I said, "Maybe you should pump exclusively," and she loved that idea. Later it hit me, why hadn't I thought of that for myself? Not that I don't think nursing is worthwhile, but I found it to be incredibly difficult for both of us. When it wasn't working, no one encouraged me to get on the pump until it was too late, and I had hardly any supply left. Despite my lack of a good supply, I still had a good relationship with my pump and didn't mind it *that* much. (I might feel differently if I were EPing, though.)
Anyway, point being, I've spent the last week looking for EP resources. I'm not sure if I will exclusively pump or breastfeed and pump, but I'd like to avoid the cost of formula this time. I think there's a lot to be said for EPing, and I agree that it's a bit unfair that it is so easily overlooked!
Edited for clarity
The best resource I found was a group on Babycenter (The EPing Mommas maybe? I don't remember). But they have a running list of "rules" to help you establish, start reducing the number of times you pump without losing supply, avoiding mastitis, saving time on cleaning your pumps, etc....
The hospital with my son SERIOUSLY messed us up on breastfeeding - they gave him a nipple shield because he didn't latch in the first 3 minutes and being a first time mom I had no idea what I was doing. This time I will try harder to get LO to latch naturally - because I do like breastfeeding... but if this baby has issues latching as well, I'd rather EP than be stressed and not enjoy the time I have with my baby. Breastmilk is breastmilk no matter how it gets in their little tummies.
Editted to add: I don't know you very well, but you seem fairly competitive (like myself) which was a really good thing for me while pumping. I made it a game to pump more each week than I had the week before - by the time I stopped pumping my little man had almost 2 months of milk in the freezer to drink
The Exclusive Pumpers group helped me so much on babycenter! I had a low supply but I continued to pump for 3 months, until I became so unhappy I had to quit. I used the drop ins and I loved them, but I did find it easier pumping into regular bottles for storage. I used the playtex system and the target brand drop ins and it worked great. My son never really latched so I exclusively pumped, but by the time I rented the hospital pump and knew more of what I was doing, it was too late. I def recommend using the drop in system to at least try it. In the end I used the graco ones and my son was fine with those. I am glad you mentioned about the born free above because I put them on my registry, I may just add the playtex drop in bottles and use those.0 -
We used Avent, The First Years, and Playtex Nursers with the drop ins. Both of my boys were willing to drink out of these three. My oldest was very fussy when it came to how he was fed. He actually stopped eating when I went back to work when he was three months old. My youngest probably would have taken any bottle ever made, he just wanted to eat. I preferred the Playtex Nursers for giving them bottles, and I really liked the First Years for storing breastmilk since they came with really nice tops that didn't leak and since the whole bottle was wide, it was really easy to clean and sterilize.0
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Follow-up question for everyone - how did your chosen bottles handle leaks?
Like I said, I used Born Free bottles, which had a million parts to wash, and were supposed to be leak-free. I always had a couple of bottles/parts that leaked (I could never narrow it down to which bottle/part it was because I had so many dang bottles). Born Free says not to close them too tight, make sure all the stuff is in place, etc., and I did all that but still had leaks. They weren't huge, but formula/breastmilk would run down the side of the bottle and drip on me, on my son, on anything I put the bottle down on, and cause a sticky mess :grumble:
I know a lot depends on your child and how well s/he takes to a certain bottle, but I'd like to avoid bottles that consistently leak, too!
I didn't have any problems with leaks with the breast flow and the avent classic, but I know that others have complained about Avent ones leaking.
Also - side note on the Lansinoh bags or whatever they're called, I used these exclusively (I have a medela pump), but a little tip I found was to just slice of about 1/3 inch on the bottom of the bag (at a diagnal) and use that as a pour instead of trying to get it out of the part where I had "sealed" it. So basically tip the bag upside down and slice. No mess, no problems.
I can't believe I didn't think of that! It's not like I'd be keeping the bag as a souvenir
I could totally just cut a diagonal on it to use as a spout. (Seriously doing a headsmack right now.)
I went to Babies 'R Us earlier to pick up the Similac bottle, since I have a $4 check good towards it (making the bottle all of $1), and they don't carry them (yet). The only other place in my area that carries them is Wal-Mart (*groan*), but when I went online to their site to see if the store by my office or by my house has them, they don't. I'd have to order online and pay (which means I can't use the Similac check, which would defeat the purpose) or go to another Wal-Mart that's farther away. I may have reason to be out that way, so I may just do that, but UGH, it's frustrating to get a check for a product I can't even buy!!!0 -
One of them was that breastmilk is good for long enough while refrigerated that you can take your pump parts, put them in a Ziploc, and just refrigerate them between pumping sessions (I imagine you get used to cold breast flanges!). All you have to do is clean/sterilize them once a day, which I could totally handle once my older child goes to bed.
Totally did this! Freshly expressed breastmilk is good for up to a week in the fridge!
Actually, we transferred milk from pump bottles (5 oz in the beginning, 9 oz when I was up to full production) to a 1 gallon jug, dumped everything except the tubing into a Tupperware/Rubbermaid (reusable) container, and were ready for the next round of pumping. We transferred whatever Munchkin didn't eat from the jug to Lansinoh bags after dinner (leaving enough out for overnight meals) and washed everything in hot soapy water before doing the dinner dishes. Only sterilized once a month (except when I had thrush... THAT was a pain for cleaning/sterilizing EVERY TIME! Ugh!).0 -
There's also an EP Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExclusivelyPumping
And I copied/updated a file from the iVillage forums for them; A Beginner's Guide to Exclusively Pumping. I'd be happy to send it to anyone interested.0 -
Follow-up question for everyone - how did your chosen bottles handle leaks?
I'm not having any leaking problems with Avent Natural.
But I only use bottles about 5% of the time. If they got more use, maybe things would change.0 -
Also - side note on the Lansinoh bags or whatever they're called, I used these exclusively (I have a medela pump), but a little tip I found was to just slice of about 1/3 inch on the bottom of the bag (at a diagnal) and use that as a pour instead of trying to get it out of the part where I had "sealed" it. So basically tip the bag upside down and slice. No mess, no problems.
Genius!
Why didn't I ever think to do that?0 -
There's also an EP Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExclusivelyPumping
And I copied/updated a file from the iVillage forums for them; A Beginner's Guide to Exclusively Pumping. I'd be happy to send it to anyone interested.
Please send this to me! PM me if you don't mind - thank you! 0 -
There's also an EP Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExclusivelyPumping
And I copied/updated a file from the iVillage forums for them; A Beginner's Guide to Exclusively Pumping. I'd be happy to send it to anyone interested.
Please send this to me! PM me if you don't mind - thank you!
And, of course, getting this in a PMable format meant... Access for everyone! :happy:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/80684703/Exclusively Pumping.pdf0
