SO, I'm an expecting mommy C: ~if you have no idea about this topic, please help me find somewhere on the interwebs that will help? I have searched and couldn't really find what i was looking for... I plan to fully breastfeed my son until he can't stand to see my nipple anymore or until hes 2, whichever comes first.

I've been looking at bottles and such because there will be times where I have to go somewhere or do things without the baby and it will also be nice to be prepared if for some reason one day he doesn't want to take my nipple...

But I'm getting pretty....overwhelmed. I already have a good idea of the bottles that I want....but nipple sizes? do they all start out at a 1 and then move up? how do you decide when they move up? why is there a 4oz then an 8oz? I imagine newborns eat much less than 1 year olds but I don't know what the stages are. whats the difference between a wide bottle and more narrow bottle?

Questions, questions...

Incase you wanted to know, I plan on getting the dr browns bottles. I will be using a medela pump. I plan on using the bottles for feeding and then the medela pump and storage set for storing.

Congrats! That's so exciting. Do you know if you are having a boy or a girl? When are you due?

Making all those decisions are always tough. I breastfed my first daughter and that didn't go so well. I was only able to do it for about 3 months and then ha to stop for reasons beyond my control. For her we used the playtex advance bottles. They worked amazing and she took right to them. We never had gas issues either. You have to start at a "slow" nipple or else the formula, or stored milk in your case, will just pour out way too fast and they will choke. Usually they con move up to a med flow nipple at 3 months or later, and a fast flow nipple at 6 months or later. As for the bottle size, I really have no idea why they even make small 4oz bottles. The average baby only eats less then 4oz for like the first 2 months. Seems pointless to me.

For my second daughter I bottle fed from the get go. She hates the playtex and wouldn't take to them at all. She however loves the nuk bottles. They have a wide nipple as opposed to the narrow one. They say the wide ones mimic the breast better, but she has never had a boob before so what does she know? And my other daughter who was breastfed for a little preferred a narrow nipple. So really it's just whatever your baby prefers. You might have to try out multiple ones before you find one he/she likes.

One of my best friends used the Dr. Brown bottles and they caused her daughter to projectile vomit everywhere! Every baby is different though might work well for you and your little one.

I used the medela pump as well. Swing. It worked amazing and i loved it!

Yes! :) thank you, and I'm having a boy! :D I'm due july 23rd. I plan on getting a few bottles of the dr browns just to see how they work and if it ends up they don't, I have received playtex, avent, born free and medela as gifts so I will be able to try those too. Interesting with your second girl! oh god o.o hopefully theyll work better for me! thanks for the advice, it was helpful :)

- Babies nursing causes the milk to come in, which causes baby to nurse more. It's a cycle that pumping sometimes - not always mind you - but sometimes can interrupt. My sister uses an electric pump to store milk because she gets SO swollen that she either has to pump it out or her nipple becomes so engorged and she gets so sore she can't raise her arms and he can't nurse. You also need to keep the milk coming in and then going out so you don't get infections. So use the pump to store the excess, but don't rely on it solely to provide all his milk in bottles, use it for those times when you're gone, and freeze the milk. Frozen milk I believe will keep for 6 mos to a year, but I'd have to double check. I didn't pump mine except for the very beginning b/c my daughter's birth was SO traumatic and her head so bruised and damaged she couldn't lie against me to nurse without crying in pain. Mine did start to dry up and decrease production, but as soon as she was healed enough to fully nurse, bam, it came back.

a small amount of wine (Or alcohol in general but wines seem to work best) will aid in milk production, not even half a glass maybe once a week or every 2 weeks. It's enough to stimulate production, but not enough for baby to get any effects other than super milky boobs.

Babies don't eat a lot but they do eat often, so when you're away from baby and he needs the breastmilk bottle, the 4 oz will be plenty for a few months. Feeding him too much will only make him vomit it back up. Use a slow flow nipple, and use the sort of benty flat side ones, those fit better in baby's mouth, and don't cause choking as noted above. Burping. Is. Essential. Babies get gassy and airy and always need burping after nursing, or even after waking up from sleeping it's a good idea to burp them. Burp rags (burp towels, hand towels) will be the greatest invention that baby will somehow manage to miss and burp on you :D

Nursing takes a lot of work, commitment, effort, dedication and encouragement. Nowadays while they get all twitchy and say breast is best, most hospitals will either supplement baby with formula or if baby doesn't learn to nurse (It's NOT instinct, babies have to be taught !) they'll give up way too easily and encourage formula. If you do not want him to have formula you MUST let the hospital know before you deliver that he is not to be given any. Formula fills them and confuses them and then he won't nurse.

I breastfed kidlet for 22 months, she stopped on her own, and those last few months it was only at bedtime for comfort. I was going to nurse her until she stopped or 2, when I'd wean her. She was eating regular food, baby food, I mean, too, but you don't have to worry until he's 5 or months or so to start cereal (Which is why my sister is storing her milk, she'll use it to make his baby cereal)

I will be having him on my breast as much as possible but I assume in the future there will be times I wont be there when hes hungry. thats awesome :) I think breastfeeding is really the only option for me, I'd be very dissappointed if i wasn't able to. Many girls that were in my highschool my age would say things like "breastfeeding is weird" ha, whats weird is the ingredients in infant formula, children who have to go to the doctors more from formula, and the fact that there are different growth charts for formula fed and breastfed babies. Thank you for all of the useful advice :)

- hehe you're talking to someone who grew up as a breastfed baby, all my siblings were, my daughter, and the three kids my sister had ... all breastfed :D We're old hands at it

The whole alcohol comment made me chuckle. It's actually beer that helps with your milk production and flow. They used to give beer out in hospitals years ago to breastfeeding women. It's the yeast in the beer that, for some reason, aids in the production of breast milk.