To breastfeeding mothers who have also used a bottle ... Wondering what brand of bottle nipples you have tried and why you chose the brand you did? Thanks!
My daughter is exclusively breast fed and she will drink from breast flow only....
My daughter took Avent for a few months, until she decided not to take bottles at all anymore. Heard good things about them from friends.
I see you are a lactation consultant and I just have to relay my story, although you are probably more conscientious than the one we worked with. Please do not ever tell someone their milk supply is low without doing the FULL consultation. I had the most terrible experience at a local reputable pediatricians' office. My husband and I had to push to breastfeed and they sent us home with formula and a new feeding regimen everyday. A week later she was successfully on the breast and growing like a weed, no thanks to them! The daily weigh-ins kill new moms, especially when they are all based on incorrect information (low milk supply).
My husband and I wanted to go on trip when my daughter was 4 months. The only bottle we could get her to take was Adiri. We had tried every bottle. (Playtex, Avent, and gerber)Adiri is truly shaped like a mother's breast. It does not feel like other nipples and does not work like any other bottle. www.adiri.com
I hope this helps!
This sounds weird, but I actually tried out the bottle nipples a little bit! I had some Avent bottles, because they were recommended to me by a lactation consultant, but they were so stiff! I can't imagine that I feel much like that. Then I tried some regular silicone nipples, Munchkin brand, and they were so soft and squishy (like me, I would guess!) that I tried those instead. My son did better latching onto those.
We waited until around 6 weeks to introduce a bottle, and we started with Avent, which she took fairly well for a few weeks, but she became a little finicky before too long. Then we switched to Platex drop-ins with the latex nipple. Much softer, and she took to them much better. We haven't had any problems since. We still keep her on the low flow nipples, because she tends to gag herself on the ones that have a higher flow.
Amy,
I had to start bottle feeding my daughter almost immediatley because she was jaundice and needed the extra nutrients. We used Advent bottles and loved them. My daughter is 9 months old and still breastfeeds whenever I am home but when I am at work or out she uses Advent bottles and nipples. She had no problems adjusting to them and never had a problem latching on either. I did use a nipple shield for the first 4 months of breastfeeding because her suck was wrong but there was never a hard transistion for us.
Good luck!
Maggie
It has been awhile and I can't remember the name but I think they were playtex? They had the liners. But everychild is different.. I recommend just trying to see what the child prefers.. I preferred playtex as research said contained less air in babies tummy which meant less gas..
The ONLY bottle my breast fed babies would take for the first year are the platex drop in bottles. The nipples are not the silicone kind. I tried the nuk kind because it was shaped like their binkis..didn't work. Tried Advent and a few others, but the playtex nipple is shaped the best. But they don't like the silicone (clear) nipple they like the brownish looking one. They like that texture better I guess. Hope you find what works for you!
Hello Amy,
I used Playtex Vent Air wide nipple bottles for my baby girl. She absolutely loved this bottles. I think the nipple being wide resembles more a natural nipple, also the shape of them seemed to work for her. She was only 5 - 6 months and already holding her own bottle with her own hands. She would push our hands away if we try to hold her bottle. It was soothing to her.
That's what worked for us :)
I use Avent, because someone gave us some and they seemed to be better on my son than the regular gerber ones (that we had). My friend swears by the Playtex air vent. If I were to buy a bottle I would try this one. We both breast feed, she supplements with formula and I have my daughter or husband feed my little one a bottle of pumped milk on occasion. My son is 3 months old and a fast eater so we went to a 3 nipple pretty fast because the one and two were just too slow for him. The three seemed to satisfy him and he would better take close to a normal feeding from the bottle this way.
My first child was lactose intolerant and a lactation consultant told me I was a "bad mom, children need to nurse at least 10 mins each side" well when we finally diagnosed the lactose intolerance and switched her to soy formula I was feeling like a "bad mom" and so rejected... We used regular orange Gerber nipples and bottles for her. Well my son, eats just like my daughter and is FULL at a total of ten mins. He usually only eats about 7. My milk also comes out super fast. Like 6 oz in 7 mins fast (by pumping). He typically only takes 2-3 oz from a bottle. My little boy proves to me my little girl was getting enough... just couldn't tolerate it. He also is healthy, maintaining his growth curve and developing perfectly. Please keep this in mind as you consult.
We used Avent bottles with the clear silicone nipples because, at the time, it was the only nipple on the market that had the wide base to flare out the babies mouth like a breast. But now Playtex (and possibly others) have similar shaped nipples. I wasn't the type of person to try multiple kinds. I just had them and that's what we used without any problems.
My son took a bottle well until he was about 3 months. My mistake was that I quit giving him a bottle for about three weeks. When I tried to give him a bottle after those three weeks he wanted nothing to do with it. I was determined to have a baby who took a bottle (my first son never took a bottle of a binki)so that I could leave him with a sitter. So for two months I offered him a bottle everyday with no sucess. I tried every bottle under the sun. He wouldn't take it until I tried the brand called Nuk. He took it right away! Didn't even try to swat it away. I think its cause its so squishy and seems to be most like moms breast.
I am sure every child is different but my boy liked Nuk the best.
Christy
We tried one type of gerber with a silicone nipple, didnt work... we switched to Avent and it worked like a charm. I breastfed for 10 months while she occassionally took a bottle when we were away or nursing was not an option for one reason or another. I liked the avent system because it offered different flows of nipples. For the most part our daughter was always kept on the newborn or "one hole" flow because I found that if she drank from a higher flow, she thought that she didnt need to suck when she'd be nursing! So, we kept her on a newborn low flow for about 8 months and then when nursings were down to only a few times a day she moved to a higher flow. Good luck.
My baby would only take NUK brand bottle nipples. Mostly because they felt the same as her pacifier. Try that trick... If the baby takes a pacifier ok, match the bottle nipple to the pacifier. Good luck!
My daughter was in NICU for the first few days, and was not breastfeeding well. We let the NICU nurses give her formula, as she was jaundiced & really needed to be eating more. We were concerned that she wouldn't take to breasfeeding after being bottle fed only for the first couple fo weeks - but we used the Breastflow bottles from The First Years & she easily could alternate between the two - this was great for pumping. the Breastflow bottle have a double nipple, which simulates teh breast & makes the babay have to "work" a little more for the milk - so th baby is less likely to give up on the brest because it's too difficult. :) OH! and regarding the Avent bottles, we have tose as well- we ran into a problem ,though, because she was so used to working hard at the Breastflow bottles and the breast, that too much milk would come out of teh Avent & she'd gag. We use them now that she's older & not breastfeeding anymore. :)
43 yr old mom(16s & 18d) and grandma of 2 yr old boy,with both of mine i breastfeed almost completely but when my husband wanted to feed i used playtex brand, with my grandson i prompted the use of the bottles that had a bend in them,(less bubbles)several brands had them, with the natural shaped nipples
i really did find that any brand that had the natural nipple shape really did seem to be easier for baby to latch on too
just for a bit of a giggle= my son was a premie and had to use kitten bottles for about 10 wks
I use avent and my baby does just fine switching between bottle and breast.
Avent. The nipples are very similar to the breast and have size 1 (slow drip) for newborns, size 2 (3-6), size 3 (6-9), and size 4 (more flow) for 9-12 months. There are 4 oz. and 8 oz. bottles. The Avent system grows w/ your child. There are trainer sippy cups. There is a hand-pump system. Everything is interchangeable so you don't have to buy extra stuff. And it's easy to clean.
I've heard that Dr. Brown is good. Supposedly it decreases gas. But it looks hard to clean and it doesn't come with all of the stuff I mentioned above.
I used the Playtex Nurser bottles.... I tried Avent, but my son did better with Playtex.