When I first became a parent more than two years ago — busy with work and life, I just wanted to know what bare essentials I needed. Living in New York City, I prefer to have as few things as possible in our apartment. So below was our list of essentials.
1) EvenFlo Glass Bottles. I have used these glass bottles with my 2.5 year old and 3 month old. They are great! A common concern seems to be whether they will break easily. They don’t. I’ve had my daughter throw a glass bottle and, after bouncing off the kitchen counter onto the floor, there wasn’t a crack. I’ve been using them for about a year and still haven’t had one break.
2) Silicone Nipples. Per the Environmental Working Group website, latex rubber nipples can cause allergic reactions and can contain impurities linked to cancer. Per Healthy Child Healthy World, opt for silicone nipples (and pacifiers), which are made of a more stable and safer material than the yellow rubber or latex ones. (Check out more notes at Baby Bottle Nipples.)
With my first daughter, we were using silicone nipples by EvenFlo, which was quite convenient to find (Amazon.com, Babies R’ Us, etc.).
However, as of 2010 March 9, I have been reading that “medical-grade” silicone is best (which I had not encountered in my readings 2.5 years ago). Otherwise, other impure chemicals may be present in the silicone nipples. After searching a number of stores and calling a few companies, we finally found “medical-grade” silicone nipples that fit our glass bottles. They are by Green to Grow and are fantastic! I love their cute glass bottles as well (they also have BPA-free plastic). Click on Baby Bottles and Bottle Nipples for a 10% discount code.
3) Breast Pumps.
- Medela — Mechanical is great! I had heard from friends that this was the best. I think I heard that the Advanced version wasn’t necessary so I didn’t get Advanced. I have no complaints. This has 4.5 stars from 163 Amazon customers.
- Medela — Manual works for when you have to travel on a business trip and don’t want to carry the larger mechanical pump. I didn’t love this since it takes a long of physical labor to pump what seems like dribbles, but, it does work and is very light and small to carry when you’re traveling on business or just out and about. This has 4.5 stars from 93 Amazon customers.
4) Ointment for Breastfeeding Mothers.
- Lansinoh. This helped a lot during my first pregnancy. The Environmental Working Group have it a hazard rating of 1 out of 10.
- Medela PureLan 100. I used this often soon after my second delivery (I just needed it for the first couple of weeks as my skin was adjusting to breastfeeding). It also has a hazard rating of 1 out of 10.
5) Formula.
Baby’s Only Organic Formula. The best baby formula was not obvious to me but I ended up choosing Baby’s Only Organic Formula by process of elimination. When I looked at the ingredients of the other organic formulas, I was alarmed by the sugar used in the other formulas. Since it was a while ago, I can’t remember the sugar but it was probably high fructose corn syrup, which I hate. So, I choose Baby’s Only because it was the only one to seem to minimize its use (Dairy Formula is 40% Brown Rice Syrup; Lactose Free and Soy Formulas are 100% Brown Rice Syrup). Later, after using it and still never really convinced if I was using the best formula, I kept researching the topic. Spending more time on it raised more questions about formula… I learned about concerns regarding BPA in the lining of baby formulas and DHA and ARA supplementation (for brain development). As these I discovered these general “market” concerns, I became alarmed but grew to appreciate that the Baby’s Only website provided information addressing all the concerns that I was learning about from other sources. So, who knows… but, I bet on Baby’s Only Formula. This has 4.5 stars from 8-11 Amazon customers.
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