We tried several kinds up front (Avent, Mam, Dr. browns, + Tommy tippee) but she didn’t seem overly particular to one or the other at first so we just stuck with Mam and Avent since that’s what we had the most of. Plus the Avent bottles attached directly to my Spectra, which was nice. We didn’t like the Dr. browns bottles with all the parts and they sometimes leaked for us.
We started out with Dr. Browns when both were newborns. Switched to Avent both times also. Avent were easier to clean obviously, but they still fit perfectly into the Dr. Brown’s bottle warmer we were using, so it was a win-win.
General advice: don't go overboard buying until you know what baby likes! We actually just used all the bottles from free samples for a long time, until we figured out what is + DD (but mostly us) liked best. DD wasn't picky, and IMO nipple confusion doesn't exist (UO maybe)🤷♀️ never had an issue switching between bottles & boob, and she was given a bottle/paci well before I was allowed to try BF.
Personally I'm a glass bottle fan (Avent), just because I don't like heating milk in plastic, but daycare won't allow glass so we used the comotomo silicone bottles for daycare. We used Dr brown's glass, but they had a ton of parts and idk if it was worth it.
@pajamstagrams that’s what we did too. I had a few samples from registry stuff and I bought a small pack of Avent bottles since I knew I was getting a spectra pump. We definitely eliminated bottles by our preference 😆 nursing didn’t work out for us but I don’t think it was because of nipple confusion. We used plastic bottles but never used a bottle warmer. DD never seemed picky about it so we just didn’t warm them up other than running them under warm water for a few minutes in the early days.
I did some research and based on recs I got, we got full set of 4oz and 12oz dr brown options. The million parts and pieces though was tough but DD didn't have an issue with them. We did have some initial issues switching from breast to bottle at 10 weeks and I wished I had introduced the bottle sooner.
@b_1029 there are soooo many things can make nursing not work out. It's definitely tough, and we had our share of struggles for sure.
@And846 I feel like I hear more issues introducing bottle after BF than the other way around! I guess we were lucky the NICU ripped that bandaid off for us lol. This is my worry this time, that I won't *have* to intro the bottle early and I'll do it too late and have issues there. (should have clarified that my nipple confusion comment was more so from a bottle then boob standpoint, not the other way around! And to let new moms know not to be afraid of pacis/bottles)
@pajamstagrams DD straight up refused the bottle and would through a fit when we would try and get her to take it. When I was a couple weeks out from my work return we did a full day of bottle bootcamp and by the end of the day she took it. But man, it was a stressful day and we were wayyyy off schedule because of it.
After that she was able to transition easily between the bottle and boob until 6months when she weaned herself.
My oldest, FF baby, despised every fancy, boob-like bottle that we tried. She would only take this classic Evenflo, the cheapest most old school bottle you can find. We eventually got them in glass because they just held up better over time than the plastic did. This is why I say don’t buy too many of any kind of bottle until you find out what baby likes, you could end up with a strange one like mine who wants to save you money! 😆
My second, BF baby, had a harder time finding a bottle that worked for her. We ended up with MAM. The nipples are shorter and flatter. The MAM bottles have instructions for self sterilizing in the microwave so that is nice if you go somewhere and want to sterilize without a steamer bag or actual sterilizer.
Another thing for anyone not familiar with bottles, the nipples have different flow rates. So for each brand there’s usually like premie, newborn (slow), medium, fast. Each brand probably labels it differently. But my BF baby COULD NOT handle anything faster than premie for the first several months when we would try a bottle just to get her used to it. By the time I went back to work at 3 months she was just starting the NB nipples. I don’t think she ever made it past medium before we were done with bottles. So I would recommend checking what flow rate is in whichever bottles you have just in case you need to get something slower for baby right away!
General advice: don't go overboard buying until you know what baby likes! We actually just used all the bottles from free samples for a long time, until we figured out what is + DD (but mostly us) liked best. DD wasn't picky, and IMO nipple confusion doesn't exist (UO maybe)🤷♀️ never had an issue switching between bottles & boob, and she was given a bottle/paci well before I was allowed to try BF.
Personally I'm a glass bottle fan (Avent), just because I don't like heating milk in plastic, but daycare won't allow glass so we used the comotomo silicone bottles for daycare. We used Dr brown's glass, but they had a ton of parts and idk if it was worth it.
Yeah i don’t think there was truly any nipple confusion here either. It wasn’t that she refused a bottle, she would gladly accept it, just that she was terrible at coordinating her swallow at what I assume was a much different rate than the breast. She also took pacifiers and that never caused an issue with her wanting to take the breast either.
I also think nipple confusion is a farce to *scare* mothers into EBF and it infuriates me. So much unnecessary guilt and drama around the decisions new moms make. We introduced a bottle to DD1 at 3-4 weeks old and I had SUCH a fit/meltdown about it because I was SURE she would reject me. She was also given a sucker (pacifier) in NNICU and I also cried profusely over that because I had specifically asked them not to (again, for fear of the infamous “nipple confusion”). There was a whole lot of familial drama that did not need to happen. We never had any issues with her taking breast or bottle, whatsoever. For DD2, my milk came in like Niagara Falls and so we didn’t introduce the dream feed bottle until like 6 weeks (which was when I wanted to for our first - the *recommended* time frame) and tried suckers around 6-8 weeks as well. She would have none of it! Took us weeks to get her to accept a bottle and she never ended up taking a sucker at all. Didn’t suck her thumb. Wouldn’t suck our finger. Not a sucker lol.
@pajamstagrams@annashaf OK I’m so glad to hear this!!!! I was also terrified of nipple confusion (from potentially giving a man EBF baby a bottle or pacifier too early), so we waited and waited and then like you have said - she did not want either. Which made life hard for sure.
The thing is, I’ve never personally known any mother or baby who has had this “confusion” issue. Only babies who generally struggle to Bf for their own reasons or babies who refuse a bottle for their own reasons. But where are all the people whose babies “refused to BF because they were confused when we gave a bottle too early”?? (Genuine question haha… so if this is you, I’m curious!)
@happynapper those are the same bottles in my registry! Those were all my best-friends little girl would us lol.
I do agree w/introducing a bottle early! My friend didn't want to give her baby a bottle since she BF her when she was home with her so she wouldn't have to pump, so she had me give her bottles when I kept her and it was SO HARD. 1, it wasn't my baby and it broke my heart I couldn't whip my own boob in her mouth to make her happy 2, I felt like she was just starving because she refused the bottle for so long until she was just so hungry she would take it! It got better and I had her a lot so it didn't take as long as expected, but there was a few sleepless nights for sure. With my own I plan to introduce the bottle myself, earlier, I don't want anyone else to have to go through that with my baby!
I also have the motif bottle in my registry since that's the pump I'm using, but I know those are hit or miss I just like that I can pump straight into them and if baby won't take them as a bottle I can still store my milk in them. Has anyone used the Luna Motif or their bottles? My SIL gave me a ton of tommy tippees her son didn't like, and a few MAMs. I'm gonna hold off on buying any myself until I see what baby prefers!
And846
member
Re: Product Spotlight: newborn feeding bottles
Personally I'm a glass bottle fan (Avent), just because I don't like heating milk in plastic, but daycare won't allow glass so we used the comotomo silicone bottles for daycare. We used Dr brown's glass, but they had a ton of parts and idk if it was worth it.
@And846 I feel like I hear more issues introducing bottle after BF than the other way around! I guess we were lucky the NICU ripped that bandaid off for us lol. This is my worry this time, that I won't *have* to intro the bottle early and I'll do it too late and have issues there. (should have clarified that my nipple confusion comment was more so from a bottle then boob standpoint, not the other way around! And to let new moms know not to be afraid of pacis/bottles)
After that she was able to transition easily between the bottle and boob until 6months when she weaned herself.
I do agree w/introducing a bottle early! My friend didn't want to give her baby a bottle since she BF her when she was home with her so she wouldn't have to pump, so she had me give her bottles when I kept her and it was SO HARD. 1, it wasn't my baby and it broke my heart I couldn't whip my own boob in her mouth to make her happy 2, I felt like she was just starving because she refused the bottle for so long until she was just so hungry she would take it! It got better and I had her a lot so it didn't take as long as expected, but there was a few sleepless nights for sure. With my own I plan to introduce the bottle myself, earlier, I don't want anyone else to have to go through that with my baby!
I also have the motif bottle in my registry since that's the pump I'm using, but I know those are hit or miss I just like that I can pump straight into them and if baby won't take them as a bottle I can still store my milk in them. Has anyone used the Luna Motif or their bottles? My SIL gave me a ton of tommy tippees her son didn't like, and a few MAMs. I'm gonna hold off on buying any myself until I see what baby prefers!