Trying Different Bottles

My daughter had a similar problem with bottles/nipples. I ended up getting disposable preemie nipples (I have a bunch left over still sealed if you are interested in them). They were the only nipple she used until she was almost 5 months old! Then we got the dr. brown's bottles/nipples, and those worked like a charm!

My breast fed babies have responded really well with the Advent bottle line. They claim it is most similar to a womens breast

I spent about $50.00 on bottles trying to find one that worked! My daughter not only wouldn't take a bottle, she gagged. I bought Breastflow bottles on the internet and had them rush shipped for $6.00.

For $15.00 you get 3 and they are AWESOME. They simulate breastfeeding. They have an inside chamber that stores the milk and the baby has to latch like breastfeeding to get the milk inside of it. The nipples are small and rounded just like us and it flattens when they latch. She took to them immediately!!! NO gagging.

I cannot recommend these higher. I was SO nervous about going back to work because she wouldn't take ANY bottle. I am talking we were down to the wire before I finally found these!

GOOD LUCK!

Edited to add...Breastflow bottles are BPA free (Avent is not)

hi
try Born Free bottles (it is similar as Avent) Avent always work good with breastfed babies but now I am not sure if Avent is actually free of BPA only tempo (drop in liner) or Via feeding system. Born Free tend to works good with breastfed babies. ORRR try Adiri bottle that shape like breastfeed that u can just buy 2 (cost rough from 12 bucks to 14 bucks) and use it for few weeks or keep use it til whenever u can switch to other bottle. for breastfeed babies doesnt like small nipple shape but wide neck nipple because it is similar as breast that touch the whole lips with comfort. Wide neck nipple is better than small reg nipple.

is there anyway you can storage breastmilk in fridge? mix half with formula? doesnt work that way for u? if u rather go for formula.... go for Organic formula :o)

oh you can find born free bottles and Adiri bottles at babies r us, wholefood, other stores or online.

good luck :o)

It may not be the length of the nipple but the flow that is making her gag. Bottle nipples flow much faster than the breast. I would definitely try the one someone recommended that doesn't flow at all but requires the baby to actually suck on it. Using bottles with a fast flow too much can create lazy nursers.

About your breast milk..do you freeze it? I used to always freeze mine and never had any problems with using it.

My only suggestion would be to try a soft spouted sippy cup. I know your baby seems young, but my son never took a bottle (or formula). We started him on the soft sippy cups @ 4 months old (he was sitting up & eating) and he would take that, even from me. Good luck.

we used breast flow bottles for a few months then moved through ALOT of diffent ones and finally my son settled in the soothie bottle and nipples of course the last one we tryed it also helped when i gave just an ounce from the bottle to him i think he though if i agreed it would be ok that might help too

I just wanted to post this information about the fact that the rolled and pre-formed drop-ins for the Playtex systems are all made from polyethylene (PE), and are therefore BPA-free.

It's really only the Premium Nurser bottle that contains BPA; the standard Nurser bottle does not contain BPA.

Here are some links about this. In case you would worry that the one from Playtex is biased, I include the wikipedia explanation about BPA (see human exposure to and identification of plastics sections) and another safety list.

I was just worried that the entry from Kerri R might be misleading and unduly alarm people about the drop-ins system. No hard feelings, hopefully, Kerri - it's just that the link you found wasn't clear that they're only referring to the bottles.

Happy bottle-feeding, everyone. It's hard enough as it is!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

http://amomsblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/bpa-free-bottle...

http://www.playtexbaby.com/bpafree/info.html

she may jsut be gaging because the milk may be coming out faster than she is use to. they do have nipples that are slower flow that may work. Are you freezing the breast milk after pumping it? i've used the advent nipples this time around and they work pretty good. feeding from a bottle is different for her but i'm assuming your husband is the one feeding her the botttle and you are not in the room because if you are I'm sure she would perfer you over the bottle....mom of 13 , 11 8 and 1 yr old K.

Hi C.,

Your baby may not like the nipples and may be adjusting to the formula as well. Keep trying different nipples - the suggestions below are great- but you have to experiment to find the one that works for your baby. If all else fails try a small glass -or cup. I personally know several babies who refused all bottles but did well with a glass. Use a short ,squat glass -( bacardi shot glasses are perfect). Just pour a small amount of formula at a time into the cup, and hold your baby in a semi upright position on your lap, and viola ! Good luck !

Avent bottles always worked great for my kids when they were going back in forth between breast and formula. Also, she might take the bottle more readily if you dont give it to her since she can smell your breast milk.
My daughter did the gagging thing too and we would just pull the nipple out of her mouth and let her get reattached. It was tiresome and stopped completely upon using the Avent.
Good Luck

Both my kids really took to the Ventaire bottles. These are great because they help to have less air bubbles for gas and also you can get two kinds of nipples for them. Slow or fast flowing. Stage 1 is the slow so it would be perfect. They are a little more expensive but well worth the investment!

Try either the Dr. Brown's bottles or the Nuk bottles.
My now 18 month old son gave up nursing the second he tried the Dr. Brown's bottle I could only get him to nurse once in a while but he preferred that bottle to all others!
This time around (another boy due this October) I am going to nurse and also bottle feed and I decided to try the Nuk bottles instead if they don't work I will try Dr. Brown's again.
The reason I am trying the Nuk this time is because the Dr. Brown's bottles are a pain they have too many parts to them to clean but they work like a charm (no gas issues and he loved the nipple) good luck!!! I would give the nipples a 3 day trial only before trying another.

I used the Avent bottles with the silicone nipple with all 3 of my kids. My youngest, however, didn't want to take the bottle. My sister suggested the "boob" bottle, also known as the Adiri nurser. She said it was the best $15 she had ever spent. I bought just one and it helped my son transition from the breast to a bottle. Once we got him drinking from the Adiri bottle, we were then abel to get him to use the Avent bottles.

Here is the link from onestepahead.com for the bottle: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

The Right Start or Baby's R'Us might have it too. It's SO worth it. My son fought it for maybe a few minutes and then gave in.

Can you freeze your milk once you have pumped? Would that keep it from spoiling?

Good luck.

I had success with Gerber Comfort Latch bottles & nipples. Playtex ventaire was good as well. The rounder nipples worked better for us b/c she could wrap her tongue around. I know you said you cant pump & store for when you go back to work..... but is it possible to temporarily pump now b4 you go back and mix the formula nad BM until you can wean her onto formula only while your at work??? I had to give my daughter formula as well while she was in day care... it took a while for her to accept it but eventually she was in daycare full time and took to it.

I don't know who makes them but you can find them at babies r us they are called breast flow. They have a clear nipple with another blue nipple inside. They were the only bottle that I could get my son to take.

Hi C.,

When my daughter was born and tried using bottles after about a month, we had bought the "Breastflow" bottles, but we found that she gagged on the nipple. We had tried her on that bottle just a few times afterwards to see if the nipple was too long, or if she was just adjusting to the bottle. We switched to the "Advent" bottles and have never had a problem with them. The great thing about the Advent system is that later on when your daughter is old enough for a sippy cup, they sell handles and things that can "train" your daughter to go from bottle to sippy.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

I had the same problem. Don't worry. She'll take it in time (everything is a stage, as you know). Kyle eventually took the Dr. Brown's bottles. In the meantime, the daycare was great. Very patient. They deal with this all the time. One of the little babies would only take her milk from a syringe. Good luck.

Hi C.,

Playtex Vent Aire bottles have been the best for all 3 of my kids. I breast fed all for about 3 months, before going back to work, and was able to transition the kids to the bottles without any fuss. They make the breast-shaped nipples as well. My girls didn't like the breast-shaped nipples as much as the regular ones. These bottles are awesome at preventing too much air to get into the baby's milk, so burping is very minimal, as well as spit-ups. I tried many different bottles with my first (I had the funds to do so then) and didn't find any bottle better than the vent-aire. My 8 month old has only spit up maybe 3-5 times, if that. The bottles have also been recently upgraded too, so their quality has improved. I love that I can take them apart at the bottom, and thoroughly wash the bottom, without any milk residue staying in the bottle. They truly have been the best for my girls.

Good Luck!

The Adiri bottle is pretty awesome. It's designed like a boob and the nipple is life like, as well requiring baby to "nurse" from the bottle. It's a little $$$, (around $15), with deals on multiples. I've only found it on-line.
Good luck.

I had the same trouble with my 2nd (she is now 10 months old). The advice I got from a nursing association is to spoon-feed the formula to her, or give it by syringe. If she takes it that way, I think you know if she does not like the formula. It also gets them used to taking it from another way other than from Mom. I also learned that after a couple weeks of frustration, $ spent on 5 different bottle systems, in the end, when she was hungry, she took the bottle. After about two times of successfully getting her to take the bottle, it became pretty easy to get her to take it regularly. Good luck!

I used Playtex with my first child, who never liked a bottle anyway and I felt the drop ins got to be very expensive. With my 2nd, we used the Avent bottles and they worked perfect for us. Just make sure you are getting the nipple that applys to her age. They make them with certain number of holes for slow or fast flow. It may just take her time to get use to the bottle nipple, maybe give it longer before you invest on buying more.
Hope this helps some.

Hi, my nursing baby liked the playtex dropins best too. However, the silcone (clear) nipples were too slippery for her. She preferred the brown ones (rubber maybe?). Perhaps you should try those.

Hi there. You can try MAM's bottles - they are the most like breast feeding. The downside - you can only order them online.
I used the Medela Special Needs feeder at first, but when my little one got to be about 4-5 months, she needed a bottle that allowed a faster flow. The Medela feeder has NO flow - the milk only comes out when the baby sucks - VERY much like breast feeding. An expensive bottle too, but it was a great one to start with, and now she'll take any bottle.
Good luck!