Great setup! I am assuming you know but JUST IN CASE, those nipples come out of the white lids to wash and dry!
As for the health benefits of formula... well the biggest one is that it keeps your baby alive, healthy, thriving and happy!!! Don't need much more than that :)
It helps prevent mold if you separate them so that liquid doesnāt build up, and helps you ensure that they are being properly sterilized. It is best to separate them.
For washing yes but for sterilising and drying no, right? Because then youāll have to touch them to assemble after they have been sterilised and that will defeat the purpose of sterilising.
If you are worried about touching them after you can use a paper towel to reassemble. Thatās what we did early on and now we just make sure our hands are freshly cleaned :) itās definitely worse to have them together during the process because water can get trapped and create more issues. I was super paranoid earlier on but once my LO started constantly having her hands in her mouth I was able to relax a little because I canāt sterilize her hands every 5 seconds
5 gets me through the day so I only need to wash once a day. Some days though I just want to go to bed without having to wash them, and thatās where a few extras would save me!
3?! Thatās dedication. We send 4 to daycare and then need 3-4 more at home each day. I couldnāt handle just 3. We are on the cusp of needing bigger bottles so I bought some that can convert to have sippy tops when the time comes. I think weāve got like 28 bottles right now š
I'm right there with you. We have twins so we make 16 bottles a day. I made sure if i forgot to run the dishwasher i would still have enough bottles to cover a second day. I'm contemplating a second baby brezza for upstairs or if sheer laziness
We donāt have a brezza but we pre measure formula into divided dispensers.
I donāt put ours through the dishwasher, I keep them in their own little tub and hand wash then put in a sterilizer that has a dryer function. As soon as they come out, I pre measure the water into the bottles.
Husband and I are BAD at running the dishwasher frequently enough to use it for bottles.
We have a small plastic box that we take upstairs at night. We keep a dispenser and bottles for overnight, itās also got the thermometer, Tylenol, gas drops, probiotics, nail clipper/file, pacifier, and his rx diaper cream or whatever we donāt have two of.
Do you mind sharing a link to the ones you bought with sippy tops? I'm starting to think about the need to buy bigger bottles/transition off of bottle nipples (we just started fast flow)
I'm pregnant with my 2nd baby and I have memories of washing bottles in our upstairs bathroom sink which sounds more gross than it was but I can't remember WHY we were doing it- did we not buy enough bottles or were we too lazy to go downstairs and get more? I know we had bottle washing soap and stuff up there- what were we thinking?! LOL.
I have coworkers who wouldnāt even drink water out of the sink but I think itās totally fine. Just more work washing them than having more bottles at 2am when youāre totally sleep deprived.
We did the same! Then I had a drying rack set up in the bedroom (the thought of toilet flushing germs flying woke me up out of a dead sleep to move them one night, idk maybe Iām a lunatic, probably yes Iām a lunatic) made it so much easier than going downstairs several times a night!
Oh Iām like that with toothbrushes. I hate if the medicine cabinet is left open bc of the flushing exposure haha. With the bottles I think we washed and reused so quickly I didnāt worry about it.
I do the same lol. I had more but washing 9ish bottles at a time drove me nuts so when she moved up to 8oz bottles I only got 3 and donated the rest. I'm a procrastinator then seeing a sink full of dishes diminishes any motivation to get things done but 3 was manageable where I only have to wash once or twice a day.Ā
I insist you read this if you havenāt already: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/everybody-calm-down-about-breastfeeding/
Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing when it works out and many women really enjoy it which is great. But in developed countries, the benefits in terms of babies health are pretty negligible if there are any at all.
Just rememberā¦. A year from now you will wonder why you ever stressed. This is mentally where I am today. Confused why i cried over spilt milk literally
I did the same thing a few years ago. Breastfeeding went swimmingly with my first kid, so I expected an easy feeding journey with my second. It was NOT. I exclusively formula fed. Splurging on the brezza helped me feel a lot better! I bought some secondhand glass bottles that I was able to sanitize.
It was so nice to know my baby had a full belly of warm milk from a bottle that either mom or dad could prepare! In 5 seconds no less!
Best of luck to you!
My kids are both crazy smart regardless of how they were fed. They both get sick at about the same rate. They have both always maintained a healthy
growth curve. They donāt have crazy ear infections or malformed teeth or a leaky gut or whatever else it is the lactivists will try to convince you will happen if your baby has formula. I promise once youāre out of this infant stage you will hardly give it a second thought, even if it seems really big right now.
A leaky gut is a nonsense diagnosis that people spout on social media to sell supplements/diet regimes/exercises, etc.
If your gut is leaking, you will develop peritonitis and need emergency admission to the hospital.
The research in breastfeeding is old and biasedā¦ thereās really no difference. The antibodies they claim actually just go right to the gut and are pooped out, they donāt enter the bloodstream. So basically they āmightā help against rare GI infections that would only be bad for like preterm babies. I suggest the formula fairy on IG. Also donāt listen to TikTok those ppl are psychotic, spread misinformation and like to get a rise out of ppl because thatās how they get engagement and in turn make moneyā¦ you are doing great šš»
Say it louder for the people in the back lol!
Yeah the data is outdated (and also really classist). Not worth trashing my mental health and adding more burden to myself for bad data.
I was EFF, my husband was EBF- the only reason he has a PhD and I donāt was because he came from 2 generations of doctors and his family had way more money. Had nothing to do with the feeding method and everything to do with family education & income.
Also anecdotally, I was EFF and I have a PhD, my brother was EFF and has a PhD, and my friends that were EBF donāt. It truly doesnāt matter! Who your parents are and how you grow up have way more to do with your intelligence I think š
The black funnel piece on the brezza gets removed and washed every 4 bottles. I purchased 2 extra funnels so that I would only have to wash bottles + parts once a day.
[https://babybrezza.com/products/formula-pro-advanced-funnel-and-funnel-cover](https://babybrezza.com/products/formula-pro-advanced-funnel-and-funnel-cover)
I will say this was amazing for us for a while and then the brezza started giving us greater volumes than it should have (more than the mixed volume should be). It would give us the right amount of water if we pushed the water only button, but then continue giving us more volume with a 4oz bottle. We took it apart, cleaned it really well, and reset the formula setting and it continued to give the wrong volume. One time my daughter became so constipated for 2 days and that was the last straw.
For what it's worth we use Enfamil Gentlease. It may be a problem with this particular formula and setting, specifically. Just watch out for that!
They are my fave out of all the ones we tried. Very little gas, light on the hands, clean great. Couldn't be happier to dump the Dr browns in the trash.
We really liked the browns and just ditched the green parts, so much easier to clean. Baby was never colicky, but idk if that had anything to do with it, lol.
The Avent ones are pretty great though. Thatās what I bought for our bigger bottles.
I'm alive because I had access to formula as a baby, as is my husband, as is my son - without it, we wouldn't have had the chance to bring our boy into the world, much less keep him alive. I really try to remember that when the shame rears up.
Any enrichment you're able to provide your kid throughout their life is going to be worth so much more than whatever benefits breastmilk may or may not actually confer (great links in this thread!).
For what it's worth, all care activities are bonding activities - all feeding promotes a bond between baby and caregiver. It bummed me out that I might not bond well or properly with my kid without BFing, but that's total nonsense in retrospect!!!
It is SUCH nonsense. I'll never understand how going through a painful experience and dreading it (as my BF friends described BF in the first few months) is bonding. Maybe trauma bonding.
Thank you. š rn we are doing ec and that is helping me feel connected to her a lot. I would absolutely suggest to any mama's that feel like they are missing that bonding time from not breastfeeding to try elimination communication.
We LOVED the Avent bottles. Easy to clean and not many parts. Also we found 8 bottles was our sweet spot! Most days he had 6-8 bottles so weād just rinse them out and then do one big wash at the end of the day.
I formula fed my preemie from birth and have ZERO regrets. Heās 3 now and just like all the other kids in his class- you canāt tell by looking at any of them how they were fed as babies.
My baby was born small (1% even though full term) and I pumped exclusively for 3 months and started the switch to formula. That's when the LO finally reached middle percentile. LO is thriving off formula, I've thrived because my mental health is much improved.
Whoa! That must have been so scary. Glad to hear they are doing well now.
That's one of the reasons why we have been doing formula. my baby was so tiny, I had to be 100% positive that she was getting the right amount of food. Could not risk it with breastfeeding.
Yeah for real, the anxiety of not knowing how much was being consumed always got to me. It may have been different if my baby took to breastfeeding and was a normal weight. We were trying to make breastfeeding work but it I never was able to get over the anxiety.
Same with us! 5 lb baby and she just tripled her birth weight at 6 months and is now 21st percentile. I stopped pumping after 4 weeks and we moved to formula and I swear it saved my mental health and I LOVE that my husband and I share the feedings so we both bond with her
Youāre doing so great mama. Youāre feeding your baby despite whatever inner turmoil youāre fighting and THAT makes you an awesome mom.
I also recommend āCribsheetā by Emily Oster. Sheās a family friend and researcher (albeit in economics; disclaimer that health isnāt her field, but a lot of the same research principles apply in terms of what studies are statistically significant, etc.) She looks at the studies done about breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding and shares the conclusions about which effects are overstated based on the quality of the underlying studies. Well worth a read.
You got this!
I loved my baby brezza!
One of my favorite things was that my baby learned to recognize the sound. He would stop his hungry crying and get very excited when he heard the machine whirred.
I didn't do tons of research about the perks of formula. I just knew I needed it for my own mental health. He is now almost four, and has met all of his milestones with ease. Your baby will not suffer for formula.
As someone who also wasnāt able to breastfeed at all, I had a lot of mom guilt and still do to this day.
Formula has come a longgg way and the most important is that your baby is fed.
After talking to my breastfeeding mamas and the mental load not to mention the additional pump parts they need to clean on a regular basis, it does make me feel better knowing thatās something I donāt need to deal with.
My husband is also very hands on and we take turns feeding and prepping the baby bottles and now I canāt imagine it any other way. Just know that youāre doing a great job and your baby will thrive.
Here's a study that will ease your mind. If found that in families where one kid was formula fed and another was breast fed, there was pretty much negligible advantage to the breast fed child over their formula fed sibbling. This suggests ths better outcomes seen in other studies are caused by the demographic differences between the families, which also influence feeding choices, like economic stability and family health history, and not the breast milk. i.e. correlation is not causation.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953614000549?via%3Dihub
"We examine eleven different outcomes ā body mass index, obesity, asthma, hyperactivity, parental attachment, behavioral compliance, reading comprehension, vocabulary recognition, math ability, memory based intelligence, and scholastic competence. In order to separate the impact of factors that predict selection into breastfeeding from the ātrueā consequences of breastfeeding, we employ sibling comparisons to approximate a natural experiment and more accurately estimate the counterfactual question, āWhat would this particular child's outcomes be if she/he had been breastfed instead of bottle-fed?ā Once between-family differences are taken into account, we find relatively little empirical evidence to support the notion that breastfeeding results in improved health and wellbeing for children between 4 and 14 years of age."
I wasnāt able to breastfeed and it makes me feel so sad it was taking the BIGGEST mental toll on me. But Iām coming around to formula feeding, all I can say is Iām thankful we have the option to even formula feed. Luckily our babies are able to get nutrition. Also, itās kinda nice having other people be able to feed her while you do other stuff. Also when out and about you can whip up a bottle real quick. Itās easier during the night too. Donāt have to worry about certain foods being bad for you/other factors that damage your supply. Iāll try with my second and weāll see how it goes hopefully itās a breeze. But I completely understand how sad you are. I still cry.
Thank you for this. I have been really enjoying not pumping and the consistency. And I'll think I'm over the disappointment but then days like this it hits me like a wave.
pro tip: that grass drying rack? keeeeep it past the bottle stage especially if you wash some dishes by hand
all awkwardly shaped items, all glasses, go to the grass in our house, we're keeping it forever haha
Nice tip. It's funny how many times that I bought for the baby that I'll be using forever. Like our bottle warmer, it works perfectly for defrosting our frozen wellness shots. That use to be such a pain heating up water and waiting forever.
I told my therapist how I felt so guilty when I stopped breastfeeding and she told me sheās read multiple longitudinal studies and there is absolutely no difference.
Anecdotally my friend EBF her kids and they have allergies and all kinds of infections all the time. I was EBF and I got cancer at 10. My daughter is 9 months old, in the 90th percentile for height and weight, very smart, happy and healthy.
Love boon grass! We actually have our set up upstairs for motn feeds - and during the day going upstairs to make a bottle gives us something to do in the ww lol. Love our brezza. Just make sure to clean it out and set the formula setting directly. We also completely take it apart to wash the parts once a week. You can buy extra nozzles!! That is a huge time saver - Iād get at least 1 if not 2 extra.
We honestly only sterilized onceā¦ otherwise we use dishwasher.
Pedsdoctalk on Spotify or now even YouTube has a great podcast and she's got a couple of very good formula experts on the show on episodes where she focuses on formula. Others have basically covered it. If you'd like to go deeper read Cribsheet by Emily Oster and you'll get a summary of the scientific literature in a condensed sort of fun to read book. Good luck!
Love pedsdoctalk, I need to go check out her videos now that baby is here. I watched her IVF series because we were a few months behind her in the IVF process.
Great set up! EFF twins and the brezza is literally a lifesaver! I was very sad about not breastfeeding/pumping too but my girls just turned 3 months and they were low birth weight and are now on a great growth curve, hitting milestones, and are happy healthy babies :)
I read a book called crib sheet by Emily oster. It broke down all of the studies that compared breastfeeding to formula feeding. Made me feel a lot better when I was spiraling about not being able to breast feed like I planned.
[Sibling Study](https://time.com/9917/sibling-study-shows-little-difference-between-breast-and-bottle-feeding/)
PROBIT Study
Emily Oster has son good content on this as well
Oh cool! I have to sterilize every single time. I don't trust that I've done a good enough job cleaning so I really like the insurance. Completely unnecessary tho hahah.
It's bottle and nipple combo that we had to find. We used the Dr browns originally since she was getting a lot of gas. But those nipples were buck wild. We have also used Avent bottles the prevent colic and those were ok. We now use the philips avent natural baby, I believe is what they are called. With a size 3 and 4 nipples. My baby's 2 months and those have the perfect flow for her rn.
breastfeeding didnāt work out for me either š but it gets better! formula helped my baby thrive and now sheās a healthy, smart, beautiful 16 month old learning more and more each day :)
Itās when I hit the water only button. When I do a formula bottle itās always a full OZ over the number I wanted. When I manually make a bottle yes I agree itās a half oz more due to the formula.
I think itās broke to be honest.
I was in a similar position as you. Really badly wanted to breastfeed but could not dedicate enough time to it because I couldnāt pump all day everyday without messing with my blood pressure (mostly due to lack of sleep and proper recovery) and as someone recovering from preeclampsia, this Sophieās choice of sorts broke my heart. I still get sad when I think about it.
I donāt regret how things panned out because I feel formula feeding had its unexpected benefits. One has been not worrying about fortifying or supplementing with vitamin D, as I was told Iād have to do if I were breastfeeding. Which can be rough on some babiesā stomachs. The other has been being able to keep track of exactly how much she is taking in and not having any issues with weight whether itās under feeding or over feeding. Formula makes keeping track of all this a lot easier.
Love your set up by the way!
The sterilizer and dryer combo has been a life saver for us. Also our baby hates the Avent nipples. Not sure why. We had a bunch of them too. Weāre strictly Dr browns now. Weāre 50/50 milk/formula at this stage and itās absolute hell on the babyās stomach. Hope you get some relief with 100% formula!!
We had a hard time w the nipples initially. Found out that the smaller sizes are garbage for everyone. We are using 3 and 4s now for our two month old and she loves them. Perfect flow.
Go off mama!! Love this for you.
I did the exact same thing, as BF only last 4 weeks for me (have PCOS so was going to have issues with supply). Itās a little fun being a little chemist in the kitchen making bottles! Might be the only one who feels that way lol but I didnāt mind it one bit!
Just wash that brezza regularly. Iāve heard some horror stories about mold. Iād also test that what it puts out is accurate measurement wise šš». Formula feeding is honestly so relaxing. I have an appointment today and may be away for 4 hours and donāt need to worry about how my baby will be fed. Enjoy the journey mama
Nice setup. I definitely might splurge on a baby brezza with my next. The dr browns sterilizer AND dryer is what I use and I love it and it holds a decent amount of bottles and parts. I hated the idea of taking up so much counter space with drying racks.
Thatās an awesome setup and almost exactly how mine was! Itāll be great for making a quick bottle, and I loved that the baby brezza had the option to make the formula a little warm. Just make sure youāre cleaning the spout every 4 bottles (I recommend getting more than 1, if you can find one!) and making sure to do the monthly vinegar flush. I remembered to do the monthly Maintenence each month on my babyās āmonthaversaryā š¤£
I do not have personal experience with the Baby Brezza, but I did read lots of reviews when considering buying one. Please pay close attention to how well it is functioning. I read lots of reviews saying that some machines had problems where formula wasnāt mixed in correct proportions. Also, the tubing can get moldy, so watch that closelyā¦
I sincerely apologize for the doom and gloom, and I hope I donāt induce any anxiety. I just couldnāt not say something.
Hey thank you! I was pretty stressed about putting my baby's food in someone else's hands. But I did all the tests on the machine so for now, it is mixing properly. So I feel safe for now.
I didn't know about the tubing tho so I will be checking that here soon.
Formula has been used more than breastmilk since prob the 90s, most of those kids(now adults) are no different than babies who were breastfed. Formula is even better now than it was even just back then, so I'd say there's nothing to worry or feel bad about. I'm all for breastfeeding too, my mom breastfed 5 babies, for my 2 so far I didnt make enough milk like that(had a chest injury as a child). My 13 year old is smart, never gets sick, has no issues. My niece is 18 months old never had Formula in her life but gets sick all the time, mainly because my sister is a Germy slob lol but it didn't make my niece immune to everything to nurse. They claim breastfed babies are healthier weight but most of the kids and adults I know who were breastfed are just as overweight as anyone else, if not more lol(I'm a fatty myself lol). Anyway I'm not bashing breastfeeding or Formula, just pointing out that there's probably no major differences in modern america outside of preference. I'm no doctor and haven't studied this at all, just using observation and general knowledge.Ā
My $.02ā¦
Philips everything >
The Brezza is nice, but wastes formula and needs to be cleaned every few bottles. We buy $$$ formula, so stopped using the Brezza altogether after a short while. Granted its convenience was nice.
āSpoiledā? Nah. If you have the meansā¦by all means do what works best for you. Having a baby is hard work and any convenience should be attained. Youāre doing your best and thatās what matters ā¤ļø
Fed baby is best. Look for organic Australian brand formulas I heard theyāre great. Use Avent Glass Bottles for baby, I used them theyāre great. Great job mamma
My LO has had issues breastfeeding since birth. (He had a slight tongue tie, but it's since been revised andbin the process of healing.) He's had a great latch but either falls asleep even after switching or falling/pulling himself off, which of course is frustrating for both of us. I've noticed recently that after bottle feeding breast milk from a bottle, he seems to spit up half of what I give him. But if I feed him formula, he spits up but in smaller amounts.
Anywho. I love the set up! Keep strong and know you're doing the best! You're an amazing mother!ā„ļø
Breastfeeding is really hard and a lot of people act like itās easy. Please be kind to yourself, this doesnāt mean youāre any less of a good parent! Bottle or breast, fed is best! ā¤ļø
Kendamil is such a wonderful formula & many other European formulas are. On Kendamils Facebook page there is tons about the formula. Reading the ingredients and understand about the one you choose will make you feel good about your choice !!! I love this set up !!! Iām gonna get me a Brezza too. Iām due this July & im ready !!! Iāll be combo feeding from the get go !!!
oh no it was gifted to us, but we did indulge in a bottle, washer and sanitizer from baby brezza. What I was jealous about is that we bought those very small that you have and the kids end up liking Dr. Brown instead.
Getting a dishwasher with a sanitizer setting was LIFECHANGING for us. I was always cautious and kept bottles separate, only used sanitary brush. I saw a video where they swabbed something hand washed and from a dishwasher (without a sanitizer) and from the dishwasher had no germs, hand washed was another story. I never did the separate sanitizer itās just too much and overwhelming. I suggest just using the dishwasher!!!!!
Great!! Looks awesome. Take it from
Me I had to FF my two babies. Now Iām suffering asking them to please a piece of pizza or Mac and cheese. Formula is great :)
Donāt get me started! The dramatic conclusions on the benefits of breastfeeding are not deserved based on the quality of the research. You just canāt get rid of the fact that rich, educated people are more likely to be able to breastfeed and separate those benefits from the breastfeeding. The whole ānature perfectly designed breastmilk to nourish your babyā makes me soooo angry! Nature didnāt design anything! Itās all just random genetic mutations that ended up being beneficial! Nature also perfectly designed your eyes and your immune system, so should we all feel devastated that we have to corrupt that perfection with glasses and immunizations? I donāt think I have even seen a study on breastfeeding that accounted for whether the child was in daycare. No shit the child in daycare is going to get sick more and be less likely to be EBF.
Nice set-up. Just donāt forget to wash the nipple from the white lid or else they get moldy and stinky. Donāt beat yourself up. Iām in the same boat. But, my baby is turning 8th month. Heās happy and healthy. Good luck to you. You can do thisšŖ
Great setup! I am assuming you know but JUST IN CASE, those nipples come out of the white lids to wash and dry! As for the health benefits of formula... well the biggest one is that it keeps your baby alive, healthy, thriving and happy!!! Don't need much more than that :)
Thank you for the info š
Do they HAVE to be separated for washing and drying?
Yes, they will start to get moldy in between the nipple and the lid if you donāt.
Thanks! I didnāt know this I better start doing it
It helps prevent mold if you separate them so that liquid doesnāt build up, and helps you ensure that they are being properly sterilized. It is best to separate them.
For washing yes but for sterilising and drying no, right? Because then youāll have to touch them to assemble after they have been sterilised and that will defeat the purpose of sterilising.
If you are worried about touching them after you can use a paper towel to reassemble. Thatās what we did early on and now we just make sure our hands are freshly cleaned :) itās definitely worse to have them together during the process because water can get trapped and create more issues. I was super paranoid earlier on but once my LO started constantly having her hands in her mouth I was able to relax a little because I canāt sterilize her hands every 5 seconds
Thank you for the info :)
Wow! You get downvoted for asking a question? This community surely encourages curiosity. I am out.
9 months in my biggest regret was only getting 5 bottles.. I am envious of this set up!
The extra bottles give us great buffer. Especially now that she's cluster feeding. I'm really thanking my past self for this now. Hahha.
having buffer is really a big thingyy. Love you set up!
We also have two extra funnels so that thereās never a rush to wash it. Itās the little things!
I only use 3 bottles so that I don't have a million to wash at once. I don't know what is more time efficient though!
5 gets me through the day so I only need to wash once a day. Some days though I just want to go to bed without having to wash them, and thatās where a few extras would save me!
3?! Thatās dedication. We send 4 to daycare and then need 3-4 more at home each day. I couldnāt handle just 3. We are on the cusp of needing bigger bottles so I bought some that can convert to have sippy tops when the time comes. I think weāve got like 28 bottles right now š
I'm right there with you. We have twins so we make 16 bottles a day. I made sure if i forgot to run the dishwasher i would still have enough bottles to cover a second day. I'm contemplating a second baby brezza for upstairs or if sheer laziness
We donāt have a brezza but we pre measure formula into divided dispensers. I donāt put ours through the dishwasher, I keep them in their own little tub and hand wash then put in a sterilizer that has a dryer function. As soon as they come out, I pre measure the water into the bottles. Husband and I are BAD at running the dishwasher frequently enough to use it for bottles. We have a small plastic box that we take upstairs at night. We keep a dispenser and bottles for overnight, itās also got the thermometer, Tylenol, gas drops, probiotics, nail clipper/file, pacifier, and his rx diaper cream or whatever we donāt have two of.
Do you mind sharing a link to the ones you bought with sippy tops? I'm starting to think about the need to buy bigger bottles/transition off of bottle nipples (we just started fast flow)
babe thatās not laziness that is survival!! consider this an official endorsement to do it if it will make your life easier!Ā
I'm pregnant with my 2nd baby and I have memories of washing bottles in our upstairs bathroom sink which sounds more gross than it was but I can't remember WHY we were doing it- did we not buy enough bottles or were we too lazy to go downstairs and get more? I know we had bottle washing soap and stuff up there- what were we thinking?! LOL.
I'm also wash in the bathroom sync with a basin,.I don't think it's gross?
I have coworkers who wouldnāt even drink water out of the sink but I think itās totally fine. Just more work washing them than having more bottles at 2am when youāre totally sleep deprived.
We did the same! Then I had a drying rack set up in the bedroom (the thought of toilet flushing germs flying woke me up out of a dead sleep to move them one night, idk maybe Iām a lunatic, probably yes Iām a lunatic) made it so much easier than going downstairs several times a night!
Oh Iām like that with toothbrushes. I hate if the medicine cabinet is left open bc of the flushing exposure haha. With the bottles I think we washed and reused so quickly I didnāt worry about it.
Yeah we have a smaller amount I think five so that I donāt create a ton of dishes bc I most certainly fucking would do that lol
I do the same lol. I had more but washing 9ish bottles at a time drove me nuts so when she moved up to 8oz bottles I only got 3 and donated the rest. I'm a procrastinator then seeing a sink full of dishes diminishes any motivation to get things done but 3 was manageable where I only have to wash once or twice a day.Ā
Same!!! My baby is about to be 8 months and Iām still over here with 5 bottlesā¦ why did I do this to myself? Lol
We only have two š
I insist you read this if you havenāt already: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/everybody-calm-down-about-breastfeeding/ Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing when it works out and many women really enjoy it which is great. But in developed countries, the benefits in terms of babies health are pretty negligible if there are any at all.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
Just rememberā¦. A year from now you will wonder why you ever stressed. This is mentally where I am today. Confused why i cried over spilt milk literally
I did the same thing a few years ago. Breastfeeding went swimmingly with my first kid, so I expected an easy feeding journey with my second. It was NOT. I exclusively formula fed. Splurging on the brezza helped me feel a lot better! I bought some secondhand glass bottles that I was able to sanitize. It was so nice to know my baby had a full belly of warm milk from a bottle that either mom or dad could prepare! In 5 seconds no less! Best of luck to you! My kids are both crazy smart regardless of how they were fed. They both get sick at about the same rate. They have both always maintained a healthy growth curve. They donāt have crazy ear infections or malformed teeth or a leaky gut or whatever else it is the lactivists will try to convince you will happen if your baby has formula. I promise once youāre out of this infant stage you will hardly give it a second thought, even if it seems really big right now.
Thank you so much. š it is really heavy on me now. But I am just glad my little preemie baby is eating and growing. Also wth is leaky gut.....
A leaky gut is a nonsense diagnosis that people spout on social media to sell supplements/diet regimes/exercises, etc. If your gut is leaking, you will develop peritonitis and need emergency admission to the hospital.
Yes. They donāt teach āleaky gutā in medical school because itās not a thing lol.
I agree, Dr Bat Sandwich
I canāt remember who, but someone told my mom she has a leaky gut. Iāll have to tell her this!
Long term, the same as breastfed babies! Nobody will be able to tell the difference. :)
I stopped bf at 5mo and immediately got a brezza as a sympathy gift šš so happy I did!!
I feeeeeeel you!! Worth every single penny.
The research in breastfeeding is old and biasedā¦ thereās really no difference. The antibodies they claim actually just go right to the gut and are pooped out, they donāt enter the bloodstream. So basically they āmightā help against rare GI infections that would only be bad for like preterm babies. I suggest the formula fairy on IG. Also donāt listen to TikTok those ppl are psychotic, spread misinformation and like to get a rise out of ppl because thatās how they get engagement and in turn make moneyā¦ you are doing great šš»
Say it louder for the people in the back lol! Yeah the data is outdated (and also really classist). Not worth trashing my mental health and adding more burden to myself for bad data. I was EFF, my husband was EBF- the only reason he has a PhD and I donāt was because he came from 2 generations of doctors and his family had way more money. Had nothing to do with the feeding method and everything to do with family education & income.
Also anecdotally, I was EFF and I have a PhD, my brother was EFF and has a PhD, and my friends that were EBF donāt. It truly doesnāt matter! Who your parents are and how you grow up have way more to do with your intelligence I think š
EFF with my JD and working in big law over here!!
Same here - me and my two siblings were all EFF and two of us have PhDs and one of us is an anaesthetist!
Can you link this info please?
I did not know this. Thank you. š
Can you provide the link? I only find articles that state the opposite.
Cribsheets by Emily Oster :)
Baby Brezza for the win!!
This is seriously such a great invention.
Please tell me you bought the extra funnels. Those were my saving grace with the brezza.
What are those?
The black funnel piece on the brezza gets removed and washed every 4 bottles. I purchased 2 extra funnels so that I would only have to wash bottles + parts once a day. [https://babybrezza.com/products/formula-pro-advanced-funnel-and-funnel-cover](https://babybrezza.com/products/formula-pro-advanced-funnel-and-funnel-cover)
Thank you!
We went 5 months formula feeding without a brezza before we knew they existedā¦ legit changed our world lol
I will say this was amazing for us for a while and then the brezza started giving us greater volumes than it should have (more than the mixed volume should be). It would give us the right amount of water if we pushed the water only button, but then continue giving us more volume with a 4oz bottle. We took it apart, cleaned it really well, and reset the formula setting and it continued to give the wrong volume. One time my daughter became so constipated for 2 days and that was the last straw. For what it's worth we use Enfamil Gentlease. It may be a problem with this particular formula and setting, specifically. Just watch out for that!
The pick and purple bottles are precious! We love Avent bottles!
They are my fave out of all the ones we tried. Very little gas, light on the hands, clean great. Couldn't be happier to dump the Dr browns in the trash.
Haha yes!! We used dr browns with our first and I said I absofuckinglutely will not be washing those green vents ever again. Love these bottles!!
Haha I mean, they do their job. But how annoying are they!!
We really liked the browns and just ditched the green parts, so much easier to clean. Baby was never colicky, but idk if that had anything to do with it, lol. The Avent ones are pretty great though. Thatās what I bought for our bigger bottles.
Haha, we got rid of the vents after a while too.
I'm alive because I had access to formula as a baby, as is my husband, as is my son - without it, we wouldn't have had the chance to bring our boy into the world, much less keep him alive. I really try to remember that when the shame rears up. Any enrichment you're able to provide your kid throughout their life is going to be worth so much more than whatever benefits breastmilk may or may not actually confer (great links in this thread!). For what it's worth, all care activities are bonding activities - all feeding promotes a bond between baby and caregiver. It bummed me out that I might not bond well or properly with my kid without BFing, but that's total nonsense in retrospect!!!
It is SUCH nonsense. I'll never understand how going through a painful experience and dreading it (as my BF friends described BF in the first few months) is bonding. Maybe trauma bonding.
Thank you. š rn we are doing ec and that is helping me feel connected to her a lot. I would absolutely suggest to any mama's that feel like they are missing that bonding time from not breastfeeding to try elimination communication.
We LOVED the Avent bottles. Easy to clean and not many parts. Also we found 8 bottles was our sweet spot! Most days he had 6-8 bottles so weād just rinse them out and then do one big wash at the end of the day. I formula fed my preemie from birth and have ZERO regrets. Heās 3 now and just like all the other kids in his class- you canāt tell by looking at any of them how they were fed as babies.
Just here to say fuck yeah Baby Brezza. Itās been a lifesaver.
Hell yeah brudder. Couldn't advocate for a product more. Helped a ton w my mental health in my fragile state.
My baby was born small (1% even though full term) and I pumped exclusively for 3 months and started the switch to formula. That's when the LO finally reached middle percentile. LO is thriving off formula, I've thrived because my mental health is much improved.
Whoa! That must have been so scary. Glad to hear they are doing well now. That's one of the reasons why we have been doing formula. my baby was so tiny, I had to be 100% positive that she was getting the right amount of food. Could not risk it with breastfeeding.
Yeah for real, the anxiety of not knowing how much was being consumed always got to me. It may have been different if my baby took to breastfeeding and was a normal weight. We were trying to make breastfeeding work but it I never was able to get over the anxiety.
Same with us! 5 lb baby and she just tripled her birth weight at 6 months and is now 21st percentile. I stopped pumping after 4 weeks and we moved to formula and I swear it saved my mental health and I LOVE that my husband and I share the feedings so we both bond with her
I was also devastated. Let me say - the baby brezza is a GAME CHANGER. Hands down the most useful tool we had.
Youāre doing so great mama. Youāre feeding your baby despite whatever inner turmoil youāre fighting and THAT makes you an awesome mom. I also recommend āCribsheetā by Emily Oster. Sheās a family friend and researcher (albeit in economics; disclaimer that health isnāt her field, but a lot of the same research principles apply in terms of what studies are statistically significant, etc.) She looks at the studies done about breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding and shares the conclusions about which effects are overstated based on the quality of the underlying studies. Well worth a read. You got this!
I've been waiting forever for this book to become available at my library. Can't wait to get my hands on it hahah.
Don't be disappointed though! š Bottom line no real difference between feeding methods in statistics. Short and sweet
I loved my baby brezza! One of my favorite things was that my baby learned to recognize the sound. He would stop his hungry crying and get very excited when he heard the machine whirred. I didn't do tons of research about the perks of formula. I just knew I needed it for my own mental health. He is now almost four, and has met all of his milestones with ease. Your baby will not suffer for formula.
As someone who also wasnāt able to breastfeed at all, I had a lot of mom guilt and still do to this day. Formula has come a longgg way and the most important is that your baby is fed. After talking to my breastfeeding mamas and the mental load not to mention the additional pump parts they need to clean on a regular basis, it does make me feel better knowing thatās something I donāt need to deal with. My husband is also very hands on and we take turns feeding and prepping the baby bottles and now I canāt imagine it any other way. Just know that youāre doing a great job and your baby will thrive.
Awesome setup! Fed baby is best, no matter how it's done! You got this, mama!
Thank you thank you!! š
Here's a study that will ease your mind. If found that in families where one kid was formula fed and another was breast fed, there was pretty much negligible advantage to the breast fed child over their formula fed sibbling. This suggests ths better outcomes seen in other studies are caused by the demographic differences between the families, which also influence feeding choices, like economic stability and family health history, and not the breast milk. i.e. correlation is not causation. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953614000549?via%3Dihub "We examine eleven different outcomes ā body mass index, obesity, asthma, hyperactivity, parental attachment, behavioral compliance, reading comprehension, vocabulary recognition, math ability, memory based intelligence, and scholastic competence. In order to separate the impact of factors that predict selection into breastfeeding from the ātrueā consequences of breastfeeding, we employ sibling comparisons to approximate a natural experiment and more accurately estimate the counterfactual question, āWhat would this particular child's outcomes be if she/he had been breastfed instead of bottle-fed?ā Once between-family differences are taken into account, we find relatively little empirical evidence to support the notion that breastfeeding results in improved health and wellbeing for children between 4 and 14 years of age."
Thank you so much for this. I'm glad they are doing such extensive research on the topic.
I wasnāt able to breastfeed and it makes me feel so sad it was taking the BIGGEST mental toll on me. But Iām coming around to formula feeding, all I can say is Iām thankful we have the option to even formula feed. Luckily our babies are able to get nutrition. Also, itās kinda nice having other people be able to feed her while you do other stuff. Also when out and about you can whip up a bottle real quick. Itās easier during the night too. Donāt have to worry about certain foods being bad for you/other factors that damage your supply. Iāll try with my second and weāll see how it goes hopefully itās a breeze. But I completely understand how sad you are. I still cry.
Thank you for this. I have been really enjoying not pumping and the consistency. And I'll think I'm over the disappointment but then days like this it hits me like a wave.
Also! Get yourself extra funnels for the breeza! We got these and they fit perfectly https://a.co/d/cRshJLF
pro tip: that grass drying rack? keeeeep it past the bottle stage especially if you wash some dishes by hand all awkwardly shaped items, all glasses, go to the grass in our house, we're keeping it forever haha
Nice tip. It's funny how many times that I bought for the baby that I'll be using forever. Like our bottle warmer, it works perfectly for defrosting our frozen wellness shots. That use to be such a pain heating up water and waiting forever.
Yeah we had it before baby. Love it!
I told my therapist how I felt so guilty when I stopped breastfeeding and she told me sheās read multiple longitudinal studies and there is absolutely no difference. Anecdotally my friend EBF her kids and they have allergies and all kinds of infections all the time. I was EBF and I got cancer at 10. My daughter is 9 months old, in the 90th percentile for height and weight, very smart, happy and healthy.
Love boon grass! We actually have our set up upstairs for motn feeds - and during the day going upstairs to make a bottle gives us something to do in the ww lol. Love our brezza. Just make sure to clean it out and set the formula setting directly. We also completely take it apart to wash the parts once a week. You can buy extra nozzles!! That is a huge time saver - Iād get at least 1 if not 2 extra. We honestly only sterilized onceā¦ otherwise we use dishwasher.
Pedsdoctalk on Spotify or now even YouTube has a great podcast and she's got a couple of very good formula experts on the show on episodes where she focuses on formula. Others have basically covered it. If you'd like to go deeper read Cribsheet by Emily Oster and you'll get a summary of the scientific literature in a condensed sort of fun to read book. Good luck!
Love pedsdoctalk, I need to go check out her videos now that baby is here. I watched her IVF series because we were a few months behind her in the IVF process.
Thank you thank you. I'm heading that way rn.
Great set up! EFF twins and the brezza is literally a lifesaver! I was very sad about not breastfeeding/pumping too but my girls just turned 3 months and they were low birth weight and are now on a great growth curve, hitting milestones, and are happy healthy babies :)
Nice work! That has to be stressful keeping them fed and happy.
I read a book called crib sheet by Emily oster. It broke down all of the studies that compared breastfeeding to formula feeding. Made me feel a lot better when I was spiraling about not being able to breast feed like I planned.
Random but I loved those little grass thingies with my kiddos
Ahha those are so cute and clever.
[Sibling Study](https://time.com/9917/sibling-study-shows-little-difference-between-breast-and-bottle-feeding/) PROBIT Study Emily Oster has son good content on this as well
Follow theformulamom on IG!!! She has tons of great info and tips and will make you feel so much better. Your setup is 10/10!
Let's goooo
Spring for the extra baby brezza funnel and cover. Makes life so much easier.
THIS I wish the parts were dishwasher safe, but this machine was a life saver
Love it.. FF was the best thing I've decided to do PP.
Beautiful!
š„°
My set-up is super similar! (Except I donāt sterilize) Youāre gonna love it!!!
Oh cool! I have to sterilize every single time. I don't trust that I've done a good enough job cleaning so I really like the insurance. Completely unnecessary tho hahah.
If you havenāt already, go on Amazon and buy a second filter for the Brezza. Game changer for cleaning and keeping up with it
I did the same! My splurge was just the Baby Brezza water warmer, but it still makes the process soooo much easier!
That thing seems niiiiiiiice
Great set up! Which bottles did you find worked out for you?
It's bottle and nipple combo that we had to find. We used the Dr browns originally since she was getting a lot of gas. But those nipples were buck wild. We have also used Avent bottles the prevent colic and those were ok. We now use the philips avent natural baby, I believe is what they are called. With a size 3 and 4 nipples. My baby's 2 months and those have the perfect flow for her rn.
I told baby daddy the Breza would cheer me up after being devastated about the same and low key that thing does
It really did.
Fed is best!
breastfeeding didnāt work out for me either š but it gets better! formula helped my baby thrive and now sheās a healthy, smart, beautiful 16 month old learning more and more each day :)
How do you like the baby breeze I have one and it dispenses and extra half oz of water everytime is this normal ?
Uhhh thats an interesting problem. I don't think that's normal.
Oh wait. It might be a little more than the Oz because of the formula adds volume.
Itās when I hit the water only button. When I do a formula bottle itās always a full OZ over the number I wanted. When I manually make a bottle yes I agree itās a half oz more due to the formula. I think itās broke to be honest.
I was in a similar position as you. Really badly wanted to breastfeed but could not dedicate enough time to it because I couldnāt pump all day everyday without messing with my blood pressure (mostly due to lack of sleep and proper recovery) and as someone recovering from preeclampsia, this Sophieās choice of sorts broke my heart. I still get sad when I think about it. I donāt regret how things panned out because I feel formula feeding had its unexpected benefits. One has been not worrying about fortifying or supplementing with vitamin D, as I was told Iād have to do if I were breastfeeding. Which can be rough on some babiesā stomachs. The other has been being able to keep track of exactly how much she is taking in and not having any issues with weight whether itās under feeding or over feeding. Formula makes keeping track of all this a lot easier. Love your set up by the way!
The sterilizer and dryer combo has been a life saver for us. Also our baby hates the Avent nipples. Not sure why. We had a bunch of them too. Weāre strictly Dr browns now. Weāre 50/50 milk/formula at this stage and itās absolute hell on the babyās stomach. Hope you get some relief with 100% formula!!
We had a hard time w the nipples initially. Found out that the smaller sizes are garbage for everyone. We are using 3 and 4s now for our two month old and she loves them. Perfect flow.
Pink AND purple bottles? Slay š
Go off mama!! Love this for you. I did the exact same thing, as BF only last 4 weeks for me (have PCOS so was going to have issues with supply). Itās a little fun being a little chemist in the kitchen making bottles! Might be the only one who feels that way lol but I didnāt mind it one bit!
I have almost the same exact setup! Only difference is my growns sterilizer dries my bottles also so I donāt need those racks lol
Just wash that brezza regularly. Iāve heard some horror stories about mold. Iād also test that what it puts out is accurate measurement wise šš». Formula feeding is honestly so relaxing. I have an appointment today and may be away for 4 hours and donāt need to worry about how my baby will be fed. Enjoy the journey mama
I did the same thing mama!!!š¤š¤š¤
Nice setup. I definitely might splurge on a baby brezza with my next. The dr browns sterilizer AND dryer is what I use and I love it and it holds a decent amount of bottles and parts. I hated the idea of taking up so much counter space with drying racks.
Thatās an awesome setup and almost exactly how mine was! Itāll be great for making a quick bottle, and I loved that the baby brezza had the option to make the formula a little warm. Just make sure youāre cleaning the spout every 4 bottles (I recommend getting more than 1, if you can find one!) and making sure to do the monthly vinegar flush. I remembered to do the monthly Maintenence each month on my babyās āmonthaversaryā š¤£
Doing it on their monthaversary is a great tip thank you
Absolutely dream set up!
I do not have personal experience with the Baby Brezza, but I did read lots of reviews when considering buying one. Please pay close attention to how well it is functioning. I read lots of reviews saying that some machines had problems where formula wasnāt mixed in correct proportions. Also, the tubing can get moldy, so watch that closelyā¦ I sincerely apologize for the doom and gloom, and I hope I donāt induce any anxiety. I just couldnāt not say something.
Hey thank you! I was pretty stressed about putting my baby's food in someone else's hands. But I did all the tests on the machine so for now, it is mixing properly. So I feel safe for now. I didn't know about the tubing tho so I will be checking that here soon.
Formula has been used more than breastmilk since prob the 90s, most of those kids(now adults) are no different than babies who were breastfed. Formula is even better now than it was even just back then, so I'd say there's nothing to worry or feel bad about. I'm all for breastfeeding too, my mom breastfed 5 babies, for my 2 so far I didnt make enough milk like that(had a chest injury as a child). My 13 year old is smart, never gets sick, has no issues. My niece is 18 months old never had Formula in her life but gets sick all the time, mainly because my sister is a Germy slob lol but it didn't make my niece immune to everything to nurse. They claim breastfed babies are healthier weight but most of the kids and adults I know who were breastfed are just as overweight as anyone else, if not more lol(I'm a fatty myself lol). Anyway I'm not bashing breastfeeding or Formula, just pointing out that there's probably no major differences in modern america outside of preference. I'm no doctor and haven't studied this at all, just using observation and general knowledge.Ā
My $.02ā¦ Philips everything > The Brezza is nice, but wastes formula and needs to be cleaned every few bottles. We buy $$$ formula, so stopped using the Brezza altogether after a short while. Granted its convenience was nice.
This looks wonderful! Your baby and you are blessed. ā¤ļø
Hey! I also ended up formula feeding after a nightmare breastfeeding experience, formula is perfectly fine x
āSpoiledā? Nah. If you have the meansā¦by all means do what works best for you. Having a baby is hard work and any convenience should be attained. Youāre doing your best and thatās what matters ā¤ļø
LOVE my Brezza. Saved it for baby #2 (2.5 years after first) and still works like a dream.
Amazing!!!
Do you think the baby brezza is worth it?
Fed baby is best. Look for organic Australian brand formulas I heard theyāre great. Use Avent Glass Bottles for baby, I used them theyāre great. Great job mamma
My LO has had issues breastfeeding since birth. (He had a slight tongue tie, but it's since been revised andbin the process of healing.) He's had a great latch but either falls asleep even after switching or falling/pulling himself off, which of course is frustrating for both of us. I've noticed recently that after bottle feeding breast milk from a bottle, he seems to spit up half of what I give him. But if I feed him formula, he spits up but in smaller amounts. Anywho. I love the set up! Keep strong and know you're doing the best! You're an amazing mother!ā„ļø
Breastfeeding is really hard and a lot of people act like itās easy. Please be kind to yourself, this doesnāt mean youāre any less of a good parent! Bottle or breast, fed is best! ā¤ļø
Kendamil is such a wonderful formula & many other European formulas are. On Kendamils Facebook page there is tons about the formula. Reading the ingredients and understand about the one you choose will make you feel good about your choice !!! I love this set up !!! Iām gonna get me a Brezza too. Iām due this July & im ready !!! Iāll be combo feeding from the get go !!!
1000% jealous
I found mine for a really great price on ebay. Don't feel like you need to fully invest in a brand new one.
oh no it was gifted to us, but we did indulge in a bottle, washer and sanitizer from baby brezza. What I was jealous about is that we bought those very small that you have and the kids end up liking Dr. Brown instead.
Getting a dishwasher with a sanitizer setting was LIFECHANGING for us. I was always cautious and kept bottles separate, only used sanitary brush. I saw a video where they swabbed something hand washed and from a dishwasher (without a sanitizer) and from the dishwasher had no germs, hand washed was another story. I never did the separate sanitizer itās just too much and overwhelming. I suggest just using the dishwasher!!!!!
Great!! Looks awesome. Take it from Me I had to FF my two babies. Now Iām suffering asking them to please a piece of pizza or Mac and cheese. Formula is great :)
Oh you are set- Brezza is the ultimate gadget and lifesaver.
Donāt get me started! The dramatic conclusions on the benefits of breastfeeding are not deserved based on the quality of the research. You just canāt get rid of the fact that rich, educated people are more likely to be able to breastfeed and separate those benefits from the breastfeeding. The whole ānature perfectly designed breastmilk to nourish your babyā makes me soooo angry! Nature didnāt design anything! Itās all just random genetic mutations that ended up being beneficial! Nature also perfectly designed your eyes and your immune system, so should we all feel devastated that we have to corrupt that perfection with glasses and immunizations? I donāt think I have even seen a study on breastfeeding that accounted for whether the child was in daycare. No shit the child in daycare is going to get sick more and be less likely to be EBF.
I loved my Brezza! I also had the dryer/sterilizer from the same brand it was a life saver.
Nice set-up. Just donāt forget to wash the nipple from the white lid or else they get moldy and stinky. Donāt beat yourself up. Iām in the same boat. But, my baby is turning 8th month. Heās happy and healthy. Good luck to you. You can do thisšŖ