What equipment do I need for one or two bottles a day?

[Doodlegoogle]

I'm planning to breast feed, ideally until 2 years or so. However, I will be going back to work at 6 months and I've recently heard of babies who refuse a bottle if they are not introduced to it quite early.

Therefore planning to express for maybe one or two feeds a day so baby gets used to both and will start to do this sooner rather than later - maybe 4-6 weeks old.

I have no idea what equipment I'll need as thought this would be something I could wait a few months before researching! Cost is a bit of an issue also.

My list so far is

• a couple of bottles and teats for 1 month old babies
• sterilising tablets rather than a steam steriliser
• can I hand express or would it be better to buy a manual machine? I'm presuming I don't need an electric machine if I'm not expressing full time.

What else might I need?

you probably only need a couple of bottles, no need to bye a sterilizer if cost is an issue you can sterilized in a pan with boiling water. Plus you need newborn teates with a breasted baby its often better to used newborn teasts so the flow isn't to fast from the bottle.

As for pumps it may be better to wait or if you intend to pump on returning to work you may want a small electric one. Its fine to get these second hand if you pick a make with a closed system. But you mite like to try hand expressing as some women find it more efficient then a pump. Which is i suggest waiting and seeing what works best for you after baby is hear. Just enjoy the first couple of months to start with.

If you aren't going back to work until 6m you could skip the whole bottle stage altogether and go straight to a beaker or cup - you can get beakers suitable from 4m and a baby of any age can be cup fed.

If you want to give bottles anyway, then a newborn teats are recommended for the duration of bottle usage as faster flow teats can make it too 'easy' for a bf baby which can mean they prefer to bottle feed (why spend energy bfing if the milk just flows with a bottle seems to be some babies thoughts on the matter!).

If you are going to be giving 1-2 bottles every day for 5m (and then carrying on expressing while at work) you may find an electric pump quicker and easier (esp. a double pump as it halves the time spent expressing and can get a bigger milk yield).

A good proportion of women who are bfing directly most of the time find expressing for one feed means expressing more than once (expressing is generally less effective than a healthy baby at getting milk out) so if you plan to give 2 bottles a day you may be expressing 4 or more times to make those 2 bottles. That's not a given though as some women can express lots very easily while others can't express anything even if parted from baby - expressing is a learnt skill as you need to learn to let down for the pump rather than the instinctive letting down that happens when baby nurses.

Kellymom.com has lots of info on expressing and bfing in general so worth a look.

I would say you need

1. 1 or 2 feeding bottles

2. couple of newborn teats (we moved on to number 2 tears at some point when DDs started getting pissed off with number 1s - DH did all this, so I can't remember when)

3. extra storage bottles with caps for keeping the expressed milk

4. breastmilk freezer bags for any milk you express and need to store

Also optionally

5. electric pump - found it so handy, expressing 2 feeds a day for 5+ months is a lot of expressing

6. steam steriliser - why make life difficult? You need to sterilise all your expressing equipment too, so it's worth it IME

7. microwave steriliser bags - handy for when you are away

i would suggest an electric pump too

i had the medala free style... and even with that and 3 expression sessions a day I couldnt express enough for 1 bottle a day by 5m old (so i gave up expressing as there wasnt any point any more)

In the early days i had loads (and leaked into breast shells about 1pint a day) but as she got older, despite expressing at the same time every day etc i got less and less.

i got empty (the couple of onzes in each breast) in about 6mins with my breast pump... using a manual pump took much longer and ached my hand.... also i hated expressing and i know many people who feel the same way, so the sooner it was over the better.

a double pump is normally more efficient too

good luck

I agree with electric pump. They are expensive so get one off ebay if thats an issue. I got a manual to save cash but I have to express several times a day to even get one bottle and it is a pain in the arse when you are trying to do it with a velcro baby that won't be put down. I have now got a double electric that I won on ebay for £60 instead of the £200 odd that they cost new.

I have a microwave steriliser which is very convenient. Other than that the tablets are fine and it's easier than pans of boiling water.

I would keep it to one feed a day at first. Two is quite a lot of expressing and might possibly affect establishing breastfeeding in the earlier weeks, then build up to the second feed after a few months.