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)

why i am not (and will never be) a stay at home mom...

During maternity leave I would have done ANYTHING to be a stay at home mom and raise my sweet newborn son for years if not decades.  I looked into how to pull it off financially with side jobs, etsy shops, even selling our home in our expensive neighborhood and moving to the sticks to raise our brood of children.  My hormones were on fire and I was determined to be a stay at home mom.  

Now I realize why 6 weeks, 8 weeks, or even 12 weeks is not enough maternity leave for new moms, we are hormonal, delusional, and not even in the right mindset to return to the workforce, but we do.  We may cry on the way to work, in the bathroom, and even quietly at our desks, but we return to work before we are ready.

Days turned into weeks back at work and probably a month or so before my son's first birthday, everything began to find its balance.  Bedtime for my son evened out finally to 7pm so he was no longer napping the minute he got home from daycare and mornings became an easy routine where we all managed to get out the door somewhat on time.  Then when he started on whole milk & the school food plan at one year, all that time dealing with bottles and mini containers of chopped up f00d became time gained and we all started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Going to work started to feel like a vacation compared to staying home with my ever growing son who needed more and more stimulation as each day passed.  

Today was the end of a very long 3 day weekend and I realize more than ever that for 40 hours a week, I am meant to be at work.  I love my son...madly.  I love every moment we have together.  But taking care of a child, even if it is my own, full time, is truly not for me.  Honestly, I feel it is way harder to be a stay at home mom than a working mom.  I enjoy adult conversations. going to the bathroom by myself, and eating lunch.  All things that do not take place at home with a toddler.  Sometimes when I am on the elevator alone at work I can't help but smile, the feeling of truly being alone is not something that you come by too often as the mother of young children.

I am now a little excited for Mondays.  Yes I am jealous of the stay at home moms for brief moments when I am tired and feel like I can't keep this life together anymore, but I know that this is the right life for me.  And if you are a stay at home mom right now and happy with what you do, it is indeed the right life for you...we are so lucky that we get to choose our life.  It wasn't that long ago that staying home with the kids was the only option for a mother.

As spring break approaches, I am honestly a little intimidated by a week off with my son as I know I can't provide him the stimulation and exertion of energy that he requires and receives at school in a classroom filled with 15 kids connected to a playground.  But I plan to spend every waking minute with him and take in every second because I am a working mom whose time is limited with my son, but at the same time is just enough.

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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