5 Items to Make Life Easier With Your Formula Fed Baby
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I never thought that I would need to use formula. Not that I had anything against formula (I would have used it for my son if I ever needed to) but for me, nursing was easier, more convenient, and more cost-effective. When my son was born I began to overproduce and I had enough supply that I was able to nurse, as well as pump and store milk, to last for the first 12 months. When I got pregnant with my daughter I knew that was my plan, my goal was to nurse her until 12 months. I even splurged on the Medela Freestyle Flex pump so I could pump hands-free while taking care of two little ones.
The universe had other plans! Rea has always been small, but around 3 or 4 months we began to notice that she wasn’t gaining weight as quickly as we would have expected, she was incredibly fussy, and she spit up ALL THE TIME. We took her to her pediatrician and were told that she was “just little” and that “she probably just has colic.” My Mom intuition told me that there was something else wrong, so I continued to seek answers and after seeing a different pediatrician and a pediatric gastroenterologist we learned that she has a cows milk protein allergy (CMPA.) We are currently still learning about this diagnosis and how to manage it, and I will share more details about our journey in another post, but in the meantime….
This diagnosis is one that she will most likely outgrow, but for now she is required to be on a special hypo-allergenic formula that does not include any dairy or soy. This transition from exclusively breastfeeding to formula feeding has been a learning experience to say the least. I have found that I have to have much more forethought and be much more prepared than I did when I was nursing. Luckily for me, Katie used formula with R so she had a ton of great suggestions for me to make formula feeding easier. I wanted to share these with you guys in the hopes of making your journey easier. These 5 items will make life so much easier and more manageable with your formula fed baby!
Dr. Brown’s Formula Pitcher
Anyone who has tried to make a bottle with one hand, while holding a fussy/hungry baby in the other knows what stress feels like! This is magnified by spilling some of that (very expensive formula) all over the place in the process. Katie used the Dr. Brown’s formula pitcher when R was a baby and suggested it to me as we made the transition to formula. It has saved me so much time and stress! Make one large batch of formula in the morning and it is safe to serve for up to 24 hours. All you have to do is pour, warm it up (if your baby is picky like mine) and you’re ready to go. This formula pitcher also does a great job at mixing so you never have to worry about clumps of formula being missed when shaking.
Portable Bottle Warmer
Our family spends a lot of time on the go. Whether it’s the 5 hour road trip to Ohio to visit family, hikes, or day trips around Michigan, we are always going somewhere. As I said above, my daughter is very picky about the temperature of her bottles so we had to find a solution for heating the water for her bottles on the go. Again, Katie to the rescue! Katie gave us the portable bottle warmer she used with R and it solved all of our issues. The one we have is a hand-me-down from Katie’s sister so its about 6 years old, it plugs into the car cigarette lighter, and takes about 15 minutes to heat, but it does the trick. There are a lot of great options out there now that are rechargeable so you can take it on hikes! We’ve been eyeing this portable bottle warmer as an upgrade now that we know how useful they are!
Formula Dispenser
No one wants to drag a big can of formula around when you’re out and about. Plus, I never wanted to run the risk of it spilling in the diaper bag! I found these Munchkin formula dispensers and they were the perfect solution! It lets you pre-portion out your formula so you can take it on the go in a smaller, safer way. I love that they offer a single-serve container for quick trips and a three-chamber dispenser for longer trips.
Bottle Handles
As Baby Rea gets older and is becoming stronger, she has begun to start trying to feed herself her own bottle. I love the Dr. Brown’s glass bottles, but they are HEAVY for a baby, and they aren’t the easiest to hold onto. They also can get warm when heating them up which adds to the difficulties. Dr. Brown’s now sells bottles handles that you can easily slip onto their narrow bottles to make self-feeding easier. This is an awesome item for your independent formula-fed babe.
Water Jug
I have mentioned before that I am cup/water bottle obsessed and I drink a TON of water. Between me and E, we go through water like crazy and we spend a lot of time on the road, so my husband bought me this Stanley Water Jug to keep in my car. Before we started using formula I would keep the jug filled so I could refill my water bottle and E’s while we were on the go. Now it serves dual purposes and can be used to fill bottles when need be. It’s so nice to have this on hand for bottle making if we aren’t near another water source option. I love that it holds 64 oz of water (plenty for even the three of us,) has a straw so you can drink right from the jug if you wanted to, and it keeps water cold for a super long time. This jug has saved us on more than one occasion when we forgot water for her bottle.
These five items have made our transition from breastfeed to formula feeding so much easier. Having a baby is already a lot and adding in a toddler can be…well, chaos (the best kind of course!) so products that can help make life easier for formula feeding are ideal for me. They let me spend more time with both Rea and E focused on them, rather than on preparing the bottle, making sure its the right temp, etc. Even a few extra minutes with undivided attention on them each day is worth it.
Is/was your baby formula fed? Did you have any tips or tricks to help make everything run just a bit smoother for your formula fed baby? Share with us below!
