bottles - pumps and sterlizers?

kettlenic

Hi

I am planning to breast feed when my baby arrives and was looking at getting a breast pump, bottles and sterlizer so that I am able to leave baby with OH on the rare occasion I may venture out the house on my own.

I am also planning a trip home - south africa in April - baby will be 6 months - will I still be sterilizing things then? (I have no idea)

so long story short does anyone have any good suggestions on bottles - pumps and sterlizers?

Thanks xx

Gillyx

As far as I'm aware anything with breast milk doesn't need to be sterilised merely washed in hot soapy water. It's only when formula is added that things then need to be sterilised.

If it's for occasional use I'd be tempted to go for a cold water system, small initial outlay too.

Bottles I'd recommend MAM, they self sterilise in microwave too and were the only successful type we used.

Pumps, I used a Medela Swing and loved it, but it's not cheap. I'd be inclined to see how well you get on with breast feeding first. They don't advise you pump until around 6 weeks to let your supply settle down, and even then with the way supply works in the beginning, any feed expressed milk is used for, you will have to pump anyway, to keep up supply.

The advice currently is to sterilise until formula is no longer being used, once it's cows milk, it's ok just to wash the bottles again. Hope that helps x

kettlenic

Thanks - so I can pump and use washed bottles for breastmilk?

I am just trying to get everything organised before she arrives

Thanks for the advice

Gillyx

No problem at all I pumped exclusively for around 3 weeks, and I found it an incredibly draining experience but I loved my pump and I'd recommend it to anyone for occasional use

Breast milk is sterile, so as long as they're given a good wash, should be ok.

If you do decide to go for MAM bottles, TK Maxx sometimes have starter sets v cheap so have a good look.

I wouldn't be too stressed about being completely organised unless you live extremely rural. Most supermarkets sell bottles/milk/teats etc and they're open v long hours or 24h if you really need to get anything. xx

quietheart

Breast milk is sterile but if the bottle is not sterilised your baby could still get ill. Bottle teats are difficult to clean and definitely need sterilising. I'm generally all for building up kid's immune systems but with new babies it's best to err on the side of caution.
Good luck with the breastfeeding!
edit - I'm a dimwit I didn't read the 6 month bit. As baby could be on solids by then i'd be a lot less concerned about sterilising.

jackyann

Unless you are very anxious to get on with things, I would wait. Unless there are special circumstances (in which case help is usually available) it's a good idea to get breast feeding well established before you consider pumping. A lot of women find hand expressing better especially for the odd occasion.
Also if you wait to find out how it is going for you, you may make contacts who will loan a pump, or at least let you have a good look at theirs. I find pumps are so individual.
And yes, if you are giving bottles, you will still need to sterilise at 6 months (milk is such a friendly environment for bacteria) but a lot of mums prefer to breast feed during a flight as it is more comforting and easier.
So I would tend to wait until you have got into the swing of breast feeding and know how it is all working for you and your baby before shelling out a lot of money.

dizziblonde

Don't buy the Avent electrical - ours died in a fortnight. If I had to do it again (and I wouldn't cos getting stuck exclusively pumping for various reasons was some of the darkest days of my life) I'd just hire a decent pump if the need arose in that department rather than faffing on with the little piddly electric ones that aren't much cop.

Steriliser - if buying a microwave one... check the size of your microwave... lesson learnt the hard way (to be fair it fitted in the microwave we bought it for - just that microwave then exploded and they seem to have shrunk microwaves since then).

Air_Cooled_75

Don't bother pumping, I did it a couple of times, I found it more hassle than just breastfeeding. It's more for other people than the baby

Gillyx

quietheart wrote: »

Breast milk is sterile but if the bottle is not sterilised your baby could still get ill. Bottle teats are difficult to clean and definitely need sterilising. I'm generally all for building up kid's immune systems but with new babies it's best to err on the side of caution.
Good luck with the breastfeeding!
edit - I'm a dimwit I didn't read the 6 month bit. As baby could be on solids by then i'd be a lot less concerned about sterilising.

I pumped in hospital and was told and shown by the midwives how to deal with the pump/bottles etc and was shown to the nursery to help myself to everything, I specifically asked about sterilising and was told it was fine as long as they were washed properly but maybe all health trusts are different

Formula is different though.

dizziblonde

Gillyx wrote: »

I pumped in hospital and was told and shown by the midwives how to deal with the pump/bottles etc and was shown to the nursery to help myself to everything, I specifically asked about sterilising and was told it was fine as long as they were washed properly but maybe all health trusts are different

Formula is different though.

Was given my own named steriliser (tub o' milton) to do the breastpump parts in in our NHS trust with the line that you sterilise all of those bits, bottles and teats are disposable and sealed in sterilised packets prior to use. I just followed suit when I got home (till the pump broke and I took the hint).

thetope

I would recommend holding off on purchasing a pump until you get breastfeeding well established. As jackyann has said above if you have difficulties early on, help is available, e.g. borrowing a pump from hospital or whatever so it's not critical to have one from day 1. See if you really *need* one first - you may find hand expressing gets the job done just as quickly, it's really quite easy for the occasional feed. You may find you aren't ready to leave your baby for several hours (thus requiring your OH to feed him/her) until it's a few weeks old as well.

Once you have settled into motherhood, re-assess what it is that you actually *need*. I got my totally unused breastpump for about a third of the new price from gumtree because the purchaser bought it before the baby was born, full of good intentions, then gave up breastfeeding after less than a week. The small ads are full of "used once/twice" equipment... babies don't always conform with mums' plans!

Breast milk pumping equipment doesn't need sterilised after every use (so long as you wash thoroughly with very hot, soapy water). I put mine in milton (well, tesco's equivalent - it is mse after all) every few days just to make sure it was super clean but didn't bother with a steam steriliser (the heat can damage some types of pump parts anyway).

Most advice recommends waiting 6 weeks before expressing feeds, to let your supply get well established and to reduce the likelihood of nipple confusion or the baby preferring the bottle.

you can freeze expressed milk in handy portions in breastmilk storage bags, which means you don't have to keep a large stock of bottles. I only ever had 2 bottles (nuk brand, would recommend them - supposedly very good for breastfeeders, but never tried any others). The best value breastmilk bags I found was in home bargains, much cheaper than supermarkets or boots.

Regarding your trip to South Africa, just go with the flow and see how things are going at the time. You may wish to sterilise feeding bowls etc depending on where you are and whether there are any more significant risks from nasty bugs than in the UK. For travel, rather than transporting a bulky steriliser and travel plugs etc, I would say just take sterilising fluid/tablets, get a plastic bowl/basin out there and you have a cheap, transportable system. Sterilising fluid only takes 10 minutes and you can have the bowl stood with the fluid in for 24 hours before changing it so can just dunk the stuff you need in and out.