If you choose to use a bottle while breastfeeding you will want to pay close attention to the nipples you choose. You will want to buy slow flow nipples. This is especially important in the beginning – but this may matter even later. You want the bottle’s flow to be similar or slower than the flow your breast.
Did you know that breast milk comes out slow, then fast, then slow, then not at all, then slow, then fast, etc?
If your bottle is always fast, then your baby may gag or may end up preferring the bottle because he gets fed quicker.
Don’t forget to also check the nipple after every cleaning for signs of wear- if the hole has signs of cracks, throw the nipple away and replace with new.
I prefer slow flow Wide MOUTH so babies mouth in the same formation as on breast.
My favorite is the BREASTFLOW or the Playtex Supreme Nurser with dropin bags
I’m glad you pointed this out. My first baby, I didn’t know better, and she ended up preferring the bottle because she could eat faster. At 4 months she’d down 8 ounces in under 5 minutes.LOL
And the choices can be so overwhelming at the store!
I’m glad you pointed this out. With my first baby, I didn’t know better. She ended up preferring bottle to breast because she could eat faster. She’d down 8 ounces in less than 5 minutes when she was only 4 months old.
DO make sure the nipple works properly each time before feeding. One time when preparing for a day trip I used a brand-new nipple on my son’s bottle. I’d sterilized it, but sadly, didn’t check it, thinking since it was new, it would be fine. Nearly an hour after I’d given him the bottle, I thought it odd he’d apparently hardly drunk any (he was over a year old – quite able to feed himself in the car). He tossed it on the floor. When we got to our destination, I washed the nipple, tested it, and realized that the hole wasn’t complete. It was nearly impossible to get even a drop out of it! I felt horrible to think I’d kept my son hungry through my carelessness. So there’s more than one reason to check nipples *every* time.:-)
my second would never take a bottle but my first did and I used low flow. They need to work a little to get the milk
another thing folks don’t realize is that most breastfed babies never graduate to a faster flowing nipple. my baby is still using a slow flow silicone nipple when she has expressed milk. dh was so eager to have her eat faster, he picked up faster flowing nipples but she rejected them. he now knows that she’ll at her own pace and at a pace that mimics what she gets at the breast and unfortunately for him, she’s a grazer.
Thanks for your comment Pantrygirl. You are right – my son never graduated from the slow flow nipples either!
My little one is almost 9 months and I will keep him on the slow flow indefinitely. He does fine with them when I am not around so I’m not going to mess with a good thing