Feeding essentials!

As there are very few choices on how to feed your baby,  I thought I would share on some feeding essentials for all different types of feeding aswell as some facts about them. 

*DISCLAIMER*

In this post I do not want to cause offence to the way you feed/ want to feed your child/ren,  I don’t believe in fed is best! Fed is not best it is the bare minimum and breast is not best it is the biological norm! 

Breastfeeding 

All you need for breastfeeding is:

 your boobs

breast pads 

some snacks

 few box sets 

and a comfortable place to sit especially in the early weeks as there are a lot of cluster feeding to boost your supply to meet babies needs. Yes baby may of just been fed and is fussing for more, this is completely normal. They might just want to comfort suckle, this is normal. I will be doing a post later in the series about breastfeeding and my experience. 
Expressed milk from mum

If you want to give your breast milk to baby but not breastfeed,  you can fully express the milk, it is very hard work but it is so rewarding. What you would need to do this is:

Boobies

Pump (electric is best) and a silicone to catch the let down (either naturebond or Haakaa are best) 

Milk storage bags (I use the Lansinoh ones) 

Bottles

With expressing because the breast milk is sterile,  you can just wash the bottles and depending on the pump (if manual) with hot soapy water. 

Donor milk

For mums who feel happy to or are struggling with breastfeeding and are waiting for help from a qualified breastfeeding specialist or had a premature birth and their milk hasn’t came in, donor milk can be accessed from milk banks in hospitals and also a group on Facebook called Human milk 4 human babies. I am currently pumping to become a donor after being able to express 74.5 imperial fluid ounce (2116.773ml) in a short time. 

Wet nurse

There are some babies like my own who will refuse to take a bottle,  do when it comes to me returning to university i will be looking for a wet nurse to nurse Damon whilst im in lessons. Although wet nursing is not something that is very popular nowadays,  it was very common in past times, more so for the royal families. This is something I would like to be myself. 

Artificial feeding

Also known as formula, this is something that ‘should’ be considered as a last resort for feeding an infant, as it was manufactured as a medicine for those who physically could not breastfeed or if the baby was really ill. 

I may not be a formula feeder but these are some things I would think someone would need to formula feed:

Bottles

Steriliser 

Kettle

Formula 

Always make the bottles as it states on the milk tin as this is the right way to make the bottle. I really would not recommend anyone using a perfect prep machine as these machines do not heat the water enough to kill the bacteria in the milk powder. As shown here from a team who tested the machines. 

Also with formula, comes increased health risks such as increased risk of obesity and infections as shown in this fact sheet here

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/pif_guidelines.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjvgub195LSAhWiHsAKHZkiDYEQFggsMAI&usg=AFQjCNHHRlPX1pFRmbP7EzJeCn2yGqEDfQ&sig2=GjoAUtKpk6YdCHlRUuXWOQ a link to the World Health Organisations fact leaflet on formula feeding 

As I have said before I really donn’t want to cause offence to people in this post