Hawaii Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
BR: poll: bottles/pumping storage system
I know it often depends on the child, but what bottles do you use (and like) and if you pump on a regular basis what is your routine for storage during the day, long term, bottle prep for the next day?
We might introduce a bottle next week so that has me thinking about what I will do on an every day basis once I return to work.
I have some Born Free (glass) that I planned to try first and I have already started a freezer stash using lansinoh bags but want to know what works for everyone else. My friend was recently telling me how great the drop in system (playtex) is for pumping and taking bottles in to daycare...
Re: BR: poll: bottles/pumping storage system
We tried every bottle with Ashton since he such a hard time with him. I did start out on the playtex system, but ended up with Dr. Browns. They are a big PITA to clean, etc. but Ashton is such a gassy baby.
Oh and I used to use the Medela bags but I found they didn't do too well it you want to freeze more than 2 ounces at a time, so I started to use lansinoh and I love them! I've never had an issues (maybe one leak).
I guess I am lucky since I send Ashton to a home day care. I just send my milk with him in the morning and have a few bottles that are kept at her house. She washes them and just let's me know if the nipples are getting too old or what have you. I love the way it's worked out.
We use Avent bottles.
I pump at work and use the Medela bottles for storage and then transfer into the Avent bottles for the next day. If I have any extra, I will put it into a Lansinoh bag and freeze.
Bella will ONLY take the playtex drop ins with the latex slow flow nipple. We have 4 bottles total and that's enough. Our daycare provider rinses them and sends them home each day, we wash them and take them back the next day.
I take frozen milk to daycare and she (my daycare provider) stores it in her freezer and then lets me know when we are getting low. She thaws it just prior to each feeding. I freeze in bottles that I get from work or lanolin bags. I HATED the medela bags and the gerber ones leaked for me.
I have an extra set of pump parts at work too so I don't have to worry about forgetting them. I always wash them at work and leave them in my locker there. I also use the medela steam bags and like them.
We're using Playtex Drop-Ins w/ slow flow nipples (4 oz. size). I hate the waste of the sposie drop-in, but it's what's working for Libby right now. We did try First Years Breastflows (5 oz.) and she was gagging. We also tried First Years Soothies ( 5 oz.) and Playtex VentAire (6 oz. side with Wide, Slow Flow Nipples).
As for storage, I am using Sensible Lines trays. Once frozen, I transfer the "momsicles" into ziploc freezer bags. I am not planning on a huge freezer stash right now because I've read that it's far better to feed what you pump and just use the frozen milk as back-up, but not the main supply. I have about 60 oz. of frozen milk right now. I can easily get 5-6 oz with double pumping 5-7 minutes using my Medela FreeStyle.
Libby is at 8 feedings a day...roughly 3 am, 6 am, 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm and midnight, so we'll be doing bottles for the 9 am and 3 pm feeds while I am at work. The plan is for me to nurse Libby before I head to work (I'll work 7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.) and pump twice while I am there (mid-morning around 9 a.m. and mid-afternoon around 3 p.m.) and go home for lunch and nurse her (around noon). She will be given the bottle of milk pumped from the day before (refrigerated and warmed up) in the mid-morning and late-afternoon on work days. On weekends we'll just give her one bottle so she stays in the habit. It also affords me up to 3 hours of "me" time where I can leave her to run errands, etc. I'll pump at least once or twice on Saturdays and Sundays and have that milk ready for Monday. Any extra (from Friday and the weekends) I'll add to my freezer stash (so maybe 15-20 oz. week will be frozen).
I pump my milk into the Medela bottles that came with the pump. I consolidate the milk into one of those bottles and keep in the insulated carrier with ice that came with the pump. This goes into the fridge at work along with my pump parts in a ziploc (to keep between sessions, then I bring them home and wash and santize them for the next day). When I get home, I consolidate all the milk I've pumped into two 9 oz. glass baby bottles (I bought the Walgreens ones on sale for $2.50 each...not ever to use to feed Libby, but they're great for storing milk in the fridge). J or my mom uses this milk for her Playtex nursers (or I'll prepare a couple of bottles for them and leave them in the fridge for when they're needed). I know you can store fresh milk in the fridge up to 8 days, but if 3-4 have gone by and it's not been used I go ahead and freeze it.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
this is what I was kind of planning to do. I have been pumping lately to get familiar with the pump and I have also been using some pumped milk to mix with his powdered probiotics that I feed him through a supplemental nurser (small tube I tape to my boob that is hooked up to a syringe).
When I do actually go back to work I want to pump fresh bottles for the next day and only freeze if I have extra.
DH was home today so I decided to just put the probiotics and breastmilk in a born free bottle and he took it no problem. He was in his normal eating every 3 hours pattern (so not starving or anything). I nursed him for about 5 mins then DH offered the bottle, he sucked down the 2 oz. I had in there and then wanted more so I nursed him for quite a while after. Hopefully this continues to be the norm??
Follow up question - those that have babies that went through quite a few different bottles, how did you know one type wasn't going to work. (I don't want to open the large box of Born Frees until I know he will continue to like them).
Finally, as much I also don't like the idea of disposable drop ins I'm kind of thinking that might be easy b/c I can go ahead and just leave the drop ins at work (daycare is at work) with this system, but I guess I would still need to prepare/sanitize the other pieces at home each night...
good idea. also, I need to look into the steam bags.
With my oldest, we had Avent bottles and in the beginning she refused to take the bottle, but I kept offering it to her and one day she just took it. With my youngest, I tried Avent bottles and she initially took them, but then I slacked off in offering her a bottle (HUGE mistake on my part) and she refused the bottle. I tried for months without success. I decided to try different bottles and sippy cups to see if she would drink from them, but she wouldn't take anything. I decided to just go back to Avent bottles and my DCP was able to get her to take the bottle after a few days.
we use dr brown's bottles and thankfully they screw into my pump parts so i can pump directly into those bottles for both storage and feeding. (before i discovered this i would just pump into the medela storage bottles and then transfer to the dr brown's or storage bags). when i go to work i bring a large ziploc baggy and put the pump parts in there and then stick the bag w/the parts in the fridge along w/the milk so i don't have to wash the parts after each pumping session, just at the end of the day. (though that makes the flanges cold when you first use them again! LOL) i've heard those medela sterilizing bags are nice, too...though technically you can wash all your pump parts and bottles with just soap and warm water.
any extra milk i have we store in the lansinoh storage bags, though we don't have a huge freezer stash b/c i've been dealing w/thrush but it's ok since i work part time so i usually just use a bag from the freezer stash the first day i am back at work for that particular week and then the rest of the time she eats what i pump while i am at work. every baby is different but i tried what Lori does this week b/c i had a 2 hr lunch...so i went home and nursed her to knock out one pumping session... well, she doesn't like the bottle as is and this week for the first time ever she started reverse cycling and i was dead to the world the next day at work b/c she was up every 2 hrs nursing in the middle of the night! so, i doubt i will be nursing her at lunch anymore even if i get a long lunch!
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
WOW. I'm jealous. I was stoked to get 4 oz the other night when I went out. And that was 4 hours after my previous pumping session.
yikes! I hope this doesn't happen to us b/c I plan to nurse at lunch everyday... maybe more.
We had started with Avent bottles and Dr. Browns, but since Alexa takes any bottle (easy baby) we switched to Medela bottles to make my life easier. So... I pump into the small Medela bottles, then use the SAME bottles the next day for daycare.
I use the Freestyle pump and have THREE complete sets to pump with. So that means 6 bottles, 6 breast shields and 6 pump sets. At work, I pull out a clean set, attach it to the Freestyle, pump for about 10-15 mins, then consolidate the two bottles into one, put it in my cooler bag, which I put in the fridge, and put the dirty parts into my "dirty" ziplock.
At home each night, I wash them all and set them out to dry. My MH does while I am nursing or if I am pressed for time. Then I pack up the clean/dry parts the next day.
The 3 bottles of milk that I got from pumping the pvs day are sent to daycare. About 5 oz each. I put a Stage 2 nipple and cap on each one.
Any extra milk is frozen in 3 oz or 5 oz increments in Medela bags. I have always used them and have no problem, they work great. I have 100+ oz in our stand-alone freezer. I thought that was a lot when I went back to work, but TG I have it bc I have needed to dip in to my freezer stash from time to time.
HTH!
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog