Irene,
I use Nuk teats (not the wide mouth ones) which can be fit into the pigeon storage bottle. These bottles can be attached directly to my medela pump too as they are standard size.
Avent bottles are expensive to use for storage purpose. You can get pigeon 300ml bottles to store the milk combined from 2 pumps and just pour out when you need to use them. May sound troublesome but it is a matter of getting used to. I combine the milk to prevent having too many bottles in my fridge and I will pour out 3 feeds in advance so each time need to use ebm just need to grab a bottle and fix a teat.
The avent cups can be sterilised up to 5 times only. To feed from the cup, you need an adaptor for the avent teat as the cup opening is way too big. This adaptor came with a manual pump set I bought last time. Not sure if they are sold separately, but I should think so.
Ida,
Bottles have their lifespan also due to wear and tear... cannot use forever one!
Wintertime,
We try not to let baby suckle for comfort. It is very bad habit. Monitoring to see if this comfort sucking is often or not. If use, it is time for the pacifier.
Grace,
Not that hubby is so sweet. It is cos I have been dealing with the baby on my own for the past don't know how many nights that I really could not take it last night. I had this stabbing pain in my head so I went to wake him up to ask him to take over before I die.
For Nuk teats, I only use the silicon ones. I tried a disposable latex one during #1's time and was totally put off by it. It changes colour after sterilising! So, it is silicon all the way for us
Devil,
I changed the whole set of medela bottles and pump parts cos there is bound to be wear and tear. I got the original medela pump replacement parts from US cos it is cheaper and for the bottles, I use Pigeon storage bottles which can fit into the pump but not the bootie stands.