Changing the teat on Tommy Tippy bottles...

[anythingwithagiraffeonit]

My DD is 11 weeks and formula fed, it takes about 30 minutes for her to drink 5oz, or 45 to an hour if she's just playing with it!

When should I move her to number 2 teats? And when I do, does it make it slower to drink / faster / about the same?

She is my first baby and until recently I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know there were other teats :s

X

There's no 'time' to move on to other teats, I think it's a bit of trial and error really to find out what suits your baby. I think about 30-45 mins is quite a long time though, although I'm no expert! Maybe she's taking a while because she's getting frustrated. Why not try the 2s or the variflow and see how she gets on?

My baby is nearly 5 months and is mix fed (mostly FF) and until now has been on the number 1s. It was taking about 15 minutes or longer to drink 5oz I think but I was starting to think that she was getting a bit frustrated towards the end. We've just switched to the variflow and she seems fine with these. The variflow means she gets more milk out when she sucks harder (like at the start) but then can pace herself - she gets more out if she tries harder, if you see what I mean.

PS - don't be embarrased! I admit that I was totally clueless about bottles and teats before having her and was freaked out when we came home FFing (I remember saying to the midwife "There's so many different types, how on earth are you supposed to know what to get?!") :)

the teats get faster as you move up them. i.e. number 2 is faster than 1 and number 3 will be faster than both 1 and 2. There is no harm in trying the faster ones as you will probably need them at some point anyway. My ds was on medium flow teats from around 8 weeks even though the age guide on the pack was 3 months+

i would bump her up to the no 2 teat. If she doesnt cope with it (spluttering, milk spilling out the side of her mouth and general outrage) you can put then away for a couple of weeks and try again.

If no 2 is too fast but no 1 is still too slow for her you could also try making the hole in the no 1 teats a little bigger by stretching them with a needle.

Variflow are a good option too. THe only complaint i have with them is that the actual nipple is bigger than the "normal" teats and Dd never really liked that.