[mommamarci]

I need some advice on bottles please! Spencer was on the ready feed stuff while in the hospital. (Well, he was on an IV at first, then went to bottles.) He did great and was sucking it right down. They sent us home with 4 ready feed. Once those were gone, we switched to powder in bottles we had. I have Evenflo and Nuby bottles. Spencer seems to be sucking and sucking and getting no where. The 10 minute feedings in the hospital have turned into 30 minutes feedings here. Anyone have any bottle reccomendations we could try? He has a good suckle, he just seems to be having issues with these bottles. (No gas, crying, pain, just sucking and getting no where.)

Thanks!!!

[feelingreyt]

I love the Dr. Brown's bottles. They have been a life saver for us! Not sure if they are easier to nurse, but I know they help with colic!

[mommy3]

Marci -- I got both Avent and Dr. Brown's for our little one and she chose Avent. We did have to learn to get age-appropriate nipples, as the flow level did make a big difference to her comfort when sucking. Enjoy the adjustment! susan

[aclee]

It was my experience that the read to feed nipples (we got 4 cases of the stuff so he was on it for a while) hav a larger nipple, so Ty was more used to a stage 2 nipple than a stage 1. Also with some bottle you need to take the nipple, while it is not in the ring, and roll it between your fingers to open the hole all the way. Ty hates stage one nipples, and has since he was 2 weeks old. He does awesome with the stage 2 nipple on the Evenflo Comfi bottles. We also buy the latex nipples and he likes those better than silicone, cause that's what he started on. Hope some of that helps!

Amy

[xxsurroundedbyxy]

We used Dr. Brown's bottle for awhile, but our little one could not do the powder formula. So we bought the ready to feed cans of the Wal-Mart brand. I don't know what the difference was but he would also suck and suck and no matter how much we mixed the powder formula always seemed gritty.

We also got on Ebay and purchased alot of the ready to feed 3oz and 6oz bottles of prosobee and the one-use similac nipples. This is what we stuck in the diaper bag so that bottles wouldn't go bad. And talk about convenient.....you just shake, screw the lid off, screw the nipple on, and done!

So eventually we just used those types of nipples on regular bottles because switching him from those to the big Dr. Brown nipples was confusing.

Kim

[sbaglio]

Wow, I feel like such an expert on this topic after only a month of parenting!

Our issues were the same as all of yours. We started with EvenFlo bottles, the glass ones (all the issues about bisphenol-A got us), and orthodontic nipples, as the Paloma had used these in the hospital. We were also sent home with many disposable orthodontic nipples and ready-made formula. She would simply suck and suck, and would end up so frustrated because she wasn't getting anywhere. She did better with the disposable orthodontic nipples. We noticed that the latter had the hole at the tip, while the Nuks had the hole on the dorsal surface of the nipple. This seemed to make a big difference in how successful she was at getting the milk out.

I guess I also experienced firsthand what I learned during my pediatric training - infants are still amateurs at suckling. The reflex is not fully developed at birth, and it takes a few weeks for them to get the hang of it (sucking without taking to much air in at the same time). We switched to medium flow Nuks briefly (big mistake), then tried Dr. Brown's standard nipples (also didn't work great as she couldn't latch on properly).

As for bottles, we switched to Dr. Brown's bottles (so much for bisphenol-A) because she was having TERRIBLE problems with gassiness. These bottles saved our lives (and I'm sure hers too!). We don't mind having all the little pieces to wash because the effort was so worth it. We just use the slow flow Nuk nipples with the Dr. Brown bottles, and it works out great.


Despite all this, just remember that infants take a bit of time learning how to suckle efficiently. Try as many nipples/bottles as you need to until you find the ones that work for your own child.

[inhiswill]

I love Avent! They nipple never collapsed during feeds. They have nipple stages as well 1-4. AND they are so so so easy to clean, because they are wide. AND there is less formula spillage because of the wide neck. Good Luck!

[nickchris]

I do not know what his medical problems in the NICU was, but the ready to feed nipples worked better for my older son who was a preemie, with a better flow, less energy was needed. Also ready to feed formulas.. seems to be tolerated better by the newborns.

[Sleeplvr]

We used Avent. We've used them with 4 babies so far and haven't had a problem.

If gas is a problem we used Gripe water. I think it worked better than the Mylicon drops.

[nickchris]

If the other nipples do not work, not sure if you can get these in the stores, but they sell preemie nipples online, Dr. Brown makes them. Personally, I would get those asap, 30 minutes to eat is a long time. The baby needs to be able to eat, conserve his energy, and subsequently hold on to the consumed calories, to grow, instead of buring it off trying to eat. Best wishes.

[skilack]

Hey Marci~For our little guy we used Playtex drop in bottles. Loved them. Less parts to wash and no gas. He was on concentrated when we brought him home. We switched to powder and had nothing but problems. We switched back and he was fine. Our friends had a premie and she could not handle powder formula. They were the ones who told us to switch back. I didn't know some babies could not handle powder. Good Luck.

[devildogwife]

Originally Posted by skilack

Hey Marci~For our little guy we used Playtex drop in bottles. Loved them. Less parts to wash and no gas. He was on concentrated when we brought him home. We switched to powder and had nothing but problems. We switched back and he was fine. Our friends had a premie and she could not handle powder formula. They were the ones who told us to switch back. I didn't know some babies could not handle powder. Good Luck.

My son (with a heart defect) also cannot handle powder, even hypoallergenic powder. He has to have 1 specific hypoallergenic RTF. We continue to have feeding problems at 4 months old, which is expected. Marci-I can't believe you had 10 minute feedings in the NICU. That's wonderful. We're still doing at least 30 minutes, but again, expected with such a serious CHD.

[ProphetMother]

Other things you might be able to try are Born Free bottles which are BPA free. I have no idea how their nipples work.

Also, you could try feeding from a dropper or small spoon, or even with a straw that you dip into the formula with your finger over the open end and either drip into baby's mouth or let them suck a little.

HTH!

[Wisdom]

I wanted a bottle that wasn't a concern with BPA in the plastic and we needed to alleviate gassiness. We tried Dr. Brown's but it didn't help with the gas for our little one and the BPA in the plastic was a concern (although Dr. Brown's also has glass bottles). After trying Born Free bottles I've not used Dr. Brown's again. They've alleviated our son's gassiness and they're BPA free. Halleleuiah!

[mommamarci]

We figured it out. We switched to the brown nipples (What are those, silicone??) and switched to stage 2. As soon as we got home from the store we washed and sterilized them. He downed 2 ounces in 10 minutes, let out 3 big burps and went right to sleep!!!! Woo-Hoo!!! Go Spencer!

Oh, and he was in the NICU because he was post-term and they were concerned about meconium.