The Perfect Bottle for Baby Toby, plus a DIY Bottle Rack

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My two priorities before returning to work after my 12 weeks of Maternity Leave are to find reliable daycare for my baby boy and make sure I continue nursing him. 

The nursing part is a bit more of a challenge because I'll have to make sure my milk supply continues to meet his demands. I will have to pump regularly to leave enough milk for the babysitter and up until recently, I was looking for a bottle that Baby Toby would agree with, especially since I've been breastfeeding exclusively.

Fortunately, I found the perfect bottle for Toby. 

During a recent Target haul, I found and purchased the Playtex Nurser with Drop-Ins Liners. 

This bottle is designed to simulate the same patterns as breastfeeding— suck, swallow breathe. It's different than other bottles we tried.  The liners, for example, which you place into the bottle, actually collapse gently (just like the breast) as the baby feeds. This prevents air from getting into the milk. 

Anyway, I bought the bottle to give it a try and Baby Toby immediately started drinking from it!! This was such a relief because we had tried other bottles and he either wouldn't drink or somehow the milk would spill out from the sides of his little mouth. We're so relieved that this was not the case with the Playtex bottle...Hooray to better beginnings!  

I say this because now that Toby accepted this bottle, my husband can finally feed him and bond with him (something he hadn't done much). Our oldest son Benny was formula fed and my husband spent a lot of time feeding him. Now he gets to do the same with Toby. 

The liners are available by the box, at Target, which happens to be my favorite place to shop. The few times I've gotten out of the house since Toby arrived, I've somehow ended up at Target. It's definitely my one-stop shop for everything baby and #1 for baby registries.

So now that we found a bottle for Toby and with the extra time at home, I made a simple and kinda' rustic little bottle holder for the back of his nursery closet door. 

It's a little silly but I love to create things and this seemed perfect to hold the Playtex Nurser bottles and Drop-Ins Liners I bought. 

To make a similar bottle holder you'll need:

*wooden stakes 

*metal wire

*white paint & paint brush 

*nails & hammer or screws & screw gun

*small pliers (to cut the wire)

Instructions:

Start by painting the wood. I like the color white because it makes things look clean and minimalist. 

The sizes I used were two 24"stakes and two 18".

Join a long stake with a shorter one and use the metal wire to attach them by lashing them, which basically means to wrap the wire over and under the pieces of wood to connect them.  You repeat this process for each corner where the stakes meet.

Next you use large nails or screws and place them at an angle on each horizontal piece of wood (I nailed three on each piece but using an electric screwdriver would have probably been easier). Note: since the Playtex Nurser bottles have no direct contact with breastmilk/formula, it's fine to let them rest against a nail/screw.

Once your framed bottle rack is ready, you braid together three pieces of wire and attach the final product to the corners of your frame, this will be used to hang the rack. Then you nail it to the top of the door.

I wanted to add a little cuteness to this project so I painted the plastic giraffe black and white and kept a similar color pattern to the baby's nursery.

Another nursery "must" is the Playtex Diaper Genie. I also bought this at Target and placed it between Toby's elephant hamper and my rocking chair. Since the Diaper Genie  has an Ultimate Odor Lock System, with a 7-layer bag to seal in odors, sitting next to it is no problem! 

My over-the-door bottle rack turned out a bit simple and possibly messy looking but it's a practical way to store your bottles far away from the other dishes in the kitchen and keep them handy for feedings. 

Now to find a reliable daycare in my neighborhood!

Meanwhile, check out the Playtex bottles... Maybe your baby will love them too! 

Thanks for reading.

Have a great day!