Instead of sterilising, can you not just constantly buy the bottles with tests on them that are pre sterilised?

[BoyMumToBe34]

Can I use this to feed a new born if I stock up on them? Do people not use them because it’s expensive or for another reason?

And bin them after each use? Do you not care at all for the waste and the planet drowning in plastic?

I used these for the first few days when we were in hospital and a few days afterwards. We stopped because of the expense! Once you get into the habit of sterilising it’s fine.

It's incredibly wasteful? Why wouldn't you just sterilise?

Plus babies start eating way more than this, you’ll need two or three per feed soon enough.

ignore the environment warriors. Have you seen India and China?

It would cost you a fortune.

They’re fantastic for in hospital for the first few days though.

Breastfeeding is very cheap with no single use plastic waste?!

Not everyone wants to breastfeed and that’s fine

OP, these are great for hospital but not great for afterwards because of the waste issue like others have said

I couldn’t even bring myself to buy any bottles. My babies were breastfed, partly because I’m so miserly. The thought of buying bottles and then throwing them away fills me with horror.

Oh I see so they are non recyclable and expensive! Thank you. So I guess I will buy a pack of 6 to take with me to hospital for my c section then incase I have no milk production I don’t want baby to starve for 4-5 days until milk comes in right?

I can understand wanting to making those first few days and weeks with a newborn as easy as possible.

The reasons I didn’t use them beyond the first few nights in hospital - it felt a bit wasteful from an environmental perspective, sterilising bottles was fairly quick and powder was cheaper than ready-made formula.

You'll get into the swing of sterilising bottles in a batch every day. It's a bit like filling the dishwasher.

I’m pretty sure your milk would just be there- it would be colostrum for the first 3 days or so. But you could always take them as back up. Or hospitals usually have bottle milk there too

For context a pack might do you a day, depends on the baby, my little fella would have had a full one at a feed but then would have needed more than one by day 5. My other fella would start and stop the whole time and you've a window to use them, so we could have been opening them and not using the whole time. Do the hospital provide them? I'm in Ireland and they would supply formula if you need it.

It’s a good idea to have them available, but baby feeding is what brings in your milk. If you use formula and baby isn’t at the breast then your milk supply won’t adjust. Having a c section might make it slower for milk to come in, but it’s still possible to exclusively breastfeed without baby going hungry.

No pressure on anyone to breastfeed obviously, but I've exclusively breastfed from birth and didn't take any formula as back up with me. Hoped that everything would go fine with breastfeeding (and thankfully it did) but if needed could have sent someone to get some.

Hi op, I had a c section & had to bottle feed in hospital as baby was tiny, the hospital provided the milk & bottles (England) I wouldn’t take anything in unless you aren’t planning to try breast feeding. Good luck with the c section & baby xx

I had a c-section and breastfed. I supplemented with these bottles when it was too painful and I was really grateful for them for the first two weeks while we got into the swing of things. I'm in Ireland so the hospital just provided them. It would be hard to know how many you might need if you had to buy them before you went into hospital.

I had a section and breastfed twins for 2.5 years. Your milk comes in pretty quickly and your baby won't starve I promise. Breastfeeding is convenient and free once you both get the hang of it. In most cases, the first few days are tough but don't give up! Good luck!

They are great for one off convenience and while you are at the hospital is a perfect example.

You will feed probably 6 to 8 times a day so that would be extremely expensive if you just used these.

I had a C-section and baby went straight onto my boob. The act of your baby feeding is what brings in your milk. I think mine came in properly on day 5 or 6 but until then baby was getting lots of lovely colostrum!

Remember, a newborn’s stomach is absolutely tiny so they only need very small amounts of breast milk. Little and often is best!

You may hear lots of discussion on social media about mums not having or making ‘enough’ milk. In actual fact, this truly would be very rare from a medical perspective, so try not to worry.

No. We don’t. With a small baby you want what is convenient.

op yes I would imagine it’s mainly cost. We used them at first because it was convenient when travelling a lot

Yep I used these in hospital (Kendamil brand) with DD as no sterilising facilities. A newborn won’t eat the full thing so the midwives will keep it in the fridge for you and bring it to you when you need it. I stood it in hot water to warm it up so she wasn’t having fridge-cold milk.

Also used them on holiday abroad for the convenience.

I used these in hospital op after my c sections. I did have problems with milk supply and never had enough despite my efforts and beating myself up.

You can also get the mircowavable sterilising bags.

some babies also take better to different styles of bottles.

Both me as a baby and my DC1 would not latch at all. So there can be unforseen problems. Op is doing well to prepare.

Agree - I'm as pro-breastfeeding as they come, breastfed DC1 for 2+ years with no problems and assumed I'd do the same with DC2. Unfortunately he had a severe tongue tie and although I had stacks of milk he couldn't transfer it effectively and I needed to top up with those wee bottles of formula for a couple of weeks until we could get the tongue tie sorted. It really doesn't hurt to be prepared for what can be quite a stressful and exhausting time!