bottles of breastmilk...a review

Since Cole was born 5 weeks early most of his feedings involve a bottle of pumped breast milk.  We have been trying to nurse more lately but to ensure he is getting enough milk each day we have been pretty attached to bottles.  When he first started bottle feeding I noticed he was spitting up and even vomiting at times after eating, almost like it was too much milk too fast for him and the minutes even hours of feedings became quite a mess.  So we tried tons of different bottles to try to reduce the spit up and found a few that helped and a ton that didn't help along the way.  So, when I was asked to try out The First Years Breastflow Bottles I jumped at the chance...   The starter set arrived and comes with two 5 oz. bottles with slow flow nipples, two 9 oz. bottles with medium flow nipples, 4 storage lids (LOVE), a container for formula or snacks, and a bottle brush.  We tried them out for a few days and Cole did great with them!  There was definitely less spit up and fussiness after feedings.  So excited to find a bottle that works!

Pros:  

  • Mimics the feel of breastfeeding
  • Baby Controls the Flow - this seems to be key to less spit up
  • Dishwasher Safe

Cons:

  • So many parts - any bottle with more than 2 parts is that much tougher to clean - means you have to dissemble and reassemble each feeding - can be time consuming.

'm still on the hunt for a 2 piece bottle that reduces spit up - any suggestions are welcome

The First Years Breastflow Bottles are available on Amazon.

(please note that while this is a sponsored post, the words and review are all my own)

almost a year of breastfeeding...

This past weekend, I packed up all but a few of my breastfeeding supplies including my pump and stored it all away for the next baby.  Mason was no longer interested in breastfeeding and I was barely producing any milk when I pumped at work, so after agonizing over this decision for a few weeks, (and experiencing any and all forms of mom guilt during that time) I decided it was time to just stop pumping during the day.  I will continue to breastfeed in the morning for another month or so (I am not quite ready to give up our mornings together just yet) but at this point my breastfeeding journey is coming to an end.

He is almost 11 months old and is now obsessed with real food and essentially weaned himself over the past three months.  Everything I read recommends breastfeeding for at least the first 12 months while some recommend 2 years.  But 11 months was our number and I just have to accept that.   

I just can't believe that breastfeeding, something that was so tough and brought on so much heartache and anxiety would be so painful to let go of.  I was devastated all day putting the pump and bottles away, not devastated to be done with breastfeeding or pumping (definitely won't miss pumping) but that my baby was no longer a baby.

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pump and work...work and pump

It feels like I am constantly pumping at work to keep up my milk supply and meet Mason's needs.  I technically need to pump 3 times a day while I am at work for at least 20 minutes each session to produce about 15oz of breastmilk and even then I still need to supplement his bottles with about 6 oz of formula to meet his 21oz daily requirement.  It honestly feels like every second I turn around, I need to pump again - some days I feel like I get nothing done and the days I only pump twice I feel like a horrible mother with more guilt on my shoulders than I can handle.  

The act of pumping at work is insane.  I go into this little room, strip off the top half of my clothes, hook up to all the gadgets (which seriously needs to be revamped completely - I should be able to push a button at my desk and be pumping by now), then sit there as milk is pumped vigorously out of my body.  The fact that I take my shirt off in any form at work is completely inappropriate to begin with, add on top of that expressing milk and storing it in a bag at my desk, even weirder.  I have put together some of the best advice I received for pumping at work and that I strictly abide by:

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