Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the Holiday season with their loved ones. Among all the chaos lets find the peace and happiness that create special memories <3 Sending so much love to you all this season.
The last time I was on here ( I know it has been forever.. I am so bad at this) It was July and I was traveling with the Hubby. Since then a lot has changed =]
We welcomed our beautiful Daughter Nathalie Giovanna at the end of October, and we can't imagine life without here.
Which leads me to my next thing, I am by no means an expert in babies and I'm not parent of the year. I am just a new mom that has done trial and error with formulas, bottles and even diapers. Once we found what works for us everything has (knock on wood) been so much better.
I am going to "review" everything so far that we have used with Nathalie. Hope this helps any and all Moms that may have been looking for what I was.. now lets get into the good stuff!
**Yes, I tried to breastfeed. No my milk didn't come in and she was loosing too much weight and it started to become a concern to us and her Pediatrician that we had to give her formula at 2 days old. It broke my heart but it was needed..
Here are the Formulas we have tried :
1. Gerber Gentle
This was the first formula given to us by our Pediatrician. To be honest we didn't know where to start with formulas since I was planning on exclusively breastfeeding. She was on this for about 5 days and something wasn't right, she was screaming and crying after every feeding so when we went back to the Pediatrician they told us that it was trial and error when it came to formula .. so our search for what worked for Nathalie continued..
2. Enfamil Newborn
She was on this formula for a whole 12 hours. We were going back to the Pediatrician that day and told them we finished the Gerber Soothe and went out and bought the Enfamil Newborn (since the label it was close to breast milk and I was still trying to pump at this point) she was still having fits after feedings and we knew that wasn't normal, so the pediatrician told us to stick with a gentle formula... bring on the next formula
3. Enfamil Gentlease
She had been on this formula for about two weeks, she started off okay and then she started having those screaming cries again. Something was just not sitting well with us, while she was still on this formula I called the pediatrician and they told us it could just be colic and it will get better... honestly, that answer was complete bullshit and ever since then we have been looking for a new pediatrician.
4. Nutramigen
We took it upon ourselves to put her on Nutramigen, which is a hypoallergenic formula. We saw an improvement for a little bit and we thought all was well.. until about two weeks into the formula, still the same problem. Without going to the pediatrician first we decided to call a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. Made an appointment and he wanted to watch her first and see how she would be if she stayed on the Nutramigen and to just add Zantac incase it was reflux. We made her next appointment with him for two weeks from then. Within those two weeks we noticed blood in her stool. At our next appointment we brought one of the many diapers that had blood for him to check. Since Nutramigen is one of the most mild formulas out there he knew that she was sensitive to certain ingredients. He narrowed things down and diagnosed Nathalie with Allergic Colitis. She is not able to have dairy or soy within her first year..which brings us to our last (hopefully) formula
5. Elecare
This formula... let me tell you, Thank Gd for it! It has been a complete turn around! She isn't having any more screaming in pain fits. She only gets testy if she is hungry or tired. Sometimes it doesn't seem like this formula fills her like the others but that is because they say it is thinner than "normal" formula.
I'm not saying this will work for everyone but this is what has worked for us so far =]
On to the next Category : Bottles!
Okay so when we first found out we were expecting we knew that she would be breastfed with the exception of some nights being bottle-fed so my husband could have that bonding moment with her as well as giving me a little time to sleep. With that in mind at the time I looked at bottles that were highly rated for going from breast to bottle and back to breast. This review won't be based on bottle going back to breast, it will be more of an over all review for everything else =]
Since people are always talking about colic that is another thing we also looked for in bottles.
Anti-Colic Valves and Flow
1. & 2. Dr Browns Wide Neck & Regular (the pink bottles)
The green (and pink) vent in these bottles are suppose to help digestion and reduce feeding problems. I like how the vent is removable for when you feel the need to feed without it. One thing that I would recommend, the flow which they have as a 1 still seemed a little fast for Nathalie, so we purchased the premie nipples which was an even slower flow and worked perfectly (I was only able to find the preemie nipples for the pink bottles, I never found them for the wide neck so I am not sure if they are available for that bottle.) We just started leaving the vent out for her feedings and she seems to be doing great.
Both bottles are available at Babies R Us
3. Nuk
These bottles were my least favorite! The "slow flow" nipple was anything but. With these I found Nathalie choking multiple times while using these bottles, so they were short lived and landed there way into a storage bin in the back of the closet.
4. Latch by Munchkin
This bottle is one of our favorites. The flow, the way the nipple is shaped and moves along with her while feeding and the easy cleaning. Some have said that they don't like this bottle because mold gets into the Blue Anti-Colic valve, I have not had that problem so I can't say much about it. All I know is this is one of the best bottles. They aren't the cheapest but they aren't the most expensive either, they sell them in a newborn gift set where you get two of each size, a pacifier, different flow nipples and a bottle brush for $35. A complete steal considering each bottle retails for about $10.
our last and ABSOLUTE FAVORITE bottles are...
5. Comotomo
THESE BOTTLES ARE AMAZING. Can you tell these are our fav?? I have nothing bad to say about these. Nathalie always grabs onto this bottle during her feedings. It's an all silicone bottle with the exception of the plastic color ring. These bottles are easy to clean, easy for baby to grab, the anti colic valve is placed in the nipple. We haven't noticed a lot of spit up when she uses these bottles. They come in two sizes 5oz & 8oz, and two color options green and pink (so precious).
Actually the only complaint that I have is that more places by me don't carry these bottles. The reason it took us 4 bottles to get to these is because I was hoping buy buy baby or babies r us would eventually get them in but NOPE and one day I was in Walgreens, yes Walgreens of all places and they had revamped the baby section and there they were staring at me ! I couldn't believe it, so I bought the two they had in stock and the rest is history.
Since finding the Comotomo but only having two =[ we use these with the latch bottles if needed.
When anyone asks us what bottles we recommend I always say Comotomo and if you can't find them anywhere Latch is the next best thing.
Hope this helps you on the search for the perfect bottles!
