If you are preparing for the arrival of baby, and perhaps planning to express milk, here are a a few ideas on what type of gear you will need for bottle feeding.
It’s a great idea to express so that you can get extra helpers! Although it is more time committment from mum to express her milk, it can mean that she can sleep for a longer stretch at night, perhaps if her partner does the late feed. Just get him to wash the bottles, to reduce any extra workload on mum.
We very highly recommend the Unimom Forte – its a Hospital Grade double pump. This is a relatively new brand for NZ but is becoming widely used in hospitals. Its very good quality and efficiency like Medela, but much better pricing because it is made in Korea rather than Switzerland like medela is.
Then as you build up your milk stash, the Breast Milk Storage bags are also something that I would highly recommend. You can lay them flat in the freezer, so that the milk freezes flat which makes it quick to defrost and warm under the tap. These bags can attach directly to the breast pump (or you can pump and then pour the milk into the bag).
You will also need a supply of bottles and teats, so that you can have bottles prepped and ready. Although you only need one bottle and one teat, I would suggest at least 6 bottles so that you can have them washed and ready in rotation to save you time.
In terms of teats, if you are wanting to breastfeed at boob and bottle feed, then I would suggest a teat that makes the baby work for the flow. Many of the teats on the market just drip out and so baby becomes lazy at sucking. I have the Chu Chu teats, and the Nuk LatexTeats which both work the same way as a nipple in baby’s mouth.
And also get a microwave steriliser and a bottle cleaning brush. We often get calls from women that had been sterilising their equipment in a pot of boiling water and they forget about it and the pot boils dry and burns all the items. You don’t want to risk that!
Remember for breastmilk – keep it chilled and warm milk under the hot tap – not microwave.
If you are formula feeding, then skip the part above above breast pump, and milk storage bag. Everything else applies – bottles, teats, steriliser, bottle cleaning brush. You might also consider a Milk Powder container and a thermal bottle bag. Remember – heat the water first and then add the milk powder.
Don’t reheat. Never re-chill any milk that has already been warmed.
Well I hope that helps answer your questions, and not information overload. Please feel welcome to contact us directly if you have more questions.
