Bottle feeding questions / help

[Turno1]

Unfortunately I had to move from breast to bottle after two weeks as my milk was not coming through and little one was losing weight. We have had successful bottle feeding, and been doing pace feeding which has been working well. He goes two and half hours between feeds in day and 3-4 hours on a night. He is having 3 - 3.5 ounces a feed. HOwever, I have a couple of questions for any bottle feeding pro's out there -

1. I am using tommee yippee closer to nature anti comic bottles, are there better bottles?
2. on formula it says to make fresh. Can you make up and store in fridge or take out with you? Our parents talk about they used to make up bottle, but the formula says to make fresh. Or is this just certain formulas, I'm using aptamil profutur.
3. last two days the little fella is not wanting the pace feeding, it's as if he's that hungry he is gulping down and not swallowing as it is dribbling down his chin quite a lot. This has only just started to happen and was not sure if he is just hungry and guzzling too quickly and forgetting to swallow, has just got a little lazy, if it's just a phase, these teats aren't suiting him anymore (slow flow) or if suddenly we are doing something wrong.

I'm no expert so I'll leave that to someone else but I've bottle fed two babies and never heard of 'pace feeding'... what is it?

We use Dr Brown bottles which I always recommended with DS1. DS2 seems to hate milk, or bottles, or something so I've tried a few others and am yet to find one he is happy with. Dr Browns work well for a lot of my friends kids though.

I always make a bottle fresh but lots of people don't. I use a tommee tippee machine in the house though, but they aren't a popular choice on here so I won't say it's a must-have or anything.

I think the Perfect prep is a must have along with the Dr Brown bottles.

Thanks, I will try some dr brown bottles. Pace feeding is something I learned from an American colleague and spoke to my health visitor about. It apparently mimics breast feeding. You feed and count to 20, then tilt the bottle down so leaving the nipple of the teat in the babies mouth, the baby stops sucking and takes a moment then starts again, as soon as they start again you lift the bottle back to allow the milk to flow. It's supposed to mimic the stop start babies do with breast feeding and is good for babies who just guzzle and don't rest. It seemed to be working well for us. Just all of a sudden milk is dropping out of his mouth during feed in what ever feeding style we do.

I've never heard of pace feeding either. What's the purpose of it?

In answer to your questions:

1. We've always used TT Closer to Nature bottles. I tried it the anti colic ones but didn't find that they made any difference and they were a pain in the arse to clean and assemble. I actually just chucked them out today, as they've been lying in a drawer for months. DS didn't have big issues with colic though. If your baby does then I've heard the Dr Brown ones are good.
2. You can safely store bottles that have been made in advance as long as you keep them in the back of the fridge at less than five degrees. Any warmer than that and bacteria can start to grow. I have a perfect prep so ours have always been made fresh - it's really easy to use.
3. I'm not sure about this one, although DS has worried me a bit at various points with his odd feeding habits!

I had to try several bottles to tackle dribbling and choking since birth. Not found one yet. He has grown out of choking,now 6 weeks old. Stay with the bottle that he accepts and doesn't cause you concerns. I don't think there is a perfect bottle, it depends on each baby. Dr Brown ones are meant to reduce air ingestion. I find the teat huge and my baby didn't take it.

I could not find any good guide on bottle feeding and troubleshooting bottle-feeding problems like there are with the breastfeeding. So many babies are bottle fed and this seems not to be of interest to promote successful bottle feeding. I think you can divide bottles to those that are standard narrow neck and those with the wide neck apparently Bering closer in shape to the breast. Then you have those with vents to prevent air ingestion, entire systems to prevent air ingestion like Dr Brown's. And there are those that have variflow teats that I think it means they release milk only if the baby sucks and depending on the strength of sucking release faster or slower flow.

Pace feeding is mimicking bf by counting to 20 then tilting teat so baby takes a break and then will start sucking again so lifting tear to enable milk flow again. It creates the stop start motion they do on the breast. I was taught it by an American colleague who was a child minder.

Thks. I searched too and I can't believe there are no support groups for formula/bottle feeding like there are for breast feeding. There is nothing out there at all. I had all the support in the world when breast feeding but when moved to bottle it felt like you were pushed to one side and just have to figure it out yourself.

I agree. Not only there is no support there is a substantial lack of information for the troubleshooting when things go wrong. Like information on bottles and teats, reviews and comparison of flow of different tests and bottles. Excessive dribbling issues, tong tie issues...

I have heard of paced feeding and it is generally though of as a safer way to feed babies.

I've been told it's where instead of tilting the baby back to feed it you have it at a much more 90 degree angle on your lap so it's practically sitting up an you offer the bottle directly into their mouth. The idea is that if the baby isn't lying backwards then the milk won't just rush down it's throat and instead the baby can just feed slowly and at its own pace. Sucking and swallowing in babies is very much a reflex action and if a teat hits the roof of their mouth their response is to start sucking as opposed to it being an active choice and as a result the fast flow can cause coughing, spluttering and choking episodes etc.

I don't think paced feeding is a common term or common feeding method but I do know it is recommended in a variety of circumstances.

Hi, I've exclusively formula fed. I love the Tommee Tippee bottles you are using. I'm sure others may recommend other ones (I wouldn't recommend Avent Natural as they leaked). The only two bottles I've used are Avent Natural and Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature, so I wouldn't like to comment on any others as I have no experience of those.
It's advised to make bottles when needed. I've never bothered with that. My mum always made in advance and stored in the fridge, so I did the same, and will with any future children I have. I think it's so much easier than having to take boiled water and powder out separately and mess about when out. Or use pre made which is expensive and not as thick.
I always: emptied and refilled the kettle with fresh water, boiled it, and left it to cool for 30 minutes (this allows the water to reach the correct temperature to make the bottles). Pour in the water, add the powder, lids on, shake. Then allow to cool naturally at room temperature. When cold, put them in the fridge, where they can be stored for up to 24 hours.
To warm them up at home, I simply use a plastic jug with boiling water. When out, we had a travel bottle warmer, that you fill with boiling water before you leave, then fill up the lid, kind of like a jug, and put the bottle in to warm up.
To take the bottles out, as long as it's not too warm, they are fine in the changing bag, but when it's hot, we had a cold bag with mini ice packs to keep the bottles cold.
I found that so much easier. I prefer to make bottles by hand, I don't see the need to have a machine make them for you.
As for pace feeding, I've never heard of it, so wouldn't like to comment.

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the correct post to post this on but I'm struggling and looking for advice..I struggle with my 6month old DD to take a bottle. When she was 3 weeks I introduced the tommee tippee bottle with expressed Breast milk. When she hit 10 weeks she stopped taking it and just refused it altogether. I've tried various bottles, (mam, nuk, nuby, munchkin latch) but still no hope.. Anyway so now I'm looking to introduce formula as a night feed and gradually increase the feeds but she just won't take a bottle.. I have tried to get other members of my family to offer it to her without me being in the room but still no luck. With excitement she will take a sip
Or two but after that nothing.. Any advice will be helpful on how to get her to take a bottle.. Thank you

Tackled the dribbling. Tried mam teats with the dr brown bottles and no dribbling. Yeay 😀😀😀

So happy for you. I know how it feels!!!

I highly recommend the Mam anti colic bottles... we had used tommee tippee but he was so windy. Mam definitely reduced the amount if air that he was taking in, have been using for about 2 months now. Big help.

We use aptamil pre made formula in 1 litre bottles that once opened can be kept in the fridge for 48hrs. I know it's more expensive to use but there is no faffing around with boiling water and waiting 30.mins and mixing; just pour and go. We whack in microwave for 20 seconds to get the formula to about room temperature and he takes it really well. We have never given him warm milk as we didnt want him to get used to it and then have issues when we are out and about and can't easily warm a bottle.

Also they sell 200ml individual bottles of aptamil which are the BEST for when you are out and about. Just open and pour. They are good for 2hrs once opened. You can buy them in boots or the supermarket. I would not do anything else when on the go, it's just the simplest and easiest way to feed!

Contrary to some advice on here you should always add boiling water to the powder so it can kill any germs etc and then allow to cool and store in fridge etc - don't let the water cool in the kettle first