The Sleep Store asked:
More on bottle feeding tips please! Which bottles/teats do you use & how did you decide which to use??
The Sleep Store's Facebook community replied:
My daughter kept rejecting every type I introduced, eventually I tried nuk latex teats and she loves them!
avent bottles an stage 1 teats, cos thats what came with the pump haha
Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature - tried a few and these ones were comfortable for me and both babies, they also have little insert containers you can get to hold formula inside the bottle and keep it dry, so handy for out and about.
We used Avent, I brought the Avent breast pump so figured using the same brand would be good and they had heaps of accesories, and nice to see that they had special teats for differant ages and especially a special teat for Reflux formula, took a few very bad nights to realise she wasnt getting any milk as it was to thick. Not a bad price either.
i used the tommy tippee teets with glass botles but my son didnt cope on them so now use closer to nature and he loves them. trial and error i think as each baby is different but i heard good things about advent too
we use mam anti colic ones. they are odd but good as they disassemble for cleaning
we use the Tommie tippee closer to nature teats as they are ment to mimic the boob
We used the orthodontic teats, they are supposed to resemble what mum's nipple ends up like in baby's mouth!
My little man is Bfeed and bottle feed. Hes a hungry bub. He took Avent bottles and the teat straight away but will only drink with his head to the side. I like Avent because it is made especially for breast feed babies.
Using Tommee Tippee bottles and teats but the measurements on the side have rubbed off after a couple of months. How do you know when to move them on to the next stage teat?
We have been using glass evenflo bottles since our daughter was a week old. Best thing about them is they go in the dishwasher!
oh, that's the closer to nature bottles too I meant to say
Mam. The girls wouldn't go near anything else, including the tommee tippee closer to nature ones. Also with the mam anti colic which helps with less wind... Ideal for reflux babies really.
We use pigeon ones when we use them, he seems to open wide for them (wasn't for the standard style ones we had!) :)
I used Avent - my DD had terrible reflux and was on medicated formula for a while. The avent bottles allowed better airflow back into the bottle and their variable flow teats were the best for the thick formula. She woldn't use anything else
With my first i used glass evenflow with pur orthadontic teats. Made sense to me as when breastfed babies flatten the bottom of the nipple with their tongue and the milk heads towards the roof of their mouth. The orthadontic teats have that kind of design.
Tomee Tipee Close To Nature, less wind when feeding.
Oh, I went up when the girls started getting stroppy after small feeds or if bottle feed took way too long. If they are spilling out the side or burpy, change them back a teat and try again at their hungriest feed a day or two later.
Glass Evenflo bottles because they were recommended by our pediatrician and because they are inexpensive. Gerber nipples because they are closest to what was provided at the hospital. No fancy stuff here and my twins have done great with them for 6 months now.
glass bottles so no nasty plastic chemicals leeching into the milk (even BPA free plastics are not good) and 100% natural rubber teats - silicone is not safe!
I never even knew there was so many different types! I just brought the cheapest bottles I could find and my son had no issues, he was on formula full time from 7 weeks
We started out using tommee tippee closer to nature bottles as they were meant to be anti colic, however my little boy suffered really bad wind with these bottles. Within two weeks I changed to dr browns wide neck bottles, and have never had a problem since. I would highly recommend DR BROWNS bottles.
Our baby took the avent ones ok at 1 month but then we lapsed in bottle feeding for a couple of weeks and in that time she forgot. Tried mam, nuk, tommee tippie but the end have up for a few months until she could drink from a sippy cup. Now we're using the sippy valve attachments for the avent bottles.
Avent bpa free, my girl wasn't fussy just hungry & we were given some as a present so I just added to those.
Tommee Tippee closer to nature, because thats what pump I bought and they fit on it. I was lucky and my son just took to it with no problems from the start.
Closer to nature. Tried to use "old fashioned" style with #1 but just didn't work. I love the extras closer to nature do, including lids and formula inserts.
tommee tippee closer to nature, she turned down everything else (started with glass bottles and rubber teats, she wasn't having a bar of it!)
I have only ever used Avent with all 3 of my kids, never had any problems with them at all!!
move up a teat size when bubs seems to be sucking harder, ie, sucks so much you need to lift the bottle out to get air in.
Mam amazing for colic
Mam here, only teat my fussy boy (now 10 months) would/will take. Miss nearly 3 however took anything we offered in her direction (Avent, Tommee Tippee, cheapo ones from the supermarket)...
We were given some pigeon bottles. They're an Australian brand not so readily available in NZ. I like the shape and feel of them. We used the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature ones last time but found the bottles went cloudy after a while even after washing and sterilising. The hard plastic of the Pigeon ones (much like Avent bottles) hasn't done that. With teat hole size, we just poked a bigger hole to save us the trouble of getting other teats. Once at the 3mths old and then again at 6mths.
Tommee tipee close to nature was the best for weaning I found. The girls found them much easier to drink out of than other brands.
Our boy is very fussy about teats, we use NUK teats as these are what he started on in the NICU - but he will only take the latex ones not the silicone. We use them with either tommee tippee bottles or medela bottles.
Mam anti colic bottles are fantastic for windy bubs
Tommie tippie back to nature after a recomendation from a family member, we had no wind issues due to the valve in teat.
Best baby from warehouse. Cheap but good quality n no problems.
Tommie Tippie ones as they were at the time the only BPA free ones, both mine took to them straight away. the shape was also easier to hold while cradling baby. Also used a couple of glass ones as they got older.
I used Avent ones ... I work in childcare and found them the best to use ... hate them now that they have the silly ring things/spacers in them (the ones at work always get lost :/ )
I used avent with no problems. I BF and supplemental bottle feed from 3 weeks.
I used the Avent ones for #1 and he took to them fine. With #2 however I think I tried about 6 different types before he decided to settle on the TT narrow neck bottles, with the orthodontic silicon teat. They are the cheapest bottels by far ($12 for a pack of 3 from the supermarket) and just get the different teats. But they are a pain to get the formula in, a pain to clean, and often leak but he takes them
Prem baby - started with TT Closer to Nature but they were too fast for him initially (though he has been using them since about 6 months), used hospital issued ones for a while but found that they and the avent ones caused lots of painful wind and eventually settled on the TT orthodontic teats - with standard bottles. They were great - no problems with wind or leaking.
We use Avent and our wee girl took them straight away no problems they seem to be great quality etc
Tippee Closer to Nature and Avent. I already had Avent but the TT ones were recommended by our hospital nurse due to the softer teats.
Great topic. Just wondering how often u should replace the bottles?? Using TT closer to nature also, found good while combining breast & bottle.
if you are breastfeeding as well and want to maintain or increase, the new medela calma teat helps to reduce possible confusion between the 2 types of sucks by requiring the baby to recreate the same vacuum on the teat as required for breastfeeding. having said that my little boy didnt have any issue with going between bottle and breast from birth though some do
I use the NUK with the latex teats. All my boys been fussy about bottle feeding, and with going back to work, I had no choice but to bottle feed. They didn't like the feel of the silicon teats, so tried a Nuk at last resort and they all took it first pop! Never looked back!
Tommee Tipee Closer to Nature from the start. DD had no issue going from bottle to boob and back, bottles are BPA free, anti colic valve and have loads of extras. Havnt tried any other bottles so no idea if she would take them or not lol.
Used TT Closer to Nature with both my kids. Currently mix-feeding my little girl with them and we've had great success, I am a total believer in these bottles! We do only hand-wash though due to the rubbing off of the numbers which we learned the hard way last time! Increasing teats - they are normally pretty accurate with the ages they suggest for these, but if every feed is consistently clean (e.g bubs is keeping up with the flow and not losing a lot out the sides) then baby should be able to keep up with a faster flow. Increasing feed-size: if they're draining it frequently then increase and see what they manage, don't try to force more in when they're done - e.g. maintain the breastfeeding supply & demand principle and they'll tell you what they need. You may waste some on occasion but you'll soon see a pattern - they may want different size bottles at different times of day etc.
we started on tommee tippee closer to nature then when twins developed colic and reflux we change to the NUK glass anti-colic bottles. found them really really fabulous till we could manage to get their reflux under control :-) highly recommend NUK
avent and tommy tipee. More to do with which daddy and I liked better. Neither of our boys really had a preference. but only ever used the slowest heats for both even at an older age because neither liked the faster flowing ones.
I use Avent they are great I tried TT but she didnt like it.
Tommee tippee closer to nature, my boy is BF and I am expressing when I go back to work, tried 3 other brands and he just screamed, tommee tippee only one he took, but I had to use the #3 teat from 3 months as the flow on the others wasnt fast enough, you can also buy a variable teat which I'm told are great too.
Have not encountered nipple confusion either...
Avent anti colic bottles.....gold color ...teat size1 for newborn and then up to size 2...... Had no problems so far
Avent for both boys...not sure why!!! No nipple confusion, fed top ups with EBM from almost birth and formula later whilst breastfeeding. Neither could cope with the faster flow teats though - never gone higher than a number 2.
Avent bpa free. But..... the teats are too fast even the size 1 ones. Daughter had colic. Tried Chu chu bottle and closer to nature and Dr Browns and made no difference so just kept with Avent as the wide neck makes them easy to fill
both our girls have used Avant bottles and they've been aweome. Also they've preferred to stick with the size 1 (newborn) teat and never move on from that up to the age of 1. I tried a faster teat but they were never thrilled about it!
Like others here the Tommy tippe amounts have come off but the avent bottles are fine. I think someone needs to contact Tommy Tipper closer to nature and let them know about the numbers coming off.
we tried nuk, tommy tippee and avent. didn't like any of them until he was 5 months old and then took all of them!!!! awkward child!!!
My wee girl uses mam bottles great teats and they have self sterilizing bottles with anti colic!
My boy won't have a bottle, really frustrating!!!
We started with Medela breast milk bottles, which were great for expressed milk, but then switched to Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles for formula which gave my daughter terrible wind :( So we switched to Mam Anti Colic bottles & they are awesome, BPA free which is a must for us, so easy to clean as they come right apart & they are cute :) We use a mix of number 1 & 2 teats, dd doesnt seem to mind the difference in flow, although the number 1 was too fast for her as a newborn.
we used Avent from when DS was 2 weeks. I had purchased an Avent pump so already had some teats etc. He took to this very easily. We had glass bottles but these didn't fit as easily into our steriliser and were harder to get the formula into. The Avent bottles have lasted well, I can still see the markings 2 years later, however we don't have a dishwasher so have always handwashed.
Mam and pigeon narrow teats on recommendation from speech path and lactation consultants. Mam anti colic bottles can be sterilized in the microwave without a sterilizer, check their website for instructions.
Used Avent - went to the Avent sale while pregnant and purchased bottles, teats and a steriliser, so not a very scientific approach! Claudia is now 1 but never progressed to older teats - she never liked the milk coming out that fast. I figured it doesn't matter too much.
We also used the Tommee Tippee baby bottles as the teat was meant to be more like a breast :) This was from 6 weeks +. My boy wouldn't drink from a bottle until 12 mths+ and he took to the Nuby bottles with the no spill straw
Avent on midwive's recommendation (we had no clue as had blithely assumed bf would work!)