Best bottle?

[Cariad007]

I'm EBFing my 5 week old at the moment but I'd like to start expressing over the next few weeks so that I can get more than 3 hours sleep at a stretch and be away from him for more than a few hours at a time too.

Which bottle brand is best for expressed breast milk? I don't want DS to get nipple confusion so is there a bottle with a more nipple-like teat that mimics the speed at which th milk come out of the breast? If that even exists, that is!

[ExBrightonBell]

The Medela Calma system does exactly this, and I think there are other brands as well. The Calma is not cheap, but I found they worked well for giving ebm when I had to.

[ErynsMummy1]

Congratulations on your newborn!! I used medela calma, as it mimics breast, ie baby has to suck like when breastfeeding. I also use tommee tippee with slow teat, as I find it to be quite boob like with the wide teat. I did ensure that DD was well established with breast feeding before I introduced a bottle, so to avoid confusion. She did seem to splutter a bit when I first started bottle feeding, so I just let her have a few sucks then I took out the teat giving chance to swallow, as the flow is much different to the breast. Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know. ....good luck!!

[ErynsMummy1]

Sorry, I misread the last bit...medela is the only one I'm aware of that mimics the flow of milk. Expensive, but effective, just needs perseverance. Best of luck.

[ErynsMummy1]

Sorry, I misread the last bit...medela is the only one I'm aware of that mimics the flow of milk. Expensive, but effective, just needs perseverance. Best of luck.

[mrswishywashy]

I don't believe there is such a thing as nipple confusion more to do with flow preference. Any slow flow bottle will do and I tend to make sure that the bottle is done up quite tight to create an air lock and slows the milk down. Also lots of pauses and not feeding baby too much so they don't go long distances between bfs. I also recommend if you want to introduce bottle to do so before six weeks as some babies won't take the bottle nipple after then as the mums flow is really good for them.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

sorry mrs- i completely disagree. Babies suck quite differently on an artifical teat and a real nipple. Nipple confusion can lead to very sore nipples.

[mrswishywashy]

Its ok theres a lot of differences in the world and thats why Mumsnet is so great as people can get a lot of differing opinions.

I've worked with over 100 breast feeding mothers and their new babies and have never had a baby confused between bottle nipples and mothers nipples. I believe sore nipples are a sign of incorrect attachment which can happen whether bb has never had an artificial teat or whether they are using an artificial teat.

Also I test bottles so I can see how they work and I don't see any difference between the Calma and any other bottle - its all to do with marketing.

[ExBrightonBell]

Mrswishywashy, I've used the Calma bottles, and no milk comes out at all if you shake them, turn them upside down etc. You do seem to have to suck them to get any milk out, unlike other teats. From your experience, what slow flow teats are also like this? I would be interested to know as the Calma system is not exactly the cheapest, so it would be useful to know if there was an alternative.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

Mrs wishy are you a breastfeeding counsellor?

[mrswishywashy]

No bottle can mimic the flow of breast milk, it doesn't matter if the milk doesn't come out if turned upside down. Its the mother that transfers the milk to the baby and during a feed it isn't a consistent flow, as for the baby controlling the milk well any slow flow bottle will be fine as long as it is done up tightly.

No I'm not a breastfeeding counsellor although I do give bfing advice in my job as a maternity nurse and private consultants. I decided not to do formal training in bfing as I also am happy to give advice on formula feeding and I don't think necessarily the two work together to give advice. However I do any course that I can access and have recently attended a very informative talk by Dr Jack Newman and have very positive feedback from all my clients many who had struggled with previous children.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

But the action of breastfeeding is very different from bottle feeding. A mothers nipple extends far back into the soft palate breastfeeding. A bottle fed baby uses the tongue as a dam and the synthetic nipple is compressed against the hard palate.
If a baby tries to feed from a real nipple in the same way as a synthetic one the nipple is pushed upwards towards the hard ridged palate and can suffer abrasion. Some young babies have difficulty switching between the two types of nipple.

I have seen many cases of nipple confusion.

[mrswishywashy]

Well the OP asked for a bottle that mimics bfing to stop nipple confusion my answer is that no bottle can mimic bfing. I tell this to my clients as they are likely to go out and get the most expensive bottle especially the ones marketed as "the best" and I find they are all the same, I do not deny that motion of breast and bottle feeding is very different.

I've never had any issues with confusion between the two in the early days indeed the issues I've seen are after six weeks when babies refuse the bottle. When I've had mothers who want to mix feed or use bottles I do work fairly closely with latch and making sure its correct so that there are no soreness issues and so far there hasn't been any issues with swapping between the two.