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?

You need to do some reading on breastfeeding ASAP if you want to actually breastfeed as you clearly don't know how it works. I say this not to be critical but to help you.

Milk comes in between days 2 and 7 but that's the proper watery milk you know. Before that, you do have milk, it's called colostrum, it's thick and extremely nutritious.

It's a pain if your milk takes ages to come as after 2 days baby will get hungrier and feed frequently until the more filling milk comes in. The way to stimulate milk production is by feeding. If you give formula at all, you are completely boycotting yourself, milk won't come and you'll think you have no milk which will be totally false. It's extremely rare to not produce milk.

I had a horrible c section, i was separated from baby for 7 hours, so it took 6 days for my milk to come in. My baby never had a drop of formula. I had frozen colostrum syringes when we went to hospital which the midwives thawed and then I just grin and beared the cluster feeding. I slept in 20 minute increments for that first week which after major surgery is hard, but doable.

As breastfeeding is the biological norm, babies are born with the fat supplies to get them through the first couple of days before your milk comes in. Colostrum is primarily an immune transfer.

If you want to breastfeed but are worried about that period please seek out a breastfeeding specialist who can talk you through what happens with your breasts and baby milk-wise in those first few days. If you can understand this, you are less likely to feel like you "are not producing enough".

If you don't want to BF that's fine but please just sterilise instead of throwing these away!

We relied on these a great deal for the week we were in hospital, NICU provided some as we needed to top baby up with formula to get to a certain volume before she could be let out as I wasn't making enough milk and she couldn't feed very well. They were handy for out and about too. We had no way of sterilising on the postnatal ward so we couldn't have done without these. We needed a good few boxes in our circumstances

We did! I breastfed 99% of the time, but we’d just use these if I was going out or DH did the odd night feed. I hated pumping and we didn’t use them often enough to make it worth buying tubs of formula and sterilising.

I used these for night feeds for the first few weeks. They are expensive.

Your milk might take a few days to come in but the baby just needs your colostrum for the first few days which is already there! Your baby won’t starve I promise.
these are good in an emergency as in if you’re not breastfeeding and you’re caught short when out and about with the bottles. Or if a family member has to have baby for a bit.
your midwife in the hospital will support you to breast feed. If what what ever reason it’s not working or you don’t want to, then they’ll will advise you on how to proceed with formula. But I wouldn’t waste your money on this.

largely the price. they're great in hospital or if you're travelling etc but the cost adds up quick.

ignore the likes of @Hebalof. bf is cheap and great if it works for you. but fed is fed.

plastic tub and a box of Milton tablets. if it's good enough on a children's ward, then it's good enough at home.

Such a stupid comment. We're all responsible for our own waste. A lot of the waste generated in the west gets exported to developing countries, but that's OK then, by your reckoning.
Giving a shit doesn't make you an 'environment warrior' it just means you're not thick, and have given a moments thought to the what the world will look like for future generations.

I had no milk with my x sec at 37 weeks. I even had a midwife trying to "milk" me for colostrum to no avail. I managed to pump for a few weeks but just couldn't keep up with two hungry babies. there's no way I could have just left them to wait for my milk to eventually come in.

I agree if op wants to bf she should get help and try but it's also worth having a back up in case it doesn't happen.

A relative of mine was a foster carer and used these a lot a she often had babies on quite short notice and obvious you can't just have endless half-used tubs of formula. They were very handy but as said very expensive.

I also brought the larger bottles of premade op so you still have to sterlaise but no making up with hot water and powder. didn't use it all the time and obviously you need to be mindful how long it's open (thankfully hungry twins made this not an issue!) but there were definitely points in the early months when pre made was worth the cost.

You CAN, but it's expensive and terrible for the planet.

Also true what others have said re BF. Colostrum doesn't take 3-5 days to come, and babies don't starve waiting for it. The human race wouldn't have survived if this were the case would it?!
Your baby will benefit hugely from the colostrum, it's uniquely tailored to their specific body, not some generic factory product. Surely you'd want them to have the best?!

Babies don't get milk at first. Colostrum prepares their tummies for milk.

If you want disposable bottles on hand that's fine though. I'd probably not want to fork out indefinitely.

If you want to breastfeed, don't introduce formula. Baby needs to be feeding from you to get your milk to come in.

If you don't want to breastfeed, that's absolutely fine, but if you do want to, don't rush to introduce formula. I had c-sections with both my kids, and it didn't take 4-5 days to be able to feed. One of them was already on the boob before I left theater!

I had to send my DH to the supermarket for these in the middle of the night when my dd was a newborn. She struggled to latch (it took 6 weeks for her to finally latch) and my breast pump hadn't arrived yet. So they are definitely worth having in for emergency use.
After that they would have been too expensive (as is formula itself, but less so), so I persevered with pumping around the clock, feeding back to her, sterilising, then pumping again -whilst also trying to get her to latch.
With my older children I didn't need them, but you just never know.

Of course you can use them.
To the planet zealots, they can be recycled.
And - our lovely planet is gonna be here, but you won't.

I worry about single use plastics especially if heated.

I know they say they are fine but it's been proven that no plastic is really safe....

That's not how it works with milk production. You make colostrum, in tiny amounts for a few days, but that's all your baby needs. Your baby's stomach is the size of a small marble, and they will feed little, but often. That little but often stimulation helps your milk come in.

Babies can often seem hungry because they have a reflex to keep sucking, so it can seem like they're always hungry.

They have to keep sucking to bring your milk in.

It doesn't hurt to be prepared and take some bottles with you, but it's a self fulfilling prophecy if you misinterpret sucking and repeated needs to feed as not getting enough, so you supplement, then you don't get that stimulation so your body doesn't produce, and then it becomes much harder to stimulate lactation further on. - if breastfeeding is the method of feeding you choose.

Babies also lose a percentage of their birth weight, which is normal but a lot of people panic when they see this, but it's important to listen to your midwife so they can tell you if this dips into failure to thrive territory, and they can help you with a double or triple feeding method, if you still want to breastfeed but your baby requires supplementation.

isnt it way easier and cheaper to just throw them in the cold water steriliser?

I worried about this too so took a bottle of formula to the hospital. As it happened, I didn’t need it and in most situations you likely won’t, but good to be prepared. I remember the panic about what my baby would live on and wondering how colostrum could possibly be enough, but it was! Good luck.

I wish i could have used these when i was in hospital having dc4. He had to have special bottles though so I had to sterilise everything myself from the day after my c section, so painful. Thankfully dc5 was able to breastfeed, so that was so much easier. He had a mix of formula and pumped milk and the occasional breastfeed for the 5 days he was in nicu and then he was fully breastfeeding after that.

@TheCorrsDidDreamsBetter can I just say that's a great post. So balanced.

I always get a bit nervous when people say your baby won't starve because while I agree that we need loads more education and support in this country for what is normal for breastfeeding, there are some mother-baby dyads that will need supplementation in the early days which, if done right, can be supportive of continued breastfeeding.

The milk comes in on day 3 or so, BUT your body makes nutrient rich colostrum immediately after birth (and sometimes just before). My midwife called it liquid gold. So, no, your baby won’t starve!! That early colostrum is very rich and nourishing. Then that gradually switches to breast milk. The milk ‘coming in’ is just a ramp up in the volume and type of milk. It doesn’t mean baby won’t be fed by your body until then. Baby will be fed. You can feed immediately after giving birth and the colostrum will appear.