New Baby – Bottles & Formula
Here comes the third post in my new baby series dedicated to my BFF Lola and her bundle of joy coming on New Years Eve! Lola asked me the question we all ask ourselves before giving birth, what if breastfeeding doesn’t work for me? Real talk, breastfeeding is HARD. I had very unrealistic expectations of breastfeeding as I’d known a few friends to breastfeed their kids with ease (or so I thought). Getting personal here, breastfeeding was very important to me, I knew the health benefits were essential to Lulu. I tried… but here is the thing, no one tells you beforehand how to breastfeed, how to pump, when your milk comes in etc.. I even attended a breastfeeding class at the hospital and I was still lost! The nurses, bless their hearts, tried to help me but they have many patients to attend to. Once we were home, I continued to try, I even hired a lactation consultant. She was out of this world, I highly recommend a lactation consultant, I would even book this in advance for the day you arrive home. We had brought home donor milk we purchased from the hospital to ensure Lulu was fed while I continued to attempt breastfeeding with her. Just a side note, once your little one is home, they eat a ton, basically every thirty minutes to an hour during wake times. This being said, it’s easiest to hang around your house in your nursing bra 😅 Well, if you all remember, we were in the midst of an entire home renovation 😳 I had random men walking around my house from 8-5! I truly believe this is one of the biggest reasons breastfeeding didn’t work out for me. The other is I was struggling with postpartum anxiety. That’s a post for another day 🙃 I do not want this post to discourage anyone from breastfeeding, for some women it really does just click right away, and for others like me if you keep at it you can do it. I believe if I had kept trying we would have figured it out! Ultimately, I exclusively pumped for six months and stored enough frozen milk to supplement with formula to feed Lulu until her first birthday. In hindsight, exclusively pumping was no walk in the park, keep at it ladies you got this!
My hubby purchased a case of ready to go infant formula, it came packed in a little bottle and all you would need to do is twist a nipple on it. He simply put it on the shelf and said to me, I see how hard you are working to feed Lulu, this is here if we need it. I couldn’t believe how much that case of formula sitting on the shelf eased my postpartum anxiety related to feeding. Mama’s, being entirely responsible as the source of nutrition for your little one is a lot of pressure, if putting a case of formula on the shelf you use everyday or never end up using relieves some pressure, do it! We ended up donating the formula once I figured it all out 🤗🍼
Here is the infant formula we kept on standby –
Formula! There are so many formulas on the market, it was overwhelming when I started researching them all. To be honest, I was very disappointed in most of the U.S. based formulas, the first ingredient in basically all of them was sugar. They do this because our breastmilk is sweet. Two of my very good friends raved about Holle Formula, this is a German formula, European formula is prepared with much healthier ingredients than formula in the U.S. Holle has cows milk based formula and goats milk based formula. Goats milk can be easier to digest than cows milk. For our family Holle was just too expensive for the amount we would need to supplement for Lulu. I was back to finding the best U.S. based formula I could. I ended up with Baby’s Only Formula. This formula is made with brown rice syrup instead of sugar. Brown rice syrup is still not great, it is essentially sugar, however it does not contain fructose, it is all glucose. That being said it is believed to not have as many negative effects on your organs as sugar does. A side note, this formula markets as a toddler formula, because this company strongly believes in breast milk only until the age of one. We introduced this formula to Lulu at six months and she had no issues. Baby’s Only also makes lacto-relief and a plant based formula! *Please note, this blog post is simply my personal opinion, I am not a medical professional and am not qualified to give medical based advice or opinions. Please contact your pediatrician regarding any formula before using.*
No matter if you are breastfeeding or formula feeding most likely at some point your little one will drink one or the other or a mixture of both like Lulu did out of a bottle. I loved loved loved the Phillips Avent Natural Bottles.
Until about 10 months Lucy drank around 4 ounces of milk six times a day, so I found the smaller 4 ounce bottles to be ideal. Shop the pic below!
After 12 months she moved to 6 ounces of milk four times a day, so we upgraded to the larger bottles. Shop the pic below!
Phillips Avent also makes glass bottles if you would like to be plastic free. I love this option. Shop the pic below!
Lastly they have pink and blue ones that are just too cute! Shop the pic below!
As I mentioned above this post is entirely my personal opinion. I am not a medical professional, nor am I qualified to give medical advice or opinions. Please refer to your pediatrician regarding what’s best to feed your little one. This is just what worked for our family. I hope you find this post helpful. Please leave your comments below on bottles and formula that worked for you!
