Parents have to decide about breast feed or bottle feed before giving a newborn baby. There are various basic equipment required for breast feeding and bottle feeding.
Breast feeding
Mother will require the following equipments to get started with breastfeeding:
Storage equipments
Mother will need to storage expressed milk in bags or bottles in case of, she leave her baby and go back to work. There are available packs of disposable storage in different shapers and sizes.
Nursing bra
Mother should purchase a good nursing bra; it is adjustable in size according to size of breasts. She must purchase it towards the end of the pregnancy, because it can not be fit properly after born the new baby.
Breast pad
Breast pad is important to protect mother’s clothing from milk stains and it may help to absorb leaking milk between feeds. It is available in different sizes and shapes in the market as washable or disposable versions. Disposables breast pads are more expensive than washable pads.
Nipple protection
During breastfeeding, nipple protectors are important to prevent cracked nipples. It is cover of breast and help to reduce the milk flow. Mothers should use it as a short-term period. Healing ointment like kamillosan, can be applied to soothe cracked nipples after breastfeeding.
Breast pump
A breast pump may help to express milk into a storage bag or a bottle. Mother can choose from manual pump or an electric pump. An electric pump is easy to use and work very fastly. They are available to hire at high cost. But Manual pump are helpful in case of pump milk for few times a week.
Bottle feeding
There is lots of equipment for bottle-feeding than breast-feeding. For bottle feeding, bottles, bottle warmer, teats, sterilizers and bottle and treat brush are required.
Bottles
Bottles for feeding are available in different shapes and sizes such as 4 oz bottles, 6 oz bottles or 9 oz bottles. Mother should purchase a bottle according to the amount of milk baby needs. If parents are travel with baby, they must buy disposable bottles.
Steriliser
Bottles, soothers, breast pumps, tears all need to be sterilized thoroughly between each use. It may provide the protection against health diseases.
The following options can be chosen:
- Microwave steam sterilizer
- Electric steam sterilizer
- Chemical sterilizer
- Teats
Parents are mainly buy bottles with teats. It is advisable to begin with a slow flow teat for newborns and after fast flow for older babies.