Help re: feeding bottles

eacerna · July 2010

DH & I were at BRU & BBB this weekend to start our registry and found choosing feeding bottles & nipples kinda overwhelming. I plan to breastfeed but I guess I should still register for feeding bottles, right? How do we go about choosing one? I know the BB book recommends Dr Browns or Avent. Should we just get the starter pack? On what size? I remember reading some posts before where some babies prefer certain bottles (or nipples?). Any advice/guidance will be appreciated. Thanks!

lelekay · July 2010

I was in the same situation. I'm probably not much help since they haven't been used yet, but we got two different newborn starter packs; Dr. Brown's and Born Free. I guess I'm just planning on trying them, and seeing how they go. We'll see, I guess!

sanae78 · July 2010

We got Born Free. I read Avent has leak issues. Read reviews on Target.com. Born Free get really good reviews.

redshoegirl · July 2010

I'm not sure if they're available in the USA, but after experimenting with a few different brands, we use the Tommee Tippee "Closer to Nature" bottles. I've read really good things about the Dr Brown bottles on the Multiples board though (they're not available here so I don't have any personal experience with them).

ETA: Oh, and I read the same thing a pp mentioned about Avent and leak issues, so we didn't even try them.

lola808 · July 2010

If you read the reviews on Amazon, it seems like every mom and baby has their own unique preference. Adrian is pretty flexible with going between breast and bottles, but here's what works for us.

We got the Breastflow and the Playtex Drop Ins starter sets. We also occasionally use the Medela ones and a Lifecycle glass bottle.

I prefer the Breastflow bottles. I haven't even opened the Drop Ins (no need yet), but we like the Breastflow design -- it seems to offer him a good volume of flow with reasonable effort. When he drinks from the Medela bottles/nipples, it shoots out really fast, and with the Lifecycle, he seems to have to suck extra hard to get the milk.

Just one starter set has worked for us thus far, but that might be because I only use a few bottles a week. You could consider buying two types and experimenting to see what works best.

MauiWedding08 · July 2010

A lot of people say it's really up to the baby so my only advice would be not to buy too many of one type.

we have used born free because I liked that you could get them in glass. But the extra pieces were a pain and I wasn't sure about daycare and glass bottles (come to find out they would have been ok with it) so we switched to Tommee Tippee (at BRU) and Jack doesn't have any issues with them - in fact the really wide nipple might be even easier on him to go from breast to bottle - I can really tell he is latching right on those bottles.

MrsZiz · July 2010

We tried the Medela ones because I had them and Bella refused so I did a ton of research and bought the BreastFlow ones. She still refused. After calling the LC at the hospital she said the BreastFlow bottles are the hardest for babies to suck out of, they have to suck so hard to get anything and she feels the baby burns too many calories sucking and it's not really worth it... that was her opinion... So she suggested drop ins. Bella hated the clear nipple of the drop ins but she'll take the latex (brown) nipple ok.

I would highly suggest only registering for starter packs or ONE bottle of a couple different brands so you aren't stuck with a bunch of one in case your babes doesn't like it. Good luck!

Married2MrWright · July 2010

MauiWedding08:

A lot of people say it's really up to the baby so my only advice would be not to buy too many of one type.

This. Despite introducing the bottle at 4 weeks by 8 weeks she decided she wouldn't take it and has been drinking from a cup (actually the cap of her rejected bottles) ever since! We have quite the collection too...playtex drop ins, medela, soothies and breastflow and a very expensive MimiJumi...*sigh*

MrsZiz · July 2010

Married2MrWright:
MauiWedding08:

A lot of people say it's really up to the baby so my only advice would be not to buy too many of one type.
This. Despite introducing the bottle at 4 weeks by 8 weeks she decided she wouldn't take it and has been drinking from a cup (actually the cap of her rejected bottles) ever since! We have quite the collection too...playtex drop ins, medela, soothies and breastflow and a very expensive MimiJumi...*sigh*

Lori, I saved all the millions of paci's that we tried so in case the next baby likes them... so keep the bottles, you never know!

inamra · July 2010

Like pp mentioned, you don't want to get a whole bunch of bottles because your baby may not like them and it would go to waste (unless baby #2+ likes them). So what I did was buy one that *I* liked best, which was Evenflo's glass bottles, based on Amazon's reviews, the fact that it was glass (even if a plastic bottle is BPA-free, I still don't like the idea of heating plastic), and it's reasonable price (3 bottles & nipples for under $5 at Target)--and that's all we got. After LO liked it, we got another pack. So I wouldn't put bottles on the registry except for the one you want to try first. Same with pacifiers, if you want to use them at all in the future. Some babies like some and not others, so I wouldn't recommend getting those (except maybe 1 or 2 to test out) until later too.

myday1708 · July 2010

We got a starter pack of Dr. Browns and Avent. We tried both and Alexa took both. So for the first 6 months we used Avent. The reason we used Avent is because it's easier to clean since you don't have the vent piece. So my Dr. Brown's bottles are mostly unused -- we used 1 out of a pack of 4.

When I went back to work, we switched to Medela because then I could pump into the bottles one day and put a nipple on them for her to drink out of the next. Saves time and things to wash!

For nipples, we used Medela Stage 1 at first (slow flow) but as she got better at nursing and wanted the milk faster, we switched to Stage 1 (medium flow). Some people never switch. Some go up to Stage 3 (fast flow). It depends on your baby.

For all the bottles, however, we only used the smaller ones that hold up to 5 oz. Formula babies will often take the larger bottles of 6-8 oz later on. But we have always given Alexa only 5 oz at a time. I guess that also depends on the baby.

HTH!

mrspresley · July 2010

not much to add...agree w/all pp in that you shouldn't get a lot of one bottle until you figure out what your baby likes. we've got a nice collection too! LOL

MauiWedding08 · July 2010

oh we tried the evenflow glass too - I just never could tell if Jack was latching right and it could be coincidence, but after he took those bottles he would really clamp down on me (ouch!) and also showed signs of gas.

BUT they are great to have b/c I they work with the PISA pump so I just pump into the glass bottles for storage.

eacerna · July 2010

ahh info overload! lol. i think i have a few more research to do! i'll take your advice and just try on different brands before opening/using the big packs. thanks!

MrsNJSwimmer · July 2010

agree with pp... buy the smallest bottles too, since that's what you'll use in the beginning. You are welcome to go through my stash sometime if you'd like!

Married2MrWright · July 2010

MrsZiz:
Married2MrWright:
MauiWedding08:

A lot of people say it's really up to the baby so my only advice would be not to buy too many of one type.

This. Despite introducing the bottle at 4 weeks by 8 weeks she decided she wouldn't take it and has been drinking from a cup (actually the cap of her rejected bottles) ever since! We have quite the collection too...playtex drop ins, medela, soothies and breastflow and a very expensive MimiJumi...*sigh*

Lori, I saved all the millions of paci's that we tried so in case the next baby likes them... so keep the bottles, you never know!

Oh yeah...we have quite the collection of unused pacis too...so maybe baby#2 will like them? Who knows. Libby's just transitioned to using a sippy cup this past week...she's just ahead of the game, I guess.

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Help re: feeding bottles

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