*If you aren't interested in reading my gripe about bottle confusion (and I wouldn't blame you), scroll on down for a new post about other stuff.Ok, so I know that many aspects of baby care are expensive and involve lots of decisions. Ok, ALL aspects of baby care seem to be expensive and involve decisions. But some of them just aren't that hard. Carseat buying? Lots of decisions, but in the end you buy one and you're done. Toys? Also decisions, also money, but totally fun to spend on. Clothes? Yeah, they grow out of them fast, but also fun and cute.
Bottles? One word: Sheesh! Fast flow, slow flow, orthodontic, BPA-free, drop-in, rings, caps, cleaning brushes. It's enough to make your head spin. "But Mary, isn't Rachel like 5 1/2 months old? Haven't you figured out what works yet?" NO! And we've spent a fortune trying to find what works. Allow me to inventory our auspicious collection seen above:
8 4-ounce Playtex Drop-in bottles
8 8-ounce Playtex Drop-in bottles
4 5-ounce Soothie bottles
1 9-ounce Soothie bottle
2 extra Slow flow Soothie nipples
3 4-ounce Avent bottles
3 9-ounce Gerber Advanced bottles
14 rings and caps for Playtex bottles
2 rings whose caps disappeared into the bottle vortex and are nowhere to be found, rendering them now useless
12 Slow flow Playtex nipples (6 latex, 6 silicone)
12 Fast flow Playtex nipples (5 latex, 7 silicone)
4 Variable flow Playtex nipples
2 Orthodontic Playtex nipples that don't say what flow they are
A box (our gazillionth) of Playtex drop-in liners
3 Ventaire bottles that Rachel stopped liking after a month that we gave to Nick and Carisa
A partridge in a pear tree (not shown)
It seems like it should be easy. Put formula in bottle. Feed baby. Noooo.
Gripe #1: Nipple flow
Slow was fine at first. Then Rachel grew. Now Slow takes foreeeverrrrr, but is still the only kind she can handle if she's really tired and not concentrating on the task at hand, so we have to keep them around. Playtex nipples were working great, but they really only have Fast and Slow. Fast sometimes works, but sometimes causes more formula on baby than in baby, although the latex Fast seem to be slower than the silicone fast - why?? They have "variable" flow, but we still can't figure out what that really means or if they work.
The Gerber advanced bottles (which I can't remember where I bought and cannot find anymore) have a medium flow and they work GREAT, but we only have 3, and they're not "BPA free" (see Gripe #2).
Gripe #2: BPA
So when Rachel was first born I heard all the hoopla about how many plastic bottles contain (or are made from, or something) BPA, which if you believe the nay-sayers, will poison your child. I kind of shrugged it off, because in my thinking, would they sell bottles that poison babies? I mean, seriously? Plus we mostly used Playtex, which are BPA free anyway, so I didn't really have to think about it. But now Rachel loves those Gerber bottles, and they are not BPA free. I really have no idea what to think about it.
Gripe #3: Soothie - a blessing and a curse
Soothie pacifiers are those green round ones that the hospital gives out. They are also the only pacifier that Rachel has ever liked. So when we found Soothie bottles, we thought, "Golden! That will be the answer!!" Um, notsomuch. Formula ends up on outside of baby with "Stage 2" nipple, and I don't have the patience to try the Stage 1 ones again.
Gripe #4 (Jeez Mary, how many gripes do you have? A lot. Are you still reading?) Drop-ins
Ok, so despite nipple flow problems, Rachel does relatively well on Playtex bottles. However, we have to constantly buy more of the baggies. The baggies do not measure liquid accurately, so water must be measured, then poured into bottle. Plus, the latex nipples (Rachel's fav) say to not wash in the dishwasher, so I wash them by hand. Ugh.
And let's not even go into the $100+ a month investment that is formula.
Conclusion: I really don't have one. I just kind of wanted to vent a bit. And maybe someone out there has suggestions for us. Really, though, I guess I shouldn't complain. Rachel is infinitely worth it of course, and I'm grateful that there are so many options in the first place. We sure love that little babykins, milk mustache and all.
8 comments:
hahahahahahahahaha... that's funny!!! I have had the SAME problems!!! I just recently gave ALL my bottles away except for the ventair ones, they are my favorite, but are expensive and have lots of annoying pieces.
Recently, I bought a 3 pack of the walmart brand, and surprisingly, I like them! They come with slow flow nipples, so I had to buy the fast flow ones, which in my opinion, weren't very fast.. so maybe they would work good for Rachel as a medium flow. Also.. I know you arent supposed to do this, but I do it anyway... I cut Dawson's slow flow nipples SLIGHTLY so it will come out faster... works for me..
Good luck!!
You might think that breastfeeding is easier, but many women would say that it's not. Isn't it funny that such a little person who really only needs love, food and cleaning up is so time-consuming? I think that's part of the reason we love them so much: because we have to devote our entire lives to them.
LOVE the picture!
you should coupon shop, we do and it saves a TON and there are always coupons for baby stuff
I do coupon shop quite regularly, but it definitely still adds up!
Just a couple of ideas! We found we liked the drop-ins with Christian and have used them ever since. Who has room to store all of that? We cut the slow flow nipples a little too for that in between stage. Worked for us. As for expense, Target has some store brand bottle liners that work almost as well as Playtex. (One or two out of a hundred may leak.) I don't know which brand of formula little boo likes but Target also has a store brand that is identical to Enfamil and costs $12 less (less than half the price). As for measuring your water, I wouldn't worry about it so much. I worried with Christian that everything was perfectly measured but I didn't have time to do that with the other three and they lived! Good luck in your decisions. She's a cutie!
I had the same problem with the low flow nipples. I just used a large size needle and poked an extra hole. It's smaller than the normal hole, but gave a little bit more milk. Goodluck!
I guess it might be too late, but because I couldn't nurse Reid we used AVENT bottles because they have three different bottle sizes and like 4 or 5 different nipple speeds. They were all interchangeable, and they have sippy-cup like tops you can get for when she gets older. It is a lot of money...but you're right, it's totally worth it!
I would second what Brudcrew said. We had lot of problems with bottles with both our boys. We made extra holes/made holes bigger on the nipples also. And with measuring the water, don't worry too much, the drop in bags are fine-much better than the old school collapsed ones, which measure horribly. I found with the drop ins it is soo much less clean up, (we just have to clean the nipples (and then the bottle part when it was dirty or once a week) and I didn't have to buys a thousand bottles because I didnt want to clean them all the time. All we need is as many bottles as we use in a day. Also, Walmart has a generic brand for the drop ins and the cost was worth the space and not having to clean so much. We also used ventaire..good bottles but just too many pieces. We use the parent's choice (walmart) brand formula when they get to 6 mo-ish. It is half the price and has to meet all the FDA requirements that the name brands do. And my kids didn't notice any difference. Good luck! Fun times!
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