Bottles

You need to figure out which bottles your baby would like. We registered for Avent and Dr. Browns. In the end, we switched to Dr. Browns and stayed with them. We started around 4 wks or so with them and wish we had switched sooner (it might have been 6wks). Our son preferred Dr. Browns. We were originally intimated by the number of parts that they have and when people online mentioned the many parts needed for Dr. Browns. In the end, they are really easy to clean and are not a pain at all as far as parts.

Many people like Dr. Browns and some like Born Free. I will say to get the BPA-free ones. I did use some that had BPA, but most of mine were the BPA-free ones. Glass bottles are always safe from BPA, but if you plan to have your child in daycare you may not want to invest in so many glass bottles as many daycares can't use glass bottles. We have been to two daycares and both said 'no' to glass. Plus one disadvantage to glass is that they are heavier for a baby to carry when the baby wants to hold his/her own bottle.

You also have to buy nipples that flow faster -after a few months. We had to move to level 2 around 3 months I think and level 3 around 5 months. We mainly breastfeed, but do supplement. Some people don't change the nipples, but if you find your baby is struggling you might want to get faster flowing nipples. You definitely need level 1 or newborn slow flowing nipples at first - when you have a newborn.

I love, love, love the ready made formula bottles that you just add a nipple & ring. The hospital gave us a bunch of nipples and they are really for one-time use, but we usually cleaned them and reused them. I see at Babies R Us that they sell the ready made formula bottles, but I can never find the nipples and rings that go with them. They are so great for late night feedings when you don't want to make a bottle or for when you are on the go.

We did (and still do) breastfeed, but our son was so fussy to breastfeed in public, so ready made formula came in very handy. As he got older, noises distracted him easily so breastfeeding in quiet locations worked best for us.