Friday, 25 July 2008

My name is Eve and I am addicted to bottle brushes!

I think I have a problem and I'm determined that the first step to getting better is admitting it.
I am addicted to bottle brushes.
It started innocently enough. I got some brushes with some bottles at my baby shower. They were nice enough in that they did the job. But they were rather simple and plain and uncomplicated.
I think things might have stayed alright except for some stressful times when I was visiting my newborn daughter in the NICU.
I blame the expressing paraphernalia.
After trying to express breast milk for my little girl I had to clean the breast pump funnel thingymajob.
They had a whole sink for this purpose with pump dispenser disinfectant soap and bottle brushes lined up along the edge of the sink. They came in all sorts of colours and each had their own little suction cup to stand up on.
When I had to admit defeat on the breastfeeding front I jumped at the opportunity to really embrace the bottle feeding subculture.
There are so many cool things for bottle feeding, I dabbled in the mysteries of different bottles, tried the Dr Browns with their funny bits and bobs.
After standing in the kitchen at 3 in the morning a few times trying to figure out the bits and their corresponding bobs and then finding the bottle leaking milk into the jug of hot water I had stood it in to warm it I gave up on Dr Brown. I did however keep the groovy little bottle brush thingy for cleaning the bits and bobs.
Then I really jumped into the Nuk experience. I was sucked further into the seedy world of bottle addiction when I discovered that the Nuk teats fitted the cheaper generic bottles I got at my baby shower (the ones I got the brushes with) and then that Snookums bottles also fit those teats, infact most of the cheaper bottles fit the Nuk teat. You see (she says sounding like a Nuk saleswoman as only a true addict can) the beauty of the Nuk sustem is that the air flow works with just the teat and not (as with Dr Brown, Born Free, Avent and others) with the bottle, so one is not stuck with the more expenssive bottles but can just buy the teats and use them on almost any bottle.
Then the trouble began as I started buying more and more bottles.... all of which lead ultimately to the bottle brush trouble.
I felt quite pleased with myself that I had caught my bottle addiction before it bankrupted me and turned my fridge into a bottle warehouse with not room for food. I'd nipped it in the bud, or so I thought.... but now I realise I just went the way of many other addicts... with one addiction leading to the next.
I first bought a red brush with a sponge tip and a teat brush in the handle.... I thought I had hit the jackpot. Then I saw the purple brush with the teat brush in the handle and ths suction cup (like the ones at the NICU) I had to have it, much to my sister's disgust - she had been with me when I bought the red one. Imagine her face if she had seen me today buying the blue brush I just had to have.
Today I bought my fourth bottle brush.... and yes, it is one with a suction cap on the bottom, sponges on the tip and a teat brush in the handle. I especially love the fact that it is a baby Eeyore one and so goes with the baby Eeyore dummy chain I bought two weeks ago, the baby Eeyore bottle and dummy I got at my baby shower and baby Eeyore formula container I bought today and the baby Eeyore rattle I will probably buy next time I am in the store.
The problem is right now my baby has only five feeds a day and uses only five bottles a day so that means I almost have a brush for every bottle. I guess this is a little too much.
My biggest problem is deciding which one to use at any given bottle washing session.
But perhaps I have an even bigger problem looming on the horizon.
Does anyone know where I can find a Baby Eeyore-a-holics Anonymous meeting?

2 comments:

Lynese Morris said...

Well done Evelyn. i loved reading this very entertaining post. maybe you should send it to Living and Loving.

Rachel said...

Very funny -- I was the exact opposite. Bottle brushes disgust me. (I'm weird!)

Have a fantastic Monday!
(visiting from Mom Bloggers Club)