Bottles in the hospital

[user1465146157]

I'm due to give birth in a few weeks and although I will try breastfeeding I want to be prepared in case it doesn't work out straight away.

I've purchased some formula ready made and am just wondering if I'm supposed to take a sterile bottle with me, I can't imagine hospital would provide one?

It's not on any hospital bag lists so wondering if anyone else would pack one?

Thanks

The hospital gave us one. I think they're all prepped for people who intend to BF but need some formula early on. But I suspect it's different in each ward, it's worth asking your mw.

DD had one bottle on about day 2 and has been a BF demon ever since. I'm now desperately trying to get her to accept formula before I go back to work but she's having none of it! 😂

I would get a newborn starter set instead. It comes with pre made bottles and teats

You can get a starter kit of prefilled sterilised bottles and separate teats - you just chuck them away once they're used. Expensive for regular use but great for the hospital. Most larger supermarkets or big boots stores sell them.

Hospital gave me info on breastfeeding and bottle feeding. If intending to breastfeed we don’t have to take formula in.

You aren't preparing to fail at all by taking some in. I got some ready made aptamil with the teats but I believe they do provide some with the disposable teats if you need. I was planning to breast feed but baby came 5 weeks early and I was very poorly. My milk didn't arrive which can happen after trauma. Best to be prepared if you can.

'preparing to fail' is a load of bollocks. Mixed feeding is not failing in anyway shape of form, neither is formula feeding. Load of tosh

@dementedpixie @findahouse Thanks so much - I didn't know there was such a thing as a starter pack with ready made milk and teats - will invest in that as a one off!

Thanks for everyone else's comments - that thing about preparing to fail, i know what you mean but I see it as preparing to feed my baby so they don't starve.

Please, note for everyone around new mums - don't judge or enforce your choices on others. It's all hard enough as it is, let's support everyone's intentions to do their best

I ff from birth so the hospital asked me what one I wanted, I told them and they gave them to me

Definitely the ready made bottles with teats. If you do end up FF, baby will only need a small amount per feed and they are 2 or 3 oz so perfect. FWIW, we BF for 5 days, it didn't work and having a small ready made bottle to feed to DS at 3am when we were both having a meltdown saved my sanity.

If you want to breastfeed but need formula, the hospital will provide it. If you plan to bottle feed from the start the usual policy is bring your own.

Check with the hospital, mine has no facilities to sterilize anything so am taking a couple of the starter packs that include teats.

I'm due this month and will be FF but with covid I think it's better to be prepared with a back up incase you can't have someone bring in milk if you need it (some hospitals still have very limited visiting hours) and the hospital didn't have much available.

Definitely buy the starter pack with the sterile teats. You can get them from the supermarket. We bought Aptimil.

My hospital reluctantly gave us one when bottle feeding was recommended by the neo-natal consultant, but they don’t advertise the fact they have bottles available.

We had to rush around buying stuff because BF didn’t work out. I wish I had been more prepared and given it more thought. I just thought ‘of course BF will work out’ but it didn’t for reasons beyond my control. I was naive.

You’re doing the right thing: being prepared for all eventualities.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/283467953

OP - you could take these to hospital with you. If you decide not to bf or it doesn’t work out for you, you’ll have these ready.