The internets' best tips & tricks to organize baby feeding supplies

This shop,How to Organize Baby Feeding Supplies, has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FirstsMadeEasy #ForBetterBeginnings #MomsFirsts #CollectiveBias

Being a rookie to parenting, but a long time organizer, I knew I wanted a system to store all the supplies & bottles that would soon take over our home with our little on on the way. A minimalist at heart, I started with the necessities: bottles, bibs, spoons, cups, plates.

We did stock up Playtex VentAire bottles, as these help reduce colic and reflux (two things that sound pretty miserable!) at Target. Scroll down for a great Target Cartwheel to save on Playtex bottles!

Kitchen space can be at a premium in our home, so finding room for the addition of baby products took some thought and planning.

4 Steps to Organize Baby Feeding Supplies

1. purge

Before I stored any baby items in the kitchen, I pulled out EVERY item in our cabinets. Yep, every single one. Not only was it a good opportunity to clean out the inside of the cabinets, looking at all the items we had sitting out on our counters helped me determine what to get rid of (those beer glasses from college perhaps?). Knowing that I had to find extra room in the cabinets allowed me look at our items with a more critical lense.

Once you’ve evaluated all your items, hold off on putting anything back in to the cabinets just yet (we’ll get to that in step 4).

2. group similar items

Next I compiled all the baby feeding supplies that will be stored in our kitchen. Similar to step 1, I like to take a look at everything that needs to go into the cabinet before jumping in to organizing solutions. I grouped like items together: bottles, bibs, sippy cups, plates, etc. While there may be a few exceptions, most like items will be stored together.

We’re using Playtex Baby™ VentAire®. What I liked about these bottles is that they’re designed ro reduce colic. There’s a bottom vent on each bottle created to keep air at the back of the bottle and out of the baby’s stomach. The other neat thing about the VentAire® collection is the ability to mix and match the bottles & nipples. That way we can figure out what works for us. Switch out one of the nipples, but still use the bottle. The minimalist in me really liked this philosophy.

3. storage solutions

Once all the baby items are grouped together, I’m able to better determine what size storage containers will be needed. I used a combination of clear acrylic containers and pretty white plastic bins found at Target. The baby plates and silverware were placed with our normal kitchen items. I figured that if Joe & I are eating, likely so will our child. Plus, the plates could easily sit on top of our existing kitchen plates to take up less room.

Finding containers did take a little trial and error since the container had to not only hold all the supplies, but also fit into our cabinets. One trick I’ve learned is to measure the space BEFORE heading out to purchase anything. So I measured various cabinet shelves and a couple of our drawers. I also brought a small tape measure with me to the store when I go shopping. Not all storage bins will have the measurements listed and I’ve learned the hard way that I’m not the best at estimating!

These white bins below worked for the majority of our supplies: bottles, placemats, sippy cups, & snack cups.

Affixing a label on each container helps keep everything more organized. Family, friends and nannies can easily find what they need to help out! as well. Plus it makes me happy to open a cabinet with well labeled containers (just look at my craft closet)!

4. store

This is the big step (and the most gratifying). With all of our regular kitchen items and baby feeding supplies spread out on our counters, I was ready to put them away (and anxious to get rid of the clutter). I started by focusing on returning my regular kitchen items where they originally were (or close to it). I did need to allocate shelf space for the new white plastic containers as well as one drawer. When deciding where to put the baby feeding supplies, I thought about how often these would be used.

One of my favorite rules of organizing is to make sure the most commonly used items are the easiest to access.

I opted to store the spoons and forks with our current silverware. Sometimes it made more sense to store like items together …. baby and ours. I opted for a similar set up for the plates. Our baby (toddler?) plates sat on top of our standard dish set.

Using a long clear acrylic container is an easy way to store full milk bottles or baggies in the fridge. Newest ones get placed in the back so that those that have been in the fridge longer get used up first (first in first out). I’ve gotten this recommendation from several friends stating that it was a life safer to not have to look through a crowded fridge to find a bottle when needed!

To save room, bibs are stored in the inside of a cabinet door with a command hook. I selected the door of the cabinet that held the most baby items to that everything would be in one location.

Bottle cleaning supplies went in a drawer below our counters. Since some of these were a little bit bulkier, I found that it easier to store in a drawer as opposed to a cabinet.