Tip of the Day

If you use Dr. Browns bottles like I do you have the Bottle Cleaning Brushes that come with them. These little brushes are great for cleaning your bottles and lots of other handy uses. I use my brush to clean the small parts inside of the connector of my Medela Breastpump Shield. It also comes in handy when you need to clean those hard to reach spots in your child's sippy cup, straw cups, or accordion straws. The cleaning brush for the 8 oz bottles also works well when cleaning out medicine droppers. If you don't have a Dr. Browns bottle brush then you can either buy one or you can purchase a Sippy Straw Cleaner, which is the same exact thing but with a handle on one. The Sippy Straw Cleaner is actually more expensive so I would recommend just buying the Dr. Browns cleaning brush.

Baby Bottle Review - Dr. Brown's vs Playtex vs Medela

Before my daughter was born I bought the Playtex VentAire Wide Bottle because I read it was a good bottle for breastfeeding mothers to use to avoid nipple confusion. I also liked that the air flow design helped reduce spit up and helped with gas.

Playtex VentAire Wide Bottle

I tried using this bottle to feed my daughter but she didn't like it. It was very hard to grip since the bottle was large and the angle made it awkward to hold.  This bottle also didn't fit in my sterilizer or bottle warmer. Each bottle came with a lot of parts, 6 total which made cleaning the bottles a time consuming chore. Since my daughter didn't like this bottle I switched to the Medela bottles that came with my pump.

Medela 5-ounce Breatsmilk bottle

My daughter liked these bottles much better. They were very easy to use and since they were compatible with my breast pump it was easy to just put a nipple on the bottle that I had used to pump my milk. Each bottle only has four parts so it was very easy to clean and since it was a standard size it fit in my bottle warmer and sterilizer. This bottle did have some issues. First it didn't help with spit up or gas. Many times when my daughter would drink her milk the nipple would become flat and eventually slip into the bottle making it impossible to get milk out. I decided to look for a better bottle solution. I went to Buy Buy Baby and they recommended the Dr. Brown's bottles.

Dr. Brown's® 4-Ounce Baby Bottle

My daughter absolutely loves this bottle! She is able to get the milk out without any issues. I don't see her struggling with the nipple as she did with the Medela. It has also helped with her spit up and gas problems. She really is doing well with this bottle.  Since it's a standard size it fits my bottle warmer and sterilizer. The only problem I have with this bottle is the many parts it has, 6 total per bottle. It is very time consuming to clean these bottles and you can only use the cleaning brush provided to clean some of the smaller parts. Since my daughter seems to be doing really well with these bottles I don't mind the extra time spent.

Is your baby gaining enough weight?

As a mother of a preemie weight gain was a very important issue to me. If your breastfeeding sometimes its hard to tell if your child is getting enough to eat because you don't know how many ounces they have taken in. I found a great article on baby weight gain by a board-certified pediatrician and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. This article covers topics such as
How much weight should a baby gain?, How often should a baby eat?, When should you worry about your baby’s weight?, What to do if your baby is gaining too much weight, and What to do if your baby is gaining too little weight. It's important to remember that most babies lose two to three ounces of weight in the first 24 hours. Your newborn is getting enough to eat if she has frequent bowel movements and is content for two to three hours after feeding. Your baby may be hungrier and need to eat more during growth spurts (usually around three, six and nine weeks of age). Babies typically double their birth weight by five months of age and triple their birth weight by 12 months of age. If your baby is not gaining enough, talk to your doctor about ways to increase your milk supply, such as drinking fenugreek tea, or about supplementing with formula.

Breastmilk Storage

You can find a guideline for breastmilk storage at Ameda.com.

Milk should not spoil before the times listed, but the longer milk is stored, the more nutritional value is lost. The living parts of a mother's milk kill bacteria, making it much hardier and longer-lasting.

The guidelines say that freshly pumped milk can be stored without cooling for 10 hours, if your room is 66°F to 72°F. If your room is warmer than this, the guidelines change. In a 79°F room, your milk is good for a shorter time — 4-6 hours. If your milk is kept at 66°F to 72°F for up to 10 hours, you can then put it in the fridge for up to eight days. After eight days in the fridge, the milk can still be frozen. Fresh milk that has been cooled can be added to frozen milk, as long as you add less milk than is already frozen.

Important Tips
* Any clean, sealed container can be used to store milk. But avoid thin bottle liners, which are not intended to be frozen and can split.

* Store your milk in amounts no larger than what your baby might take. This means less waste. It also should help make the milk faster to warm. If your baby wants more, more milk can be added.

* Write the date and time on your milk container with a sticky label or non-toxic marker. Add your baby's name if he is in daycare or in the hospital.

* You can combine milk pumped at different times. If you combine milk from different days, use the date of the oldest milk.

* If your milk is used within eight days, keep it in the fridge. Otherwise, plan to freeze it in the coldest part of the freezer. Avoid the door.

* You can add fresh milk to cooled milk. And you can add fresh milk to frozen milk if it's cooled first and is less than the amount frozen.

* If your baby takes some milk from a bottle and there is milk left, don't save it. His saliva mixes with the milk during feedings, and that affects storage recommendations.

* Your milk is not "homogenized" like the milk in the store. So it may separate into layers. This does not mean it's spoiled. If this happens, just gently swirl it to mix.

Breastpump Cleaning and Care

When I first started pumping I wasn't sure how to properly care for my pump. I did some research and this is what I found. If your pump uses tubing, any moisture in the tubing can contaminate milk. Moisture can get inside tubing and grow mold. In order to keep this from happening you should either boil or steam clean your tubing, I do it once a week. Always make sure you sterilize your pump before the first use. Put all the pieces that come into contact with your milk in a pot, cover them with water, and boil for 20 minutes before using the pump. After every use, wash the pieces that come in contact with your milk in hot, soapy water (using mild detergent), rinse with hot water. You then need to either, boil, steam, or wipe your pump pieces with disinfecting wipes. They sell quick clean wipes and micro-steam bags making it easier to clean your equipment when you're away from home. If you don’t have time, place the pump parts unwashed in a clean plastic bag, such as a Ziploc, and store them in the refrigerator. Be sure to wash them thoroughly at least once a day when you get home. To clean your pump motor bag, just wipe it with a clean, damp cloth. This is also a good way to clean the outside of your pump tubing if milk drips onto it.

Tips for Moms Who Exclusively Pump

My daughter is 4 months old and I have been exclusively pumping for about 3 months. I had preeclampsia and she was born at 36 weeks weighing only 4 lbs. Since she was so under weight I had to supplement her with formula. I tried nursing her for the first month but the nipple confusion from the bottle caused her to have problems latching on. I saw several lactation consultants and none was able to fix the latching on problem. When I returned to work nursing became harder to do since she was having the bottle all day while I was gone. I decided that the most important thing to me was that my daughter drink breast milk instead of formula. If it meant I had to give it to her in a bottle than that is what I would do and I began to exclusively pump. It was very hard to do at first and my milk supply was very low since I had not been pumping correctly.

My lactation consultant told me to pump at least 8 times a day for 15-20 minutes. Since I was taking care of a newborn who wanted to be held all the time, this wasn't easy to do. I pumped every 3 hours for at least 5 minutes after the last drop of milk had come out. At first my pumping sessions didn't last very long. I would pump and use that milk for her next feeding. When she had finished all of the breast milk I would give her formula if she was still hungry. To help myself remember when I needed to pump I wrote down the times I needed to pump at the beginning of each day and then after each pumping session I would note how many ounces I pumped during that time. It helped me to monitor my progress. The first week I started pumping I would only pump an extra half ounce each day and it was a bit discouraging but I still kept with it. At the second week I noticed I was producing an extra ounce a day and that was enough to feed my child all day. Eventually my milk supply increased enough that I had more milk than my daughter took in a day. I froze this milk and I kept it on hand for days that I would run low.

When my I felt my milk supply had increased enough I began pumping every 4 hours for at least 5 minutes after the last drop of milk had come out. Sometimes if I was out and I didn't get home in time I could stretch it out to 5 hours. My milk supply is still doing well and I don't have to give my daughter any formula. I am still working on the latch problem and maybe some day she will get it but if not I am fine with pumping.

The important thing to remember is don't get discouraged. It is very hard at the beginning and there were many times when I wanted to give and just switch her to formula. I kept at it and I am very happy I did! My daughter has tripled her birth weight and she is doing very well and I am sure it has to do with the breast milk she is taking in.

More tips on increasing milk supply