What bottle is the nearest to a breast?

[littlemiss26]

I go back to work when my baby is four months old. I am planning to continue expressing at work and giving my son EBM but i really want to chose the most appropriate bottle to avoid confusion. I went back at 6 months with my DS2 and he was able to have a soft beaker of EBM so we never did bottles with him, and with my DS1 i had him on formula so no risk of confusion. I suspect 4 months is too young to use a beaker, so i need a bottle for him. any advice or experience would be appreciated!

Hey, when I combi-fed my ds I used the Tommee Tippee 'closer to nature'.

DD can only use NUK latex brown teats. Anything else she chews and have no idea to suck them.

He could be cup fed instead (suitable from birth).

i used the closer to nature ones too, probably just a fluke that DS1 was happy with them! they probably just get used to whatever you give them. :)

i haven't had time to practice with DS2 for when i go back to work so no idea what he'll make of them...

I bought a special teat, weird-looking teat called medela calma, which is supposed to be v similar to the breast because the baby has to work hard to get the milk out, and it won't flow unless they are actively drinking. It can screw on to any narrow necked bottle, I think.

Now I won't lie, it was expensive, and DD refused to drink from it anyway .
So it was a waste of time for me (she wouldn't drink out of any bottles, it wasn't that she particularly rejected that one) here it is

I tried NUK and an own-brand one too. Neither worked. But a sippy cup works fine. A bit messy at first (as it has to be a free-flowing sippy cup not one that needs sucking) but I find it works well. He just chewed the bottles.

DS is 9 months, still being BF morning and evening, and has been having formula in a sippy cup since he was 5.5 months (I went back to work at 6 months)

tommee tippee looks like a breast but dd wouldnt have it and kept choking onit.Try dr browns it has a special valve and they feed off like they do the breast as opposed to glug glug of the bottle.

Mam Ultivent teat is good as flattened like the nipple.

gosh, quite alot of different answers! we used tommee tippee with my first son, and although it is probably more breast shape i didn't really think it had the same sucking action!

Isthistheendthistime - can you explain a little more to me about cup feeding? He is going to be with a childminder so i feel i need to be a bit realistic of what she is going to be able to do for me with other children to mind (including my DS2 who is a pickle)

I quite like the idea of the medela calma - thanks for the link maamekin! I think i'll set up another thread about it to see if anyone has managed to use it successfully. How much did it cost - the link doesn't have prices?

cheers

I think the Calma cost me 12 euros - so prob about £10. It was made up of several different bits, maybe a PITA to clean.

Am using the medela calma, works really well for us. He uses exact same technique as on the breast, just needs a few breaks or it goes down too fast.

thanks, its really good to hear someone has had success with it! i think i'll order one and see how we get on with it!!

I used tt bottle, with a vary flow teat.
You can also start using a Doidy cup from 4 months, instead of a bottle.