The Minimalist Guide to Feeding Newborns: What You Really Need

To prepare for feeding an infant, you can easily get away with two items totaling less than 10 bucks: a pack of Mason Bottle Silicone Nipples ($9.99) and a breast pump (free through your insurance). Good News for Budget and Eco-Conscious Moms everywhere!

Sound too good to be true? You can always consult with your pediatrician about what they recommend, but on the blog today, Christina Woods shares her tips for pairing things down: 

My favorite unsolicited advice to give pregnant women is that you only need yourself to take care of your baby in the early days. Sure it's good to be prepared for the unexpected, but new moms are much more prone to over-prepare than under. And so it's definitely worth remembering that your self is sufficient.  After bouts of nesting frenzy, the last days of your third trimester can be exhausting.  I spent the days before Evie was born simultaneously anxiously awaiting her arrival, and dreading said arrival. Pinterest had me thinking I needed a handmade mobile made of ombre paint cards completed for her life to begin with the appropriate gusto.

And then, she was here.  Well, not that simply really, but she did arrive and the nursery was not done to any kind of Pinterest standard.  And she didn't even notice! Turns out, she couldn't even see more than six inches in front of her.  

So we spent those first weeks as many new parents do.  She ate, slept, and pooped on repeat.  I nursed or pumped, ate, and slept as well.  Little time was spent on gear.  What was simple was good.  

To feed her I only needed the following:

1. Breasts (or infant formula)
2. Mason Bottles with slow flow nipples
   
3. A good breast pump
4. Warm tap water and a bowl

Here's what I didn't need and why:

1. A bottle warmer

Letting a bottle sit in a bath of hot tap water will adequately warm milk without heating it to a level that kills nutrients. (Check out our post on how to warm milk while maintaining the nutritional value here.)

2. A special brush to clean bottles

Mason bottles don’t have crevices and hard to reach spots, so bottle brushes and pipe cleaners are simply unnecessary. Another bonus: odors and the fat in milk will cling to plastic, but not to glass, so bottles will get cleaner even without extra tools.

3. Plastic bottles or bags for breast milk storage

Mason jars already come in the perfect serving sizes, 4 and 8 ounces. Breast milk storage bags are not reusable and tend to leak, so save yourself the money and the mess.

4. A Dishwasher container to hold bottle pieces

Mason Bottles have very few pieces and none are small enough to lose track of in the wash.

5. Baby bottle dish rack that looks like grass or a tree

You may be picking up on the theme here, but there aren't any special brushes or small pieces that need to dry on the counter. Glass and silicone are much more durable than plastic, so it's not necessary to hand wash and dry Mason Bottles.