Don't panic! At least you're thinking about it now! When I gave up breastfeeding and went to bottle I hadn't even got any bottles in the house and I had my baby screaming the place down for food!
There are lots of different bottle systems, some quite expensive ones that are good for babies who get colic and some basic ones which are fine. To be honest I can only give my opinion on Avent because that was the brand my Mum went out and bought me when we were in a panic so that was the one I used but I'm sure lots of other ladies will tell you about some of the others. With Avent you can get two (or possibly three) sizes of bottles, small 4oz ones for newborns and then the standard 9oz (I think) for when they're older. I just bought the newborn starter pack from Kiddicare which has 2 small and 4 standard I think plus the newborn teats and a couple of teats the next size up. Basically the teats for newborns are slower flow and when they need the next stage up you can kind of tell because they get annoyed about how quickly they get the milk so you then buy the next stage teats up in this system. The bottles themselves are very sturdy, I am still using Elliott's now to measure stuff out as the markings haven't come off the side like some cheaper brands and you can get kind of blank lids that fit in the top so that you can use the bottles as carriers for other stuff like food when your kid is older. They didn't scratch easily either which is important for cleaning purposes I think. Avent is expensive mind you but I was very happy with it generally- just my experience and I don't have any experience of any other brand.
As for making up the formula there are lots of methods depending on your lifestyle really. You have to be careful not to heat the milk up more than once and don't leave the reheated warm milk hanging around as bacteria will grow. To start with I would make up the formula for the day first thing in the morning and then put it in the fridge and heat it as I needed it. You have to use boiled water to make it up so remember that and have some handy and cooled so you don't get caught out. I'd say develop a system that suits you and stick to it. After a bit (and coming on here!) I decided that as I liked to be out and about and had to worry about made up formula getting warm when we were out it was actually easier to do just the boiled water bit in the morning, fill the bottles up with water to the right amounts and then heat up the water when I needed it and add the powder (you can get travel pots to take the measured formula powder out with you which you can sterilize too- they have funnels so it's easy!). This way I wasted less powder, didn't have to worry about storing the made up formula and didn't have a fridge door full of milk the whole time! As I said though it's up to you.
Sterilizing is really important though. Again, I can only tell you what I did which was to use the old fashioned Milton method. It's a baby-safe sterilizing fluid or tablet which you make up in water and then after you've washed your bottles and teats (using a bottle brush to get all the milky bits out) you submerge them in the sterilizer and they're ok for 24 hours (I added bottles/dummies to it through the day and then changed it the same time every morning when I made up the feeds if you see what I mean.) Disadvantages are a huge container in your kitchen and if you get the fluid on any clothes it stains like bleach but I ended up using tablets which stopped that! Friends of mine used a steam method with a microwave but I know nothing of that- someone else will have to advise you!
As for brands I used SMA as that's what my mum used with me and we found it fine, average to low price and easily available. Some babies don't get on with one brand so you might have to experiment, some babies need special types of formula if they have colic or reflux but you'll be advised about that if it happens (if you don't then shout- our HVs were very bad about this). You start on the basic Gold SMA and then we moved to the Blue which has a different formula for hungry babies which has the same calorific value per oz but stays in their tums longer as Elliott was drinking twice the amount of Gold he should have been after 4 weeks and put on lots of weight before someone on here told me about it!
Just ask about anything- this board and my mum were by far the best sources of info on all of this- I was HORRIFIED at the lack of info I got from midwives and health visitors about formula in my area, it was very poor indeed.
Hope that helps- I can only say what I did and I'm sure there are better/easier/cheaper/quicker ways to do it!
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