Orders from Dubai

Comments from a recent customer in Dubai: "I have been searching everywhere for the larger BPA free bottles and finally found you through an internet search with your 250mL Medela."

Yay - isn't the internet great! I actually get quite a few orders from Dubai for everything from medela large bottles to maternity lingerie etc!

Larger Size Medela Bottles

Finally Medela have brought out a larger size baby feeding bottle. They always used to have the 150mL size, and now there is the 250mL medela size.

We used to get asked this question all the time, because often babies need to drink more than 150ml of milk or formula at one feed.... so some mothers either had to prepare two bottles and switch over half way through a feed, or store milk in a container and then fill into the bottle. Either way, baby's feed would have been getting interuppted.

So now there is a 250mL size medela bottle which is ideal! You can also use this bottle for newborn babies - just only fill a smaller volume (like 50mL) depending on how much they need.

The medela bottles are also free of Bisphenol-A compounds (BPA).

So who else is happy? Life just got a little bit easier with this larger size medela bottle...something simple can make a big difference to your day.

You can order them here: http://www.breastmates.co.nz/Medela_Breast_Milk_Bottles.html

Microwave Sterilisers

Whether you call (spell) them as Microwave Sterilizers or Microwave Sterilisers, its time that I updated you. We have some new microwave sterilisers available at our webstore. These are non-branded simple version. So they are less than half the price of other brands (namely Avent Microwave Steriliser) that we also have on our webstore.

The budget sterilisers work perfectly of course. They dont come with any bottles or teats. They are non-branded. But they are large enough to fit whatever bottles and teat system you have, plus they can also fit whatever breast pump you have.

Add water, put in microwave, and hey presto all your baby feeding gear will be sterile. Keep the lid on and the contents stay sterile for 3 hours.

You can order these online. Its nice to be able to offer an affordable option of steriliser!

Return to our main website page here: http://www.breastmates.co.nz

Bottle Feeding Tip #1

A tip if you are trying to get baby to drink from a bottle.....

Tip #1: Give them a drink of water in the bottle first. They will get to try the teat and have a bit of a play. They might even drink some water.

Its better for them to practise on water, rather than wasting a whole bottle of expressed breast milk, formula, etc!!!

Starting a Bottle

If you are expressing breast milk with a breast pump, either to relieve breast engorgement, to get baby used to taking a bottle, to share feeding with dad, or if you are going back to work, or just prefer to feed baby with a bottle, then here are my starting tips.

To get baby to drink from a bottle, let baby play with the bottle first. (When it is empty or with cold boiled water). Then they might put it in their mouth, suck a little maybe, and must be familiar with it.

If you are expressing breast milk with a breast pump, store this in the freezer. You can store it in special breast milk storage bags or you could freeze it in the icecube tray and then put the frozen cubes into a snap lock bag in the freezer.

Just defrost a small amount of milk first, like 20mLs or so. Otherwise if your baby rejects the bottle on your first attempt all that milk is not wasted. I know how much work goes into getting breast milk!!

Try it at a lunch time feed. Try your baby on the bottle before baby is really really hungry, before they start crying and wind up too much. You want to try this when baby is in a calm and happy mood.

Just nudge their lip with the bottle teat, and if they open place the teat inside. baby should then suck like on the breast. Tilt the bottle upright. You should see bubbles coming through the milk.

Yay if it works.

If baby keeps mouth shut and does not drink, try a few more times. If no luck, try again tomorrow with a small amount of milk. ALWAYS DISCARD the milk after trying. Don't reheat it.

View our breast milk storage guidelines here http://www.breastmates.co.nz/storage_guidelines.html

After baby has learned to drink from a bottle, sometimes they get lazy and will reject the bottle as they prefer to drink from mom's breast. There are some special bottles available that help to minimise "nipple confusion" and the bottle teat works the same way as a breast. If baby is rejecting all bottles, you could try a special Adiri bottle. It can also help if you get Dad to feed the baby, as if baby smells that you are around they can get very picky!

Breastfeeding and Bottle Feeding - Baby Rejecting Bottle?

I thought I would write to tell you about my favourite baby bottle at the moment. This is such a great idea!

The Adiri Natural Nurser - which is also happens to be free of BPA.

This is a BEAUTY of a baby bottle. The top quarter of the bottle is soft and squishy like a boob. The teat and bottle are all one piece, and the milk squirts out with the same action as breastfeeding. So baby's mouth has to work with the same action.

Alot of baby's get lazy after they have tried a bottle and a teat, and they don't go back to breastfeeding very easily. They work out that normal bottles are easier to suck.

But with the Adiri bottle, the natural nurser, there is less chance of baby rejecting your boob if you are doing a mix of breast feeding and bottle feeding.

The Adiri bottle is great also if baby has been rejecting other types of bottles and teats.

Baby Bottles - BPA Free

There has been a lot of media attention recently about BPA (Bisphenol-A compounds) in baby bottles. Apparantely when the milk is heated in a normal baby bottle, the chemicals leach out of the plastic and go into the bottle. I'm not going to spout on about the research and risks here.

Well, we stock the Medela Bottles and Medela Breast Pumps which are all free of BPA compounds. They always have been.

We also have a range of BPA free bottle teats, made by Green to Grow, which will fit the medela bottles.
Another option is the Adiri Natural Nurser - which is also free of BPA. Now this is a BEAUTY of a baby bottle. The top quarter of the bottle is soft and squishy like a boob. The teat and bottle are all one piece, and the milk squirts out with the same action as breastfeeding. So with the Adiri bottle, there is less chance of baby rejecting your boob if you are doing a mix of breast feeding and bottle feeding.

The Adiri bottle is great also if baby has been rejecting other types of bottles and teats.

Its worth a try!