bottles and steralisers...

This may sound real dumb to alot of you but im unsure about what to do,i plan to try and breast feed but someone said to me that incase i cant and incase i want to express i should have some bottles so which ones are best?theres so many?the most popular to me seem the tommee tippee and avent but also like just say i bought an avent steraliser,would any bottle fit it or does it mean i have to buy avent bottles?and what size would i need and how many?and what tops?i never realised how many tops there were!!!!Please help anyone!!!

Hi there. I think it is probably a good idea to have at least a couple of bottles there just in case you need them. I have an avent electric steriliser and I can fit all my bottles in it. I have an assortment of avent, pigeon and Dr Browns bottles and they all fit. Out of the bottles I have I would say the pigeon would have the most natural shape to resemble the breast and the teat kind of stretches out a little bit too which again would resemble what your nipple would do. Most bottles you buy come with the smallest teat included but just make sure for a new born you have the slowest flow or level 1 teat as the baby won't be able to handle a fast flow.

It's a very smart idea. I was told to do the same thing but didn't listen & had to run around the chemists trying to decide what to get while I could barely walk.... not nice. I also wished I'd had some formula at home because I didn't have enough milk so had to top up with it.

I used Avent bottles at first and I microwave sterilised them & all bottles will fit in a basic cheapy microwave sterilzier. Later on I changed to sterilizing solution in a big plastic container. This is what I still do & I find it's easy as.

If you do end up bottle feeding when bub is bigger I can recommend the Happy Baby bottles. They are cheap but they flow far better for older bubs than the Avent teats do. These are also what I'd recommend if you end up having to use thickened formula due to a chucky bubby.

The other ladies have answered well, I just want to add my bit of advice - don't be afraid to experiment with different teats. Different shapes suit different mouths!

I had also planned to BF, and bought some Avent bottles & a microwave steriliser in case. I then had trouble BF'ing, and hired a medela pump to use (as this is what my hossie had used). Didn't realise... the medela bottles can't be microwaved, so my microwave steriliser was a big fat waste of money... something to watch out for! If I had my time again I'd just get the more expensive steriliser (electric) or... wait and see what i needed - you can always boil stuff on the stovetop.

I agree with belfie - you can always sterilise on the stovetop, saves a lot of $$. One of the fantastic things about breastfeeding is that you don't need all the paraphelia that comes along with artifical feeding. If you are buying a pump, generally they come with a bottle or two. Then if you go out and have expressed some milk for bub ready all you would need is some teats.

And also - if you are expressing your milk then you don't need to sterilise - just warm soapy water and a rinse will be right. You only really need to sterilise when you use formula.

FWIW - I have a tommee tippee electric steriliser and I use pigeon bottles. They fit all bottles in there, and I used to use a Avent microwave one and used the pigeon ones in there too - but you could really only fit two at a time in there.

My mum is certain that I wont have any problems breastfeeding (I don't know why she's so confident, but she is) but I still want to get a pump so I can express if need be and maybe occaisionally get dh to do feeds (I've heard this is good for bonding- but will it confuse baby?). Do you recommend getting a pump or can you do it, um, manually? I'm feeling very stupid today, my brain is officially mush.

I hope are confident about breastfeeding too :) Confidence is one of the most important aspects of successful breastfeeding.
There is generally a lot of things Dad's can do to bond with their baby, they could be the person bub bathes with, goes on walks with (especially if Dad is happy to wear a sling - very good bonding tool!) or helps to resettle them. Once solids are introduced Dad can play a very prominent role in feeding!

Yes, introducing a bottle early can confuse babies and can affect breastfeeding because babies use their mouths very differently when bottle feeding. With a teat, the milk is easily released into their mouth, whilst with breastfeeding the baby uses more muscles in their mouth/face to feed. Some babies then begin to prefer a bottle because it is easier for them to get the milk and breastfeeding is comprimised.
Whilst your milk supply is establishing (the newborn period, first 3 months) introducing EBM bottle feeds may interfere with your supply, so if you want to do this it may be best to wait until everything has settled down to try your hubby doing the occasional feed. Once or twice a week would probably be sufficient because introducing one bottle feed a day on an ongoing basis will affect your supply - resulting your body making a smaller amount of milk for that time of day.

It really depends on the mother as to what they find easiest, hand expressing or using a pump. I just couldn't get enough out hand expressing (bit of an art to it, a good midwife, lactation consultant / ABA counsellor can teach you). I found an electric pump to work best, but that was just me!

I really recommend getting your hands on a few of the Australian Breastfeeding Association booklets like An Introduction to Breastfeeding & Expressing and Storing Breastmilk as they have plenty of tips (and info about hand expressing too).

I think you are doing the right thing preparing in case you need to. I really did not expect to have issues and that's why I wasn't prepared and wish I had been. However, I wouldn't go to the expense of getting a pump unless you need it, or if you are certain you want to express so your partner can assist with feeding.

We use Avent bottles after trying and failing with others! To steralise I have a BIG pot that I use on the stove to boil everything up once a day. Cost me 15 dollars at Kmart and does the job (at the moment it is just the bottle pot but one day it will have other uses! :))