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Date: 12/8/2009 1:20:09 AM
Author: Mara
thanks for that last link QT... interesting info re: nipples best recommended for natural simulation.

for those of you who used glass, any problems with them easily breaking? our whole house is wood floors.
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I never dropped it.
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Date: 12/7/2009 8:10:51 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Mara, I believe BRU ONLY sells BPA free bottles now so any one would work for you. They were harder to find when I was preggo. We used Medela (just screws on the pump), Born Free and Nuby. Not sure Born Free is worth the price now that there are so many options. I liked nuby but switched out the nipples. The shape made it really easy for her to hold it herself around 7 months or so. I played around with different brands of nipples too. They are a cheap way to experiment. Only silicone though b/c for some reason latex (pacis too) freaked me out.
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Tacori, it''s so funny that you mention the lack of BPA-free products when we were pregnant. (I think everyone forgets that I was also a 2007 mom!
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) Lily is about 6 months older than Tessa and the whole BPA thing wasn''t even an issue when she was first born so we were using Playtex bottles. Then it became BPA madness and we spent all that money buying the Born Free bottles which were the only ones available without BPA. The only good thing is that we were able to reuse them with Lucy. And I''m with you on the ick factor with latex nipples and pacis. I don''t know why but they totally grossed me out. We only used silicone! Great minds think alike!!
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Mara, you might want to get a wide-mouth version, and also a standard bottle. We had soothie wide-mouth ones at first, and they just did not work for us. The formula/milk would pool in the side of his mouth, then squirt out sideways when he sucked. It got pretty messy before I realized what the issue was. I then bought a standard Dr. Browns bottle, and while they are a PITA to clean, they worked wonders! I did screw up and bought 4 of the 4oz size, then a month later had to go buy more of the 8oz size. I bought some cheapy evenflow ones last weekend to try out, and after one feeding Kyle spit up several times, so guess I have to stick with the Dr. Browns.
 
Date: 12/8/2009 12:28:37 AM
Author: Mara
yeah it seems like most of the ones i see are BPA free so that makes it easier definitely. it sounds like i can get almost any ''bottle'' and just play around with the nipple? so do most nipples work on most bottles then? there are so many options out there, it''s so hard to know what works with what without just trial and error. i would also rather not pay a lot for the bottles. TG when you got 9oz and tried to use them when A was small do you just fill it halfway or ? i, for whatever reason, thought that would just introduce air?

and this might be a funny Q but if i want to go for a natural nipple so it''s more like a natural boob, is there a keyword that bottle manuf''s use?

and if bf''ing works out then when i go back to work i do plan to pump so it is good to know which would attach to the medela. i read on target that people seemed to use the avent to attach to the medela too.
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Most of them will say "slow flow" but if the nipple is made to mimick breastfeeding, it''ll be advertised on the bottle.

I interchange my avent, ameda, and medela bottles/nipples. I hate the medela nipples. It pops in and then you have to remove the bottle to pop back out. It isn''t a big deal but if you have a greedy baby, like mine, those 2 seconds seems like a lifetime.

We use playtex ventaire slow flow which I love since she has to work to get the milk. Nuk works well also although I''m not too big of a fan. Breastflow is ok too.

We only have one 9oz bottle that I do not use. I''ve been using 5oz bottles and she has been fine so far (she''s 5, almost 6 months). She only eats between 4.5 and 5oz at a time. The Playtex come in 6oz.
 
Glass bottles - we''ve never broken one.

Bottle Size - we have a bunch of 5-oz and only 2 9-oz. When he left daycare at 7 mo, he was still predominantly using the 5 oz.

Freezing milk- Don''t know if I mention this, but I''ve always used a milk freezer tray instead of freezer bags. Like this one, only a different brand. Then you don''t have to remember to buy more bags if you''re in danger of running out. I''m all for things that allow me to buy less and simplify shopping trips.
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It''s basically a glorified ice cube tray, only they''re sized so that you can put the cubes through the mouth of a bottle without thawing them which is a plus. And it looks like you can also freeze baby food in it, if you decide to make your own.
 
Most nipples can be used. Nuby has these strange no drip nipples that are kinda hard for baby to use so I would use Dr. Brown or Evenflo nipples. NO PROBLEM. It is cheaper to play around with those than the bottles.

Curly, glad I am not the only one with an aversion to latex. Maybe b/c we have a family friend (a surgeon ironically) with a HORRIBLE allergy. She has a special OR where no latex products are used. Silicone just seems cleaner. Glad you are part of our small class of "2007"!

Blen, I think most are BPA free. Shop at BRU to be on the safe side. I know most nubys are. What I learned when I researched was to avoid CLEAR plastic. If you look at born free for example it is kinda milky looking. BPA was my personal issue. It was very unknown so I did a lot of research and my friends thought I was crazy.

Mustang, I liked the wide mouth bottles too once we switched to formula. My little piggy was using 11 oz bottles towards the end.
 
Date: 12/8/2009 11:39:14 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Most nipples can be used. Nuby has these strange no drip nipples that are kinda hard for baby to use so I would use Dr. Brown or Evenflo nipples. NO PROBLEM. It is cheaper to play around with those than the bottles.

Curly, glad I am not the only one with an aversion to latex. Maybe b/c we have a family friend (a surgeon ironically) with a HORRIBLE allergy. She has a special OR where no latex products are used. Silicone just seems cleaner. Glad you are part of our small class of ''2007''!

Blen, I think most are BPA free. Shop at BRU to be on the safe side. I know most nubys are. What I learned when I researched was to avoid CLEAR plastic. If you look at born free for example it is kinda milky looking. BPA was my personal issue. It was very unknown so I did a lot of research and my friends thought I was crazy.

Mustang, I liked the wide mouth bottles too once we switched to formula. My little piggy was using 11 oz bottles towards the end.
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Yup, you are not alone. Latex weirded me out too. I used silicone pacis.
 
i asked about the glass bottles since it seems like kids like to throw them... but i am clumsy too sooo. hehee.

i did read that it''s not recommended to store breast milk in glass bottles, did anyone do this or do you know why?

i found an avent newborn nipple 5oz pack of 2 on target for $14 so that doesn''t seem too bad to try to start.
 
Date: 12/8/2009 2:16:49 PM
Author: Mara
i asked about the glass bottles since it seems like kids like to throw them... but i am clumsy too sooo. hehee.


i did read that it's not recommended to store breast milk in glass bottles, did anyone do this or do you know why?


i found an avent newborn nipple 5oz pack of 2 on target for $14 so that doesn't seem too bad to try to start.
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Mara the evenflo ones I am talking about (they have them at Target and BRU, everywhere) are even much cheaper than that. I think they are called Evenflo "classic" and they come in colored plastic or glass. And I think they were 3 bottles for about $5. VERY reasonable!

We stored BM in the medela bottles. Those were easy because they worked on the pump and then right into the fridge and then stick a nipple on it and you could feed with them too.
 
Date: 12/8/2009 2:16:49 PM
Author: Mara
i asked about the glass bottles since it seems like kids like to throw them... but i am clumsy too sooo. hehee.

i did read that it''s not recommended to store breast milk in glass bottles, did anyone do this or do you know why?

i found an avent newborn nipple 5oz pack of 2 on target for $14 so that doesn''t seem too bad to try to start.
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They say you aren''t supposed to if the milk is being stored for less than 24 hours because it reduces the antibodies. Something about the white blood cells sticking to the glass bottle but I''m not going to pretend to know the science behind it.

I used the medela bottles to pump and store. I didn''t have a freezer stash so don''t know much about freezing. I would pump for the next day or two and just store in the fridge.
 
Date: 12/8/2009 11:39:14 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
Most nipples can be used. Nuby has these strange no drip nipples that are kinda hard for baby to use so I would use Dr. Brown or Evenflo nipples. NO PROBLEM. It is cheaper to play around with those than the bottles.

Curly, glad I am not the only one with an aversion to latex. Maybe b/c we have a family friend (a surgeon ironically) with a HORRIBLE allergy. She has a special OR where no latex products are used. Silicone just seems cleaner. Glad you are part of our small class of ''2007''!

Blen, I think most are BPA free. Shop at BRU to be on the safe side. I know most nubys are. What I learned when I researched was to avoid CLEAR plastic. If you look at born free for example it is kinda milky looking. BPA was my personal issue. It was very unknown so I did a lot of research and my friends thought I was crazy.

Mustang, I liked the wide mouth bottles too once we switched to formula. My little piggy was using 11 oz bottles towards the end.
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I need to find some of those 11oz bottles! We have to steal the bottle from him and refill. He''s not the happiest when I do that...

And I did try those $5 evenflo ones, that''s what had him spitting up on Sunday
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. Not sure if he just got more air in him than he was used to, or if he didn''t know how to suck them compared to the Dr. Brown ones?
 
TGal, glad curly and I aren''t the only weirdos!

Mustang, the 11 oz bottles were the Nubys. Loved them. 3 for $8.99 even with the replacement nipple they are pretty cheap and like I said I thought they were really cute.

I didn''t have a huge freezer stash but I used the plastic freezer bags (weren''t medela. Can''t remember what brand but they had a handle) and then put each one in a freezer zip-loc just in case.
 
Tacori
I don''t like latex nipples either. I think the color of the latex looks weird, and there''s latex allergy on top of that. We use silicone nipples and pacis.

I stored breastmilk in lansinoh freezer bags for my freezer stash. I always give Meena "fresh" breastmilk I pumped the day before, and I stored those in the BornFree and Medela bottles. Whatever she doesn''t need from the day before I freezed. That reminded me that I need to throw out all my old freezed breastmilk. Eeek.
 
thanks ladies. i did see the evenflo 5 pack for like $7 on target, Tacori, but a lot of the reviews seemed iffy...i wasn't sure.

a lot of the reviews for the dr brown bottles said to really only bother getting them if your baby has colic or special feeding needs because they are a PITA to clean and are expensive. so i thought we'd wait on that one.

we might just get the avent 2 pack so we just have something on hand to start with in case. and keep the medela bottles in mind for when i pump in the future (hopefully).
 
I don''t know if you have them in the USA...

I use Tommee Tippee ''Closer to Nature'' bottles - they''re boob shaped and slow flow, supposedly as much like the real thing as possible. The teats are silicone and they are really easy to clean plus you can sterilise them in the microwave in 3 minutes.
 
Mara,

I have the Dr. Brown bottles and it really isn''t that big of a PITA to clean them, it literally takes 10 seconds. I chose them over the Avent because a lot of the reviews I read said that Avent bottles leaked once they went BPA free and I did not want to deal with the possibility of leaky bottles. Another reason I chose them is because they have the slow flow, so the baby has to work to get the milk, and some of the reviews said that if the baby gets the milk to easily they may start refusing the breast. I don''t know if that''s true, but Olivia has been taking the Dr. Brown''s great for the last week.
 
thanks NB...i was a little put off by anything referencing PITA to clean esp given the potential newborn frazzles we''d be dealing with, hahaha. the avent newborn is a slow flow too apparently. i''ll have to go check these out in person at the store.
 
We used Playtex drop ins and LOVED them.
 
is it necessary to have a co-sleeper/pack n play or can we just put the crib in our room for the first month or however long?
 
It''s not necessary, but there are some advantages. Those options would take up less room than a crib, which could be useful if your bedroom is on the smaller side. You can also travel with them, which you can''t really do with a crib.
 
before my friend gave us her Eddie Bauer bassinet we were going to get the pack n''play to keep in the LR, but now that we have the bassinet it is small enough to wheel from room to room so we are holding off on the PNP til we know if we actually need it later. plus our crib would be a PITA to move from room to room and i know a lot of people have said their cribs dont fit through the doors so just make sure yours does.
 
Date: 12/9/2009 2:12:21 PM
Author: jcrow
is it necessary to have a co-sleeper/pack n play or can we just put the crib in our room for the first month or however long?
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We didn''t use the crib for the first few months..baby is so tiny and I wanted her closer. I wasn''t a fan of the PNP though (I was in an apt and it was too big and bulky!), so did a Moses Basket in a rocking stand. Bassinet is the same idea, Co-sleeper too..that part is probably preference. So I would say yes,have a smaller option to put by the bed for those first few months. Great registry item!
 
so someone bought our born free newborn set from our registry in the last 2 days while i was trying to figure out what to buy myself, so yay. and my friend gave me some of the bottles she used at my shower (filled with candies) and they are the evenflo glass bottles. so now i have 3 glass bottles and i''ll have 2 of the born free bpa plastic ones. so i will start with this and see how it goes. thanks for all the feedback!!!
 
Mara-what Eddie Bauer bassinett do you have? We have one, I think its called rocking musical or something. Anyway the wheels on it I found to be totally useless and also a bit of a safety hazard. We rolled it one night from the bedroom to the living room and 3 wheels came off mid-commute. It didn''t tip over and Sophia wasn''t inside but after that we just took the wheels off. I love it though. It is so compact and fits in any space. We also got ours brand new as a gift (it was a coworkers but she already had 2 and waited too long to return so she gave it to us).
 
fiery i am not sure, our friends gave it to us, they used it with their son last year. it's wooden, and has a bassinet area and then a big shelf area underneath it. it does have some type of musical element but i dont know if it rocks. i'll have greg double check the wheels! i love that it fits through our doors.
 
Any ideas of toys that your baby under 1 year liked?? I don''t have any baby toys for Wes, and I feel like I''m going to need something to keep his attention or at least give him something to look at. Wanted to get something to go in his Christmas stocking or put under the tree.

I was thinking I could get him the Sophie the Giraffe teether. What about rattles, do babies really like those?
 
Date: 12/10/2009 6:22:13 PM
Author: sunkist
Any ideas of toys that your baby under 1 year liked?? I don''t have any baby toys for Wes, and I feel like I''m going to need something to keep his attention or at least give him something to look at. Wanted to get something to go in his Christmas stocking or put under the tree.


I was thinking I could get him the Sophie the Giraffe teether. What about rattles, do babies really like those?
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Mine LOVED sophie (cheap on amazon right now!) and they did like rattles, maracas, anything that made noise.

They also really liked plastic keys and toys that had a lot of hanging things on them.
 
Date: 12/10/2009 6:22:13 PM
Author: sunkist
Any ideas of toys that your baby under 1 year liked?? I don''t have any baby toys for Wes, and I feel like I''m going to need something to keep his attention or at least give him something to look at. Wanted to get something to go in his Christmas stocking or put under the tree.

I was thinking I could get him the Sophie the Giraffe teether. What about rattles, do babies really like those?
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Anything by Lamaze - Daisy has the doll, the peacock and some wrist and ankle bands with bugs on.

Anything by Jelly Kitten - we have the entire Skidaddle Zebra set plus a load of other stuff and they are all definite favourites.

Books - Usborne soft books are great.

I bought Daisy a Sophie and she had one chew and threw it across the room. Never picked it up since despite my cajoling and waiting for full-on teething. I think my Sophie is destined for my future nephew! But, 99% of people I know who have one love it!
 
Date: 12/7/2009 5:45:21 PM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 12/5/2009 8:44:16 PM
Author: Blenheim
Just wanted to make sure that I was correct in ruling out soft structured carriers. There are a couple of different ways you could go.

I''d personally go with a mei tai. There is a learning curve for putting them on, and it does get easier with practice - thre are instructional videos on youtube if you''d like to take a look and see if it seems like too much work to you. I''m not sure exactly what you have in the UK. I like the BabyHawk. Freehand also makes mei tais, as does Ellaroo - and I know there are others.

I know some people who swear by their ring slings, and you are able to do front, hip, and back carries with them. I''ve tried a back carry and it did not feel secure to me personally though. I also don''t feel like they distribute weight as well as something that also goes around your waist, as far as being easy on your back goes. But they are more compact and, once you get the hang of it, they''re faster to put on than a mei tai. Sakura Bloom ring slings are supposed to be excellent, and they are very pretty and made of silk.

I also know people who swear by wraps, and a woven wrap (like a Didymos) would fulfill all of your needs except ease of putting on. Again, it''s supposed to get much easier with practice, but I honestly don''t have the patience.

There are youtube videos on how to use all of the above options, if you''d like a visual demonstration.
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Thanks Blen,

I''ve found a place in London that specialises in slings so I''ve called them and I''m going over with Daisy this week to try loads of them out with their resident expert on hand. They don''t have the BabyHawk, but they do have most of the others I''ve heard of.

Fingers crossed they have something good as I''m planning on lending my Tricotti to a friend whose baby has terrible colic and will only sleep in the Baby Bjorn - not great for spinal development.
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Update:

I came home with an Ellaroo Mei Tai. Seems great although still a bit scared of tying her on my back alone, but D loves being in it which is a big relief!
 
Thanks Neat and Pandora!! Will look at the other toy suggestions :)

Pandora I hope you like the Mei Tai. Let us know!

My hubby just bought us an Ergo Sport carrier. I think he got the infant insert. We''ll see how that works too.
 
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