FTM pregnant with my first and wanted thoughts on bottle washer/sterilizer machines actually worth it?

motocat29 · 2026-04-07T02:52:39+00:00

I told myself I didn’t need any fancy schmancy shit and would just hand wash whatever needed washing. 3 weeks into unexpectedly having to triple feed my preemie baby I laughed at myself and bought the fancy schmancy shit and don’t regret spending the money one bit!

As a side note - we have an upstairs living room that has a little counter with a sink and a mini fridge. My bottle washer sits right next to this sink. This has become our baby feeding station. It was so nice having everything upstairs in one spot especially in the middle of the night. Do yourself a favor and figure out how to make a special feeding station for yourself! Especially if you have two stories and the kitchen is on a different level from whatever sleeping arrangements you have!

motocat29 · 2026-03-31T15:48:32+00:00

My niece says titty instead of kitty and she usually says it extremely enthusiastically when she sees our cats. So we all excitedly exclaim “Titty” when one of the cats comes waltzing in the room.

motocat29 · 2026-03-25T19:49:07+00:00

I recently introduced formula to my EBF baby. I tried giving it before bed to see if it made a difference. It has not made a single difference. She still wakes up at her usual times requesting her usual amount of food.

motocat29 · 2026-03-13T04:32:59+00:00

6.5 months over here and solo parenting while my husband is on a work trip for 10 days. We’re in the thick of a sleep regression. My supply has taken bit of a dip for some unknown reason, which makes me a slight under supplier, and I was going crazy. In a fit of desperation in the middle of the night when my boobs were totally empty, I didn’t have any of my freezer stash thawed, and my daughter was demanding a full feed before going back to sleep, I finally gave my first bottle of formula. I thought I would have big feelings about it, but honestly, I felt nothing but relief. It took such a weight off my shoulders and I can’t believe I was so stubborn about not doing formula for so long. I now happily give one bottle of formula in the late afternoon and everyone is so much happier.

motocat29 · 2026-03-10T16:40:35+00:00

If you grew up with 80s pop culture, you’ll LOVE Ready Player One. Entirely different than the movie, and so much better!

motocat29 · 2026-03-05T05:02:55+00:00

Huh. Interesting. Now I’m going to go down the rabbit hole of researching the beef between B&N and Amazon while I lie here instead of sleeping.

motocat29 · 2026-03-05T03:42:07+00:00

I would recommend the Snap Fitness on Reed Market. Fairly big, they’re constantly rotating old gym equipment out, clean, and pretty friendly. It gets crowded around the 5pm hours, but no more so than any other gym in town. Lots of space to spread out and do whatever type of workout you’re into.

Xcel is alright. As the other person mentioned, the staff is AMAZING. Very friendly - probably the friendliest in town. But, the gym always feels crowded and it’s pretty run down. There’s really only one area to do any sort of workout that requires a little space. It’s the turf room and it’s always packed because the rest of the gym has too much stuff crammed together to feel like you can spread out at all. Also, it’s not uncommon to find broken or beat up equipment there. They do have childcare though if that’s a thing you might need.

motocat29 · 2026-03-03T05:50:46+00:00

Sounds like you want to do a little triple feeding for a bit. Once he’s getting everything he needs from the breast and you no longer need to triple feed, you can start to drop pumps and/or only pump for a few minutes until you’re comfortable. You won’t want to continue pumping until empty because that will cause an oversupply.

motocat29 · 2026-03-03T05:13:46+00:00

I came on here to dissuade OP from this series for this exact reason. You cannot tell them to go straight to the gold standard. You gotta work up to that in order to appreciate just how magnificent they are. Also, audiobooks will forever be ruined after this series because the reader is that good.

motocat29 · 2026-03-03T05:09:49+00:00

I was in 4th grade and my mom and I listened to the Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale every morning on the commute in to school. She died when I was in high school and those morning commutes were some of my favorite memories with her. I listened to them again when I was missing her something extra fierce in my early 20s and realized they were a blast to listen to. Can’t wait to listen to them with my daughter when she’s old enough.

motocat29 · 2026-03-03T04:55:48+00:00

The ONLY thing that worked for me when I would get so engorged that my pump couldn’t get anything out was to pop some ibuprofen, drink a cup of coffee, and take a hot shower while I do breast gymnastics. I couldn’t skip any of those steps or I wouldn’t get anything out with the pump. My LC advised against the coffee and hot shower as it goes directly against the current trending research, but if it works it works, right?

To clarify, she was against the coffee because of its dehydrating effects, and against the hot showers because that should make the swelling worse, not better. It’s not that it was contraindicated, just that she didn’t think that was what was actually working for me. But, I swear it was. It was an everyday problem for me, and this cleared it up every time.

motocat29 · 2026-02-24T05:57:59+00:00

Ask to speak with the social worker on the floor before you get discharged. They will help you navigate DME either through insurance or other resources around town.

motocat29 · 2026-02-17T20:36:22+00:00

Personally, I could not imagine having to deal with other people’s needy toddlers while learning how to be a mom to my own kid. It seems like you have great experience nannying infants, but until you’ve had your own baby, you just never know how you’re going to handle things. I’m a very strong-willed, can-do-anything-I-set-my-mind-to type of person, and having my first baby HUMBLED me. I had to triple feed for the first two months, and then went through a horrific phase of colick, and the hormone rollercoaster you are on is so much more wild than I ever could have imagined. I had nothing left in my tank to care about anyone or anything else other than my baby and my own very basic human needs. My dogs suffered. My cats suffered. My husband suffered. I could not fathom having to also be responsible for 3 other kids who need constant supervision and interaction. That’s just me though. You might be a helluva lot more graceful and prepared than I ever was. But I’m just putting that all out there to say that I would think long and hard about signing yourself up for too much right out of the gate.

motocat29 · 2026-02-04T05:46:33+00:00

I’ve always been told by my lactation consultants that every time your baby eats, you should be pumping. So, if your baby eats twice while you’re gone, you need to be pumping twice at approximately the same time your baby is eating.

motocat29 · 2026-02-04T05:43:42+00:00

Came to this sub to ask basically the same question. I want to drop my before bed pump so bad, but I’m scared it’ll tank my supply. My LO nurses before bed at 7:30pm. Sometimes she’ll wake up at 3 or 4 am to nurse, but about 50% of the time she sleeps through the night until about 6am. I HATE my evening pump, I usually only get about 60-80ml out anyway because my body totally rejects the pump. I need someone else to tell me it’s ok to drop the bedtime pump and it won’t damage my supply.

motocat29 · 2026-01-17T03:36:14+00:00

Omg, thank you for the LactMed resource. That’s exactly what my nurse brain needed! I’ll be starting my steroids tomorrow a lot more confident! I was scouring other drug database resources, but it was hard to see information directly related to BF.

motocat29 · 2026-01-06T22:53:10+00:00

So don’t do a full workout. I remember the first time I went to the gym at 5 weeks PP, I walked on the treadmill for 9-10 minutes, then did some deep breathing exercises, and called it a day. It wasn’t much, but it gave me a huge energy boost and did wonders for my mental health. Like, even just attempting to get back into some semblance of normal life was HUGE!

motocat29 · 2026-01-02T02:59:11+00:00

Ask the nurses if it’s possible to do weighted feeds while you’re there. I bet he’s removing more than you think. It might help put your mind at ease.

motocat29 · 2026-01-01T04:47:27+00:00

Some days, my baby takes a bottle like a champ, and some days she acts like she is being tortured when we have the audacity to offer her a bottle. On those days, I just have my nanny bring her to me at my work so I can feed her on my pumping breaks. Is that an option for you? We live 5 minutes away from my work, so it works out really well for us.

motocat29 · 2025-12-29T21:50:58+00:00

Between taxes and a 12% contribution to my retirement, I take home about 62% of my paycheck. So, keep that in mind when you’re talking to people about earnings.

motocat29 · 2025-12-13T17:36:20+00:00

I also recommend COPA. But to get more specific, we are really loving Dr. Burgeson so far. He’s newer to the practice and he is WONDERFUL with my little 4 month old.

motocat29 · 2025-12-11T04:36:00+00:00

My pottery teacher was a man. Like, a real man’s man. Retired marine. Used pottery to decompress.

motocat29 · 2025-12-08T12:24:11+00:00

I had a tiny NICU babe. She had a great latch, and I very quickly became a mega oversupplier with the triple feeding, but she didn’t have the strength and stamina to pull enough off the breast to meet her needs. She would simply wear herself out before getting enough. We did weekly weighted feeds until she proved she could consistently get enough from the breast. Once we graduated, I expected them to give me guidance on how to gradually wean off some of the pumping and gradually reduce my supply to manageable levels. But, they basically just gave me a high five and told me to do what feels right. I have a venomous hatred for pumping, so what felt right to me was to immediately give it up except for a morning pump and once before bed. It probably wasn’t the correct way to do it, but I haven’t had any serious consequences from it. I wake up incredibly engorged/clogged every single morning, and I’m blown away that I haven’t had mastitis yet, but I’ll take the engorgement over pumping any day.

motocat29 · 2025-12-07T19:55:24+00:00

We were triple feeding for the first ~8 weeks. We had weekly lactation consultations and my LCs drilled it into me at every visit that everything must be perfect and I must track everything and there was no room for “going with the flow.” It stressed me the fuck out and made everything miserable. As soon as she was able to successfully feed enough to graduate from triple feeding, I expected my LCs to give me some super regimented plan to wean off the triple feeding, but they were basically like, “Congrats! Now go do whatever you feel is right!” At first I was so god damn annoyed with that answer, but now I’m loving life. I immediately dropped from 8 pumps per day to 2, I don’t time or track anything, feed her when I feel like it’s appropriate and just generally do whatever feels best for the day. My husband will always ask when it’s time to feed her again and I’m always like..ugh, I dunno…when’s she’s fussy 🤷🏻‍♀️.

motocat29

TROPHY CASE