The Best Bottle for a Breastfed Baby
From the Trials of a Breastfeeding Mother
I bought a variety of different bottles for my baby before she was born so that I could find the right one for her when I needed to introduce a bottle. Only one was perfect and caused nearly no nipple confusion and no gas bubbles in my baby girl's tummy! I only tried the wide set bottles with the wide nipples recommended for breastfed babies. But first, all the ones that failed the test.
Dr. Brown's
Although this bottle was by far not the worst, it definitely had it's down falls. You cannot shake this bottle or it leaks. Also, despite it's claims to reduce ingested air, I did not see this effect in my child. The nipple was fairly good. I checked my baby's latch on this nipple, and it was very similar to the breast, her tongue was forward, and her lips were puckered out properly as if on the breast. The downfall with the nipple was, even using the slow flow nipple, the milk flowed too fast for my baby, and she choked on the milk occasionally.
Elan
This is a new bottle and nipple combination to the extensive line of bottles. This one fell in the worst category. Not only did the milk flow too fast for my baby and caused a lot of choking, it also caused a typical bottle latch, and she swallowed lots of gas. Using the proper heating method for breast milk or formula also caused a little trouble. The first time I placed this bottle into a bowl of very warm water, I went to give the bottle to my baby, and the bottom of the bottle collects the hot water and it dripped out onto my baby!
Soothie
The original pacifier supposedly recommended by hospitals now makes a bottle. The nipple on this bottle it terrible for the breastfed baby. It is very hard and very unlike a nipple on a breast. My baby outright refused this bottle, so that's about all I've got on this one.
Avent
This on like the Dr. Brown's bottle was ok, but again, not very good. The latch onto this nipple was decent, and surprisingly this bottle did not cause the amount of gas that the later did. But again, the flow was way too fast, even using a slow flow nipple.
Now for the one I recommend:
Playtex Nurser
This unfortunately was the last bottle I tried. I was quite turned off by using a disposable bottle liner that is required with this bottle. But the benefits out-weight the effect on the environment. The nipple on this bottle (I used the natural latex nipple) encouraged a very natural latch. My baby latched onto this nipple as if it were my breast perfectly. You do have to push the liner up with the nipple attached to expel the air, but it caused absolutely no air swallowing, hence no gas bubbles in baby's tummy! Using this bottle I had no trouble whatsoever bringing my little girl back to the breast. There was no nipple confusion involved at all. Plus the use of disposable liners actually made clean up much easier. All you have to do is clean the nipple well in hot soapy water. A small word of caution though, since this nipple is natural latex, it does break down over time. After a month or two, depending on the amount of usage, you have to replace the nipple. All in all though, the most important part is giving your baby a bottle that is closest to the breast, and this one was amazing in that department.
Published by Marie Again
I am a mommy, and very proud of it. My little girl is my everything in life right now. I am here on AC to try and get heard by other adults, and in the mean time try and make a little extra cash for our home. View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentHi, I am the author of this article. I wrote this shortly after the devastating trial of trying to breastfed my dear daughter who is now 2 and 1/2. To mary, of course I sounded like a nut! A poor (financially) mother living in rural America with no access to lactation consultants being told by every doctor and nurse that I need to stop because an antibiotic would hurt my child, and the only pump they had for me to use at the hospital wouldn't express any milk... how would you feel? With your whole family against you and no help. Of course now, years later, yes I've learned that their are other ways besides a bottle or breast to feed an infant, but even now, expecting my second, I will still use a bottle. I am going to attempt breastfeeding again, and I will have a pump available and my trusty Playtex Nursers. Because through all the trials, my dear child had no trouble latching going back and forth from those nursers. I did use the slow flow nipples for quite a long time.
Melanie, I
I am pregnant with my third child. I have actually used drop-ins with my first two children. It has been 11 years since my last child. Im glad you wrote this because I was researching all the newer bottles to see if they were better. I think I will stick to drop-ins after reading your opinion.
thank you for this it was very helpful. im pregnant with my second and had so much trouble with bottles with my first. i found the same results with dr. browns and advent. i did not want to try the drop ins system but it sounds like its the best choice.
so which nipple was the best ? my baby only takes the standard so far. i tried slow flow and medela and she choked, i guess from sucking too hard.. i heard and read avent and soothie are best did you try them?
Thanks! I've been debating on what bottle to ocassionaly use on my daughter. I'm going to give the Playtex a chance and see how it goes....trying to avoid nipple confusion! =0)
For the record, I CHOSE to give both my breast and a bottle.
Every mother has the right to choose for herself and child what is best for their situation. I cannot believe that anyone would try and make a mother feel guilty or wrong about a choice that she made concerning HER child. Marie, maybe a better way to approach such a comment that you find discouraging would be to express your situation in a non-threatening manner. I personally feel that breast milk is the best, but it is completely up to the mother. You sound like a nut instead of a mother trying to express an opinion. Also, could you be anymore insulting to women who have the opportunity to breastfeed? Need to be smart, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black?
Thanks for the article! I'm going back to work and trying to figure out the whole nipple bottle thing.
Brenda, you are exactly why I wrote this article. There are way too many people out there obsessed with making mothers feel guilty about not breastfeeding or having trouble. If you have access to a lactation consultant or hell, even a mother, sister, neighbor, friend, grandparent who has breastfed before... then you have some sort of way to get help. But in rural America, a bottle from Walmart is about as good as it gets sometimes. And usually woman listen to medical professionals when they say something isn't safe for their infant. It's great that you had the drive to keep your kid on your boob, but sometimes we need to be smart.
"Someday, you will have to give your baby a bottle"
BULL$HIT!
I can't believe any reputable site would even print that, its disgusting and wrong.
Firstly what do you think happened before bottles were invented. There are tonnes of ways to feed a baby if mom and baby are separated (which need not happen until baby is old enough to go a few hours without breast milk). Bottles are only one way to feed a baby, and they are the least safe option with the most side effects no matter what is in them.
Secondly the number of antibiotics that are unsafe during breastfeeding is very small. The chances that NONE of the safe ones will be effective for simple bacterial breast infections is vanishingly small. Of course no antibiotic will work for the up to 10% of mastitis caused by fungal infections (primarily yeast)
I have two kids neither of which has ever taken breast milk from a bottle, including the one that didn't latch on the first week.