Bottles/sterilisers

[Mhcb]

I am planning to try breast but I want to be prepared incase it doesn't work out. I am 16+6 but just trying to get a list of the essential things will need so can start buying slowly.

Just wondered what everyone's preferences/opinions where on the best bottles/formula/sterilisers

Personally, if you are planning to breastfeed then I wouldn't buy anything for FF in advance. One because it could end up being a waste of money and two, because if you have it handy then it might be more tempting to throw in the towel on BF prematurely.
For a newborn baby it's best to feed pre-mixed formula which you can get in kits with bottles and sterile teats, so if you were going to get anything, I'd get one of those TBH and leave it at that. Although in the days of 24 hr supermarkets you don't even really need to buy in advance, unless you live in the middle of nowhere.

I needed to use formula in the first few weeks, due to BF issues, so I speak from personal experience.

A steriliser can obviously be used on BF paraphernalia like pumps and stuff if you want, but you don't have to sterilise if you BF, only if you FF.

We had the TT electric steriliser which was good. Very quick and mess free. Bottle-wise we liked Dr Brown's. Hated TT as baby had to be tipped right back when feeding to avoid air in the teat (not good for practicing paced feeding which is important when mixing BF and bottle. Different babies like different bottles though so can be a case of trial and error.

If you are planning to bf, don’t waste your money on bottles, etc. If you need them, you can send someone to get them. I had problems bf my first, but we just cup fed her the initial weeks (which is recommended anyway if you are also bf). Having some miltons on hand is helpful though as you can sterilise anything in that, including medicine syringes, etc. When we did switch fully to bottle feeding at 6 weeks, we just ran to the shop to pick up what we needed. My 2nd is fully bf and we didn’t need any of that anyway. Though the miltons has still been helpful for loads of things.

The problem we have is we live in a remote area so nowhere near to easily get bottles etc.

Thanks for the advice.

Just had DS a week ago and haven’t been able to bf yet, so mixed feeding expressed milk and formula.

We bought the Nuk first choice bottles as they are the same teats NICU gave us. Nicu said they don’t rate TT teats. Then we are using SMA infant first milk (small cartons, ready made), again because these were what the hospital gave us. You can get the SMA starter packs with carton plus teat together, as whirlingturkey mentioned. Although we cup fed DS1 when he was born 5years ago, the hosp said they no longer recommend this (don’t know why).

We’ve bought a steriliser but can also recommend the microwave bags - easy to use and don’t take up loads of space. I don’t like the smell of Milton but cold sterilising with it is very easy/cheap.