What to buy if I’m going to attempt breastfeeding

[Alanares89]

Hello :)

I’m due my baby in November and I’m going to attempt to breastfeed, I understand it doesn’t always work out and the baby might need to go to bottles, but what did yous do in this situation? Did you buy the big sterleliser sets with bottles and things aswell?

I’m on mothercares site and I see they do the big tommee tippee sets half price just now (there always half price actually lol)

Really unsure on what to buy, what did yous guys do if yous plan on breastfeeding??

Any help would be great

Alana x

Only thing I bought today prepare for breastfeeding was nursing bras and reusable breast pads! But I had a lot of support and was confident that I’d manage (I did, 2.5 years with my first and currently feeding my second who’s almost 1)

To, not today...

Lansinoh, some Bravado nursing bras and LilyPadz breast shields. No need to buy bottles.

I got the steriliser just in case and it's been the biggest waste of money. I think I've used it about 10 times (little girl is 11 months old) and she won't take the bottles either. I just got nursing bras / breast pads and then went out and got a pump etc when I knew I could do it and carry on.

Lanisoh cream.

Mam pump.

Mam bottles.

Pads.

Muslin for dribbles/baby

Boots sterilising container & sterilising tablets - prob £10 all in.

A tea bag sqeezer from the pound shop. I made hundreds of cups of tea for myself whilst feeding.

(I also somehow used to hang washing on the line one handed with baby in my other arm & undo the milk one handed, I could go on

A pack of big muslins BIG muslins. That's it.

I would get a sma starter pack. You can get them in supermarkets and it has ready formula in, you unscrew put lid on a feed the baby. They take ages to go out of date so if you don’t need them pass them on. If feeding works, fab. If it doesn’t it will be 2am when you will be tired and stressed and that is not the time to faff with bottles and learning formula etc. So get the pack, get baby fed and you can buy equipment next day if needed.

And a water bottle. For you.

If you're planning to bf then I wouldn't bother buying bottles/ sterilisers etc. I bought some ready made aptamil cartons to have as a back up but they weren't needed after, if you decide to bottle feed after then you can buy what you need pretty quickly!

Some people say to not have bottles or milk in the house but I found having a couple of bottles and pre made formula took the pressure of, I didn't use either till 4 mths when I needed a break overnight as I was poorly. I wouldnt buy a big set though. If you do need to formula feed, even full time, there will be some on offer as They always are. If you're combo feeding then you might find baby is fussy about the type of bottle/teat so it's better to try a couple ime.

It's helpful to have nipple balm and breast pads but apart from that I'd look up the number of support services to have on hand.

Very best of luck

I bought breast pads and lansinoh before DD1 arrived. I got nursing bras once my milk had come in and that was it.

We lived in a big city and had a 24 hour supermarket nearby so if we needed any bottles and formula i knew we could get them any time we needed them . Breastfeeding is bloody hard and I knew if I had the bottles there it would be too much temptation for me to give up. In the end I breastfed for 14 months and never pumped so never needed more than what I started out with. I'd say keep your money and only get the bare minimum until you decide it's definitely for you, or not.

I wish I'd bought a nursing pillow and a pump already before DD was born. I had an emergency cesarean and found it hard to sit up comfortably to feed the baby. We bought both on the way home from the hospital and they were hugely useful especially in the early days. I still use the pump (Medela swing, it's great) 8 months on so that DH can bottle feed DD expressed breast milk sometimes. Used our vegetable steamer to do the bottles early on - worked great and the most it's been used in years - now I use the bags you put in the microwave.

I bought a steriliser and used it to sterilise my manual breast pump. I also bought the usual stuff like muslins, disposable breast pads, and soft bras without wires. Plus a couple of pashminas for discreet feeding while out and about. Vests to wear under normal tops so I could hitch them up to feed. And a few Medela 50ml storage pots with lids and slow flow teats, for the rare occasion when I expressed and went out, and in the later months to store milk I’d expressed for baby’s porridge.

I also bought some bottles of ready made formula. There were 2-3 occasions where I was so ill I couldn’t cope with feeding (flu and food poisoning). So it was handy for DH to be able to look after the baby and feed him. I suppose a stash of frozen breast milk would work equally well but I never got the hang of expressing enough to store.

I don't have any particular purchase recommendations but I highly recommend having a good read of the kellymom website. That website was my best resource when I started out and was waaaay more useful than the dreadful 'support' I got from HV and other most other medical professionals. Good luck

Thanks for the response!
I’m starting to get organised now and I really had no idea what to actually do, think I’ll leave the big set and buy a few bottles and a micro steriliser as a back up!

X

Dc1 - big steriliser, lots of bottles, lansinoh
Dc2 - microwave steriliser (used more for dummies than bottles), lansinoh, enormous bf pillow that straps on around your waist, fabulous thing and I sold it on afterwards.

I would say my must haves were lanisoh nipple cream, a nursing pillow, breast pads and a water bottle. You need lots of fluids when breastfeeding. I agree with PP about the ready made formula, I used a couple of the single use ones in the middle of the night when I was struggling. I did buy a steriliser and bottle set (avent) but mostly because it was on offer and it came with a manual breast pump. I did end up expressing but swapped to mam bottles because of colic issues.

The most useful thing you could prepare in advance is a list of breastfeeding helplines and local groups and drop-ins, in case you find it difficult and need support. Most problems can be overcome but only with the right support, and unfortunately midwives and HVs are not often very knowledgable about breastfeeding. Many of them miss tongue tie for example.

Useful things you could buy:
Soft stretchy nursing bras (the ones that will be comfy and forgiving as your boobs change size)
Nursing vests
Lansinoh cream
Breast pads (although I didn’t actually use mine)
Breastfeeding cushion is useful at the beginning

I would suggest just buying one bottle and some ready-made formula as a back up for peace of mind. Unless you plan to express milk and/or mix feed, in which case you could buy a pump and a few bottles. Don’t buy a set of the same bottles though, in case your baby turns out to be picky - they might have a preference for one brand and type of teat.

I do recommend the Haakaa pump which you can stick on one boob while feeding from the other. You don’t get loads of milk (Well I didn’t) but it was easy and gave us a bit of expressed milk as back up.

I bought a travel mug.

Nursing bras once I knew what size I was at the end.

That's it. No bottles, no creams, no pads (I wasn't a leaker)

Lansinoh. Chocolate. Pillows. TV remote. Good luck
Oh and Infacol to help get the bubbles back up.

Lansinoh definitely for the early days. If you wanted to get a bottle/formula for back up, perhaps you could get a couple of cartons of ready made formula and a mam bottle? They can be sterilised in 3.5mins in the microwave after a wash in hot soapy water so no need for a steriliser. Good luck!

Breast pads (I had no idea what these were for but then I realised I really needed them).
Nursing pillow is also good.
A huge water bottle and lots of biscuits!!
Good luck x

Personally, in the days of late night shopping an Amazon I can't see any point in buying things until you need them. Not really because one might be tempted to 'give in' more because it might be money spent that you didn't need to.
A couple of bras to was and wear, nursing pads, lansinoh and I had some Muslins but could have done without.all sorts of variables once the baby is here and then you can top up with what you need.

Lansinoh.

Cake.

Sheer pig headedness.

Of the women I know who breastfed for a year or more, all seem to be incredibly stubborn.

Me included.

DS is 16 months and we’re still going so I guess that makes me stubborn too!