Dr Brown's bottles for windy baby: standard versus wide neck? Advice please

[malison]

Hi, my 6 week old suffers from really uncomfortable wind which is making feeding (and nights) difficult. Like his older brother, he was born with severe posterior tongue tie. We had this cut at 6 days old, hoping to be able to breastfeed this one, but it made no difference and he was still unable to latch at all. Bottle feeding was also difficult initially. With the passage of a few weeks he has got better at bottle feeding and seems to move his tongue around more, though still does not stick it out of his mouth past his lips. We have been seeing a cranial osteopath to try and help with his wind but I am not sure it is making any difference. She thinks possibly his tongue tie needs cutting a second time and that for this reason he is taking in more air at feeds than he should, so we are seeing the tongue tie specialist again tomorrow to find out. However either way I think he needs a different type of bottle - we have been using the Avent ones we used with our first son, who although he had the tongue tie never suffered from wind at all and was fine with Avent.

My question about the Dr Brown's bottles is that currently they seem to make both "standard" and "wide neck" ones. Does anyone know what the difference is between the two in actual practice, in terms of colic/wind? I would rather have standard as wide neck bottles are difficult to get into bottle holders in changing bags etc. but if they are better for wind I would try them. (Also our son did struggle with wide neck Tommee Tippee bottles when we tried them, as due to the tongue tie he doesn't open his mouth very wide at all.) But I'm assuming the actual anti-colic valve is the same in both, so it's just personal preference? Advice appreciated from people who have used Dr Brown's (and yes I know they are a faff to wash and leak if you don't carefully follow the instructions, but if it helps with my son's pain and we both get more sleep then it's totally worth it!!). Thanks.

[Heatherbell1978]

DS1 is bf but gets a bottle from DH as a dream feed every day. We use Dr. Browns wide necked bottles. It took us weeks to get him on a bottle...and lots of stress...he was an 'averagey' colicky baby ie nothing too serious. The thing I noticed with this bottle as opposed to the others was he didn't spill milk. The teat is shaped in such a way that he can get his mouth around it much easier as it has a kind of base to it. So a thumbs up from me but we don't need to carry it around and I don't see the cleaning of it as too much of a faff but I guess I just clean one a day!

[CharleyBear1]

We tried all manner of bottles with our DD who also had a severe post tt - we found that the MAM anti colic bottles had the best shaped teat for her - she also doesn't open her mouth very wide and as the teat is much flatter she could latch much better.

[OohLeatherPantsHaveMercy]

My DD has colic and silent reflux, she's been on Gaviscon and ranitidine since 2 weeks old. We tried Dr Brown's to no avail, before swapping to MAM anti colic bottles a month ago and have noticed a great difference. They're also much easier and quicker to clean/assemble. Hope your DS sees some improvement soon, poor wee thing

[malison]

Thanks for the advice all. We found on Saturday that our son's posterior tongue tie had indeed grown back - grrr!!! - so it was cut again, though it is difficult to do that with the scar tissue. Midwife thinks there is a high chance it will just grow back yet again unless we can get him latching to the bottle better - i.e. opening his mouth wider and using his tongue more. So far, he's still not doing that so I am not optimistic. I think we probably just need to find bottles that give him less wind and put up with the poor latch. We bought 2 Dr Brown's bottles to try, which I think do help at least somewhat with the wind, and as with HeatherBell1978 he doesn't seem to leak quite so much milk from them. I've bought some more on eBay secondhand which haven't arrived yet. Didn't want to outlay loads of money when we're not sure if they will be the solution. However having seen your post, CharleyBear1, I think I might look for some of the MAM ones secondhand on eBay and try them as well if I can get some cheap. It is really difficult when they won't/can't open their mouth very wide, isn't it!! Poor kid never had a chance of breastfeeding really.

[Woodenheart]

MAM were great for my DD, Amazon, Boots & Argos usually do special offers. ( & sometimes the MAM website)

DD stayed on teat size 1 until about 12 months then a sippy cup.

Teat size 2 was ridiculous I found, spraying milk everywhere, but size 1 was perfect.

[Woodenheart]

Also you can put I think (20 mls) a capful of water in the bottom, loosely stack all the parts & microwave it to sterilise, as instructed.

Let it cool before adding milk, else bubbles form and they appear to leak, but its just that the bottle is hot & expanding.

Currently £7.99 for 3 in Argos.

[Woodenheart]

If you want to p.m me your address, I will send you a MAM bottle & size 1 teat, DD has just 'helped' me look

[malison]

Woodenheart, thanks so much for that! That is so kind of you! How do I pm you?! Don't use Mumsnet that often... Funny that the MAM teats are so fast - the complaints about Dr Browns are the opposite, that size 1 are far too slow. We put size 2 in the ones we bought to try (3months plus) and they are fine for our son. So you don't think the MAM ones leak if you do it properly, then? Have just been reading reviews complaining about MAM bottles leaking and also that they have to be totally dry when you make up the formula? But you liked them? Thanks

[malison]

Hah, figured out the PM function...!

[ForTheLoveOfSocks]

I've had quite a few different brands of bottles with my two. Both tt and combi fed.

The ones I found best are the narrow neck cheapies from Morrisons. Its £4 for three. The teats are small and soft, so its easier for small mouths i found.

I tried all the anti colic bottles with DD1 I could find, but to be honest they never really made a difference. She was just one of those babies. Lots of time in the sling and keep upright was the best thing. And time. She did grow out of it eventually, but at the time its hell. You just want to make it better.

I never tried cranial osteopathy, but it may be worth a go. Have you been to the GP? Maybe colief may help. You can buy OTC but its around £12 a bottle.

Hopefully things will settle down soon

[malison]

Thanks everyone. We have tried both Dr Brown's and MAM bottles now and so far we think MAM might be better. Neither is a magic cure in terms of totally preventing trapped wind but both bottles help compared with the Avent ones. However so far we think the MAM ones might be better since with his tongue tie our son definitely seems to get a better latch on the MAM teat, which is a very different shape to other teats. The better latch means less air going in so less trapped wind. He doesn't seem to latch any better to the Dr Brown's than to Avent so the anti-colic system can't really work as well as it could otherwise. Also they are such a pain in terms of having to take out the vent to heat the bottles - how on earth do you keep the vent sterile whilst doing this?! They don't seem very hygenic to me...

Merry Christmas all.

[Woodenheart]

Glad they seem to help, I did use the Colief as well, even though DD is not intolerant, it just seemed to relieve her colic really well.

I hope things get better , & Merry Christmas

[malison]

Thanks again for the bottle Woodenheart. Am going to hold off on the Colief for now and see if we can get an improvement without meds first, especially since it's only been a week since his tt was cut again and in the last few days he seems to have been using his tongue more. Will give it a week and see how it goes. Fingers crossed things will improve somewhat of their own accord when he gets to around 3 months, as well. But I know that doesn't always happen...