If you are anything like me, dishes are far from your favorite chore… and, well… washing bottles isn’t high on the list, either. But in those bittersweet moments of washing, I’m also trying to celebrate the moment.
The Cons of Washing Bottles
Other than the obvious (more dishes!) the major con to washing bottles is my failure to breastfeed. I had been struggling for awhile, trying to pump just to provide a few ounces per day to my little guy, but after dealing with a major sinus infection for over three months (and through three antibiotics) I had to surrender that journey. The limited treatments while breastfeeding kept leading to my sinus infection getting worse (instead of better) and it got to the point where I was too miserable to pump anything at all. Time to stop breastfeeding/pumping and get more effective treatment.
Every time I wash a bottle, it’s a small (bittersweet) reminder that I am unable to provide liquid gold for my little guy.
Curious about my breastfeeding journey? I wrote about it over on What It’s Like Failing to Breastfeed (despite my best efforts)… a trying time of struggling to pump the smallest amounts, and my lack of production due to an extremely important medication.
Improving the Bottle Washing Chore
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Due to needing to go the bottle route for two babies now, I have discovered a few tricks to improve the chore of bottle washing… and one of these tricks might not be what you’d expect!!
- Have less bottles available (we had two dozen bottles for my first baby and let me tell you, if you HAVE two dozen, you will USE two dozen). If you only go out a few times per week, six bottles or fewer is probably plenty… because who wants to wash two dozen bottles!!
- Use one bottle per day and store in the refrigerator between uses (we used to use a fresh bottle with EVERY feeding. No wonder we used two dozen bottles so quickly!) – but even if you aren’t comfortable with this, keep less bottles available (point #1).. less to store, and it keeps you accountable to wash bottles and not let them pile up (even rinsed).
- Use glass or mason jar bottles (we have a great mason jar bottle hack) and wash them in the dishwasher (we run our dishwasher daily)
- For mason jar bottles, we LOVE the silicone sleeve from the Mason Bottle brand, but BOTH of my boys rejected the Mason Bottle nipples (slow AND medium flow). There are other brands that make breast like nipples that fit a mason jar! We use Comotomo slow flow nipples with a mason jar and ring, with the Mason Bottle sleeve. (We are going to purchase two to four Comotomo silicone bottles for places that don’t allow glass, so that our son has consistency with the nipple size and shape.)
- We pre-mix formula for the day (keep it in the refrigerator) and use a separate jar for feeding (with the silicone sleeve, kept in the refrigerator) and warming (no sleeve and not refrigerated, rinsed between uses). If you are counting, that is three containers per day.. but all of it goes in the dishwasher!!
The Bittersweet Benefits
Surprisingly, there are quite a few benefits to washing bottles… and not just the ability to wrangle your self discipline, either.
- Freedom (sorta)… you have to lug bottles and formula everywhere, but you can sleep through the night and let someone else feed the baby, too!!
- Bottle usage (even with pumping) means you don’t have to worry about staying covered while breastfeeding or having to dress a certain way to give baby access at a moment’s notice
- Baby is FED (which is so infinitely more important that whether or not I can breastfeed or even pump)
If washing bottles is part of your daily life, what is the experience like for you? Does it signify freedom, or failure? Let me know in the comments below!
Christian, wife, “hybrid” mama, I run the site All Behind A Smile to help others like me.
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