Dr Brown's bottles.... do they work?

[Renaissance227]

Has anyone tried Dr Brown's bottles? I've heard good and bad things but not sure quite what to believe.
Has anyone found a good bottle/method for easing/lessening wind after bottle feeding?

By the way, do breast fed babies have problems with wind too? I know I now sound like a total idiot but if I don't ask I won't know!!

[PrincessScrumpy]

dd was EBF and had terrible colic but very little burping (she did her 1st proper burp at 4weeks old and sounded like that of a full grown adult - dh could hear it from downstairs and we were upstairs!). I think the colic was down to trapped with that wouldn't come out.

When we moved onto bottles dd wouldn't take them so I looked for one with a completely different teat to the others on the market and discovered MAM - dd and I loved them. The air comes out the bottom and it just makes sense to me how it works. They come appart into a few pieces which some people find a faff but tbh it made cleaning really easy and after the first two times I could do it with my eyes closed.

Sorry, I haven't tried the Dr Browns ones but I would put Mam forward to anyone with a windy baby.

[zabwino]

We used Dr Browns for our very colicky baby, until she was about 6 months. We also tried Infacol (made no difference) and Colief, which you put in the milk (not sure if that helped!). My husband is a paediatrician, and really rated Dr Browns, which is why we used them. I'm not sure how much they helped.
My own opinion is that some babies are going to be colicky no matter what we do, and they all grow out of it eventually (which I know is little consolation when you have a red faced screaming baby in front of you at the time, but it does improve in time, honest!)

[Renaissance227]

Thank you for the advice.

[bootus]

Ebf babies can suffer just as much as bottle fed lo's. I have mix fed both of mine. Breast fed ds2 far more successfully and to my great joy. However I wholeheartedly recommend Dr Browns, bit of a faff to clean but both mine were/are refluxy and the bottles certainly help to minimise discomfort. They were recommended to me by several people and I think they're fab (also heard Mam excellent).

[cotswolder]

Dr Browns worked for us. DD was fed expressed breast milk from start (as she would not latch). We started with avent but wind was a problem and after a while she was screaming after a few gulps with the avent bottle. I was recommended Dr Browns and bought two from tesco in a pack. Not looked back since. Wind reduced massively and a happy baby! More of a faf than avent to clean but still not that bad and well worth it for us.

[MoonFaceMamaaaaargh]

yes colic can happen in bf or ff babies. I believe wind is much more likely in ff babies as air gets caught up in the milk in the bottle, but this doesn't happen in a boob. I believe generally bf is easier on lo's stomachs as it's easier to digest. Bf babies have much lower incidence of other tummy probs such as gastroenteritus etc.

A bf baby might gulp air i guess...but tweaking the latch would probably help with that.

That's just my guess though. If you try the bf/ff board there will be some proper experts who will be able to give you proper stats and reasons etc...(no offence intended to other posters).

[Renaissance227]

Thanks for all the advice.
I didn't realise therewas a bf/ff board here! Thanks for that

[dribbleface]

Can't advise on BF/FF and wind much as only BF for a few weeks, but i found Dr Browns bottle a god send. Tried cheaper alternatives first but these were the only thing that helped DS (well that a C & G comfort formula).

[titan]

We bought Dr Browns and Tommee Tippee but ended up using Avent. They are so much easier to clean and supposedly have an anti colic thing built into the design of the teat. DS was quite a windy baby but I didn't really notice any difference with the Dr Browns.

[NevermindtheNargles]

We found the answer with ds was a dr Brown's bottle, 2 doses of infacol and a spoonful of gripewater in his bottle. He still got a lot of wind, but brought it up a lot easier. So glad we're past the windy stage now!

[dizzy77]

We get on well with the Dr Brown bottles - DS had terrible wind at first using bottles & teats we got free from the hospital after our stay in SCBU, I can't really compare them to other brands on this basis. DS only really now gets bad wind when he's had a big crying jag and swallowed lots of air. They ARE a bit of a faff to clean with the little brush for the valve but we're used to that now. I think it also helps that the teats are very soft silicone.

[MummyAbroad]

Dr Browns made things much better for DS, who was FF, but didnt cure the problem totally. They are a real pain to clean too (compared to normal bottles) so dont buy millions, you wont want to use them unless you have too, buy one or two and test them first.

I found constant burping helped the most, used to spend hours, doing it all day long. check out you tube videos to see various different burping methods and try them all. DS's favorite position was with on his belly over my knee.

Also, get a Tummy Tub type bath, sitting upright in water brings out some really lovely burps!

I also tried gripewater, infacol etc but cant say I really noticed much difference.

[dribbleface]

meant to say with winding the best thing with DS was sort of sitting him upright on my knee and circling him!

[jess77]

They are amazing!! Turned our life around!
DS cried solidly for 9 weeks because of wind/tummy problems. He was FF with Avent bottles and nothing worked. Tried gripe water, colief, infacol. Nothing. Then someone recommended Dr Browns, not a whimper out of him after that.
Yes they are a pain to clean but if they stop your baby crying all day long who cares???
If you have a windy baby I would highly recommend them. Hope it gets better for you x

[sleepevader]

Not tried Dr browns but found that switching from Avent to Mams did make a difference.

[theonlyhb2]

Oooo i wondered about this. EBF too and advent bottles let too much air in. Got the MAM bottles and they help but she still very windy and burps loads! She did from day 1. Suffered hiccups in womb and they carried on outside. I figured its prob as good as it gets now (she does guzzle though!)

[islandbaby]

Don't really rate them to be honest. Didn't seem to improve anything, and were just more of a faff to clean. Actually, i started using a free avent bottle that came through the post because the Dr Browns were all dirty, and found that to be the best of the lot.

Infacol never worked for us either.

And as for burping, just holding him upright seemed to be the best, though still no quick fix.

Reading this has just reminded me how difficult those first windy months seemed, and the pains of sitting up in the middle of the night after a horribly stressful BF session having an equally horrible stressful burping moment.

4 months was the key age for us, when things slotted into place. Just stick at it :)

[cardamomginger]

We used Avent bottles and were recommended by the HV to try Browns. Made no sodding difference and were an utter faff - all that messing around trying to get the little tube clean with the little brush...