which brand bottles and steriliser machine is best?

[missytequila]

I am going to breastfeed by will need to do a bit of expressing do to part time work.

Which bottles and equipment do you like best? I can't decide?

Avent pump or Mendela swing? Avent bottles orTommy tippee? Avent steriliser? or Tommy tippee?

I exclusively BF my second son for 6 months then had a major panic that he would not take a bottle - I found NUK to be the best bottles, but both my sisters swear by Dr Browns. I used Boots own hand pump for expressing - it wasn't the fastest so depends how much you want to express really. The sterilisers all seem OK but best to get the same brand as bottles. I used Avent bottles and breast pump and steriliser with my first son - they were all good !

I did a lot of expressing in the early days for my ds beacuse he was prem and couldn't latch on.

I used an avent electric pump. If you are looking at a lot of expressing I would definitely recommend an electric one as it is fast + easy.

They are expensive - can you borrow one from a friend to see how you get on with it? They can also be rented from the NCT (I think)

i just used the bottles that came with my steriliser har har. It went ok. It was Boots own brand. I would probably go for whatever was on sale - does the brand really make a difference? I'm not sure.

We used Avent bottles with MAM teats and an Avent steriliser

Medela swing pump-excellent. Avent microwave steriliser-great for steaming veg once you have finished using it for bottles . Every conceivable bottle under the sun (DS hates bottles), we finally settled on MAM or NUK teats for the rare occasion he deigns to take a bottle!

Defintely recommend a microwave steriliser, mine is Avent, as are all my bottles and teats and i've found them excellent, and easily available when you need to replace them. I hate expressing but do use an Avent one first thing in the morning to relieve my very full boobs and help my baby to latch. You can buy "via" storage cups that attach straight to the pump to save on washing up.

One word of caution if you want BPA free bottles, Avent do two sorts, one is made of a honey coloured plastic and leaks like mad. The other is a milky coloured plastic and has a separate little ring that sits in the top, They don't leak.

You don't really need to sterilise. Do you have a dishwasher? That does the same thing. Washing in hot, soapy water too. Of course you might want to do it and feel happier that way. That's fine. Just another pov if you wanted to save time/space/money.

DD would NOT take a bottle at all, but would cup feed so try that too if you have a bottle refuser.

I had a medela something or other but found that I actually got more out hand expressing.

both times, i have used an avent electric pump, avent bottles (the honey coloured BPA free ones, but mine dont leak!)with MAM teats (flatter than avent but fit their bottles) and an avent steriliser. i tried the tommee tippee closer to nature bottles but DD1 didnt like them much.

thanks everyone. problem is I dont have a dish washer nor a microwave. this is why I thought the sterlising machine thing was needed...