Mam bottles

[Chelseaaaaa]

Hi I am 27 weeks pregnant& a first time mum.

I've heard mam bottles are a really good brand to use for babies but I've also been told to not get the new born ones get the next size up?

Can you help if you've used these are they good?

@Chelseaaaaa the bottle size is kind of irrelevant, the @Springissprung24 is talking about teat size/flow (extremely useful and important post, thank you).

So you can go ahead and buy the large size bottles, you don't need the little newborn ones, but you will replace the teat with a size 0 teat.

The formula box will give you guidance on how much formula a baby of various ages will drink. So a newborn will have frequent small feeds of 1-3oz, but an older baby will have less frequent feeds of 6-8oz.

Buying the larger bottles to begin with just means you won't need to upgrade to larger ones when your baby drinks more, as the little bottles only hold up to 3 or 4oz.

The sign you need to move up the teat sizes is generally that they’re drinking slower, drinking less than they were before and appear as if they were bored with the effort required to get the milk out of the bottle. Drinking quickly doesn’t indicate anything. Newborns will take a good 15 minutes to take a feed but they get quicker as they get older. Dribbling it out their mouth is definitely a sign it’s too fast. That said we used mam no.1 teats from the beginning, they’re still from newborn and are fine for a good weight full term newborn. The smaller bottles are still handy to have though- take up less space in your bag when they’re feeding very frequently so you need to take a lot out with you, and less space for air in the bottle so they’re less likely to get gassy. Love that they self sterilise in the microwave so they were my go-to for both my kids!

Oh and all the teats fit all the mam bottles so you just swap them out as needed. You could stick the free flow soft spout on the small 4oz bottle and use it as a sippy cup if you were so inclined.

This is taken from the MAM website:

Six smart sizes for perfect enjoyment while sucking:

Size 0: Extra small for newborns - ideal for breastmilk & formula
Size 1: from birth onwards – for baby’s first food which is particularly free-flowing
Size 2: from 2 months – perfect for the baby who is now slightly better trained
Size 3: from 4 months – baby sucks more vigorously and drinks faster
Size x: from 6 months – the ideal teat for mashed-up food
Spill-free teat: from 4 months - ideal for baby’s first independent drinking tries

The issue I find is that the first bottles that hold 4oz, come with (I believe) a size 0 or size 1 teat. When your baby starts taking more than 4oz and you want a bigger bottle, you move up to the next size bottle which comes with a size 2 teat. The guide from MAM themselves describe this teat for being used from 2 months (and in my opinion would be suitable for most babies a lot later than 2 months). But people buy the bigger bottle when their baby is taking more milk and assume because it comes with a size 2 teat that a size 2 teat is what their baby should be using now. As always, be led by your baby.

I understand it now, thank you! Without sounding stupid can someone send me a picture of the bigger bottles so I know exactly which ones to get

https://www.boots.com/mam-easy-start-anti-colic-colours-of-nature-set-linen-10299703-?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--PLAs_HeroCompare---_-PMax:+UK_Smart_Shopping_Baby&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajWXFSoo6eHNVIdhp1M8aNr1b&gclid=CjwKCAjw_LOwBhBFEiwAmSEQAXyN8YpM5vkoVlEXRISBbiFkU5GnTQq4Lim4rkDd_Phmtb-RAzvwVxoC9RoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is the big one and small one side by side.

You can also just give an extra bottle a day, but smaller amounts.

ie
https://www.aptaclub.co.uk/feeding/formula-feeding/schedule/how-much-and-how-often.html

Aptimal for example suggest a 4 week old
might have 120ml, 5 times a day. 600ml in 24hrs. But that’s only one feed every 4-5hrs, which most 4 week olds wouldn’t be happy with. So many might offer 100-120ml, across 6 feeds instead, as that’s more like 3hr day feeds, and 1 overnight.

If your offering feeds more often or on demand as now recommended, then you won’t likely need a bigger bottle, as the small ones still fit 150-160ml, which is plenty if you feeding every 3 hrs

What size is the bigger bottle? Just so I can look

@Chelseaaaaa - huge. 260ml
https://www.mambaby.com/gb/products-shop/baby-bottles/

My son would have thrown that up if he attempted to drink 260ml in one sitting

@Chelseaaaaa - oh they also
seem to make an even bigger bottle at 320ml. But that seems bonkers

We never changed up from size 1 teats!

So what size bottles would you recommend,

What's the size called from one up from newborn then I don't want to get the wrong size

Personally as I said above we never used larger. Ds even as 12-18 month old never drank more than the maximum that fits in a small bottle. But he was never on a 4-5hr feeding schedule.

So it depends on if you want to give large bottles, but less frequently. Or smaller more frequent bottles.
I imagine most people fully formula feeding buy more in smaller size as more frequent feeds. Ie 6. Then wait until baby is 6-9 months to buy 1-2 in larger size if their older baby takes a larger feed before bed for example, but you wouldn’t need 6 of them

So do you think I should just buy new born bottles and go up to size 2 when I need too? Instead of buying bigger bottles

Mam actually do a bottle set with 4 bottles of various sizes and different teat sizes too.

That might be most suitable for you as you find your feet, as seems like different people have different preferences on this.

I can't find on Amazon but I think John Lewis stock it

OP, I feel that you’ve gone round in circles a little and no one can tell you which bottle to buy. We can only recommend based on our own experiences. Babies are all very different, I could tell you to buy only the smallest size bottle and you could have a 10lb baby that wants 5oz feeds from a couple of weeks old which would make the smallest bottles useless. You could also have a baby that wants to feed every 2-3 hours and never has more than 4oz and so the smallest bottle would be just fine for them.
It’s very difficult to know as all babies are different. The flow of the teat, as a few of us have mentioned, is the most important thing for making sure baby is comfortable and happy feeding.
The number of bottles you need depends again on you and your baby. I was happy with two bottles as I was doing a mix of bottle and breast feeding and found two was enough. If you’re solely bottle feeding you might want more bottles so that you don’t have to wash up so frequently.

This is the one: amzn.eu/d/cpHESou

It can seem so overwhelming before you have your baby, but you will know what you're doing in no time!

Thank you I think that's my problem, as I am a first time mum thank you for helping me

You’ll likely need the bigger bottles eventually. The small ones only hold 5oz and by 5-6 months, which is when they’re having the most milk before they start weaning and them dropping bottles in favour of food, most babies will be having 7-8oz feeds on a 3-4 hour schedule. But you probably won’t need the big bottles until 4 months+ so no need to buy them whilst pregnant if you’d rather start on the small ones unless there’s a good deal to be found on a bundle.

If you mean the teats I bought size 1s and 2s ready to go. They fit both the larger and smaller bottles. Never used the 0s although they might have come in the pack, can’t remember.

YES I bought that set x3 for purely formula feeding so could wash and sterilise just once a day. Dummies came in handy too! It’s jogging my memory and I THINK it comes with size 1 teats on the small bottles and 2s on the large so that’s probably why I didn’t know 0s were a thing and thought they were a special order for prem babies.

We have this set from M&P and I think it’s great https://www.mamasandpapas.com/collections/bottle-feeding-essentials/products/mam-easy-start-large-bottle-set-329902700

Comes with a variety of teats too

My LO wouldn't take the tommee tippee teats she kept latching wrong. Then we moved to mam bottles and she latches every time which is great but I absolutely hate them!! They give me a fear when reheating in our bottle warmer that water can get in because I don't have absolute faith in the base having holes in it, which means there's a risk of dirty water because the water in our warmer is not changed every feed, so we are back to boiling the kettle and using a bowl of boiling water, however, the thickness of the bottom means it takes days to warm up the milk so she's basically having cold milk now because by the time the bottle is ready the water has gone cold so it's not even heating the milk anymore and she is hysterical, equally trying to cool the water down after making formula is impossible. Then the added worry of doing it all with the lid off because thats mams guidance when reheating and trying to make sure nothing goes into the bottle at 2am like some water from the jug to heat it with is just so bloody annoying if I am honest.
The slowest teat she was taking ages to feed which I didn't mind but she was throwing up her whole bottle and falling asleep so we moved up a teat then she was choking on the milk. Feeding after having the water in a water bath results in water dripping out on you from the holes in the base. I honestly explain how much these bottles have upset me!! I wish she took better to the tommee tippee ones we had a much quicker and smoother process with them but she wasn't latching properly and the teat kept caving in. Newborns are hard flipping work but adding in bottle annoyances makes it all that bit more overwhelming

Have you considered getting your baby checked for oral restrictions, she has all the classic signs
one teat too slow but struggles with flow on bigger teat
finds the long teats of the TT bottles difficult
does she also dribble milk when feeding?
do you hear clicking or gulping?
does she has reflux?
Id seriously think about seeing a feeding specialist, I think they could probably help.

@Corinax

have you tried to use a rapid cooler instead of the kettle? How old is she now? Xx