ready made formula in sterilised bottles

[Maureen]

Does anyone know where you can obtain ready made formula in sterlised bottles (complete with sterilised teat)? I have heard that you can obtain them from the Portland Hospital in London but do not want to pay their fancy prices.

Yes, it's called a breast!

Seriously, I'm sure mothercare do sterilised bottles which are quite expensive and I guess you then pour a carton of formula into it.

The Portland bottles will be the same as the bottles sold to all maternity and paediatric units of all hospitals. All the milk companies provide that service due to crossinfection risks in hospital. I have never seen them on sale to the public. Why do you need them out of interest?

Sainsbury's sell sterilised bottles and cartons of SMA so you'd just pour that into it. I think you can get some other brands in cartons but I couldn't swear to it.

you can get bottles - throw away ones called Steri bottles from Tesco, boots and the such like and lots of fomula brands come in premixed cartons. I found them very handy when travelling or being out for the day - otherwise just sterilised in microwave steriliser and made up a days worth of bottle for dd at a time.

Thanks very much for your tips. I'll go get the steri-bottles etc.
Mears - I'm driving to Germany in a couple of weeks time & for convenience hoped that I could use an all-in-one technique as a back-up to my breasts.

Thanks for the info Maureen. My next nosey question would be why do you need formula at all if you are breastfeeding? How old is your baby?

hello nosey mears!
My baby is 8 weeks old. After the birth he developed jaundice and I could not get him to latch on properly so now I am breastfeeding with those pesky nipple shields. I have tried & still try to tempt him with my bare nipple which he latches onto for a couple of seconds but then he seems to lose interest, thrashes around and finally starts to scream. Since he is gaining weight at a good ole rate and seems rather content with our arrangement I have continued with the shields...but obviously these are less than ideal when travelling as they have the nasty habit of being knocked/falling off.

Thanks for the reply Maureen. Do you have long before you travel? Do you think it might be possible to ditch the shields prior to going? Would make your life a lot easier.

I found some good tips which I am cutting and pasting below. Apologies if you have done all this already.

Assuming that she is ready to make the transition to breastfeeding without the shield, here are some techniques you can use to encourage her to take the breast :

1. Provide lots of skin-to-skin contact. Tuck her in a sling "kangaroo style". Try nursing in the bathtub.

2. Offer her the breast without the shield when she is sleepy. Babies are often less resistant to trying something new if they are partially asleep.

3. Start the feeding with the shield, then slip it off and offer your nipple after the milk has let-down, the initial breast fullness is lessened, and the baby has some milk in her tummy to take the edge off her appetite and settle her down.

4. Put a tiny piece of damp cloth in the tip of the shield to stop the flow of milk. Some babies will take the nipple that is dripping with milk once they realize that sucking on the shield isn't going to do anything for them.

5. Don't trim pieces off the shield with scissors in an attempt to reduce dependence on the shield. This can result in sharp edges that can irritate your nipple and the baby's mouth.

6. Last but not least, be patient. Many babies who have become accustomed to nursing with a shield may take weeks to make the transition to nursing without it. A small percentage of babies never learn to nurse without the shield, but this is rare. In these cases, the mother can still maintain a satisfying breastfeeding relationship with her baby by feeding and nurturing him at the breast.

Good luck

Big branches of Boots do the ready sterilised bottles as well, and ready made cartons of various different sorts of milk. I found them very useful if I wanted to go out for a few hours and leave the baby with a babysitter. Because I'm mainly breastfeeding I don't own a sterilizer, and they're a lot more convenient than messing around boiling rancid old bottles that I haven't used for years.

Bloggs- thanks for the tip about Boots - there is a large branch fairly close to where I live so will go ahunting!
Mears - many thanks for those tips, that was v. kind of you to hunt those down - some of those I have tried but I must admit that I have been slightly lazy & these days do not always take the shield away - but you have encouraged me so I will persevere...& I have 8 days before we travel, so where there is a will, there's...!

Good luck - let us know how you get on