Bottles and teats

[wobblymum]

Anyone have any advice on which bottles/teats are the best? I've had to supplement my breastfeeding with a formula top up here and there and as I had two Avent bottles that came with my breastpump, I was just using those.

However, I had loads of trouble getting dd to take the bottle and I thought it was just that she wasn't used to it but then I realised it might be hard for her to suck because the Avent teats are quite rigid and strong. So I got a Tommee Tippee bottle with the Comfort Nuby teat because it's more flexible and tried it last night. Lo and behold, she immediately started sucking at it really well and drank in 5 minutes what it used to take me half an hour to feed her with the Avent bottle.

Anyone have any other experiences with different bottles? I didn't realise the choice of bottle could make so much difference

DON'T BUY AVENT !! I bought them thinking that they were the best as they're v expensive but I've had no end of probs with leaks and teats collapsing. A friend of mine uses the NUK bottles and they seem really good, as do the MAWS ones.

Having said all of that about Avent, I have their non drip drinking cup and it is fab. I've tried DD on about 4 others (Tommee Tippee, Tesco own, Anywayup Cup, Mothercare own). I found that the Anywayup and the TT leaked and also DD didn't like the shape of the spout.

i bought variflow teats from boots and they helped stop the collapsing problems as the flow is controled by the kid so the hard er they suck the more they get without the teat collapsing.

We really liked the wide necked Avent bottles and teats (sorry wickedstepmother). We found that they were really easy to keep clean and sterile, and easy to pour water/milk into. We started with some Mothcare normal bottles but wasn't so keen on them, although they orthodontic shaped teats were nice.

Also with Avent, we use an Avent spout in a wide necked bottle now DD is older for her milk. We wanted her to have milk from a beaker when she was a year old but I think she liked the comfort of holding the bottle, so we swapped the teat for an interchangable spout (from the cup/beaker but removed the valve thing first) - problem solved!

I've been bottlefeeding from birth baby now 4 mos old and use Mothercare steriliser bottles and advent, Boots or Mothercare teats. Seems to work well and so easy to sterilise.

Message withdrawn

I use avent teats on mothercare sterilising bottles, have noticed that variflo only works if your child don't qualify as a "hungrier baby", ds sucked so strong that he chokes with the milk.. to solve the problem when he was very young we used Dr Brown teats which have the smaller hole in the market, they were very expensive but they worked. Talking about Dr Browns... forget about he anti-colic system, it costs a fortune, teats are Ok but children hate the bottle...

I had problems getting both mine on to bottles. I solved it first time, when neither Avent or Maws worked, when someone told me about Nuk bottles (these have teats that, like the nipple after being sucked, are not symetrical. They also very importantly have a valve that lets air in, so that the teat doesnt collapse within a few sucks so you can let them suck for longer without disturbing them)

Second time, i merrily got all my Nuk bottles out of storage expecting no problems. However my greedy daughter couldn't get enough out of the teats, even the large type to satisfy her (unlike my son's 30 minute feeds hers were over in 5 minutes!) With her, the maws vari-flow teat that gives them more the harder they suck gave her the reward she was looking for!

My only advice therefore is that there is no 'best' bottle - just keep trying diffeent ones til you find the one to suit your baby.

I went for the Boots wideneck bottles (easier to get the formula in than the narrow ones....) He is on the slowflow teat at the moment, tried medium flow and nearly drown him! But why can't the teats be a different colour (or have a rim of colour somewhere) to indicate slow, medium, fast - real pain trying to read the inside of the teat at four in the morning....

I am a big Dr Browns fan. We had no end of problems with Avent bottles as ds just kept spitting out all the milk that ran into his mouth. My midwife recommended Dr Browns and the difference was amazing no more struggling and gasping. How much they suited him was really highlighted to me today when I -in baby brain fuzz - went out without his bottle and had to buy a "steribottle" from boots - poor child nearly drowned. Similarly obviously has expensive taste - should have known though as he can only stomach the ready made formula. Tried to switch him to powder and he got really bad tummy ache!

I had a similar experience. DS just couldn't get to grips with Avent bottles but the Tommee Tippee ones, which have a softer, longer teat, were much better. He couldn't "latch on" to the Avent ones because of a recessed chin and the fact the teats were so rigid.

I used a variety of bottles and teats. Maws are brilliant - then when she needed faster flowing teats I bought Tesco own brand and they are brilliant also.

Hia

We're Avent fans in our house. BUT with the VARIFLOW teats.

Maws good too

I've had this problem for several months, email tommee tippee (we use closer to nature bottles). the reply was immediate and it worked:

"There are two reasons a teat will collapse, one is that it is an indication that your baby is ready for a faster flow and sucking so hard to get what they need that it collapses.

The other, is that the Closer to Nature Easivent teats are made from very soft silicone, therefore over time they can remould themselves.

You will have noticed a small vent on the inside of the teat, this should have a small slit along which allows they airflow through the bottle, if this remoulds this will cause the teat to collapse during feeding.

All you need to do to rectify this problem is to rub the valve between you finger and thumb until the slit re-opens. You will only need to do this once and the teat should then function as normal."

NOISY - hiya I changed my 6.5 month old to Avent bottles because dr browns leaked but used them for a while cuz they were brilliant for his colic the problem is I can't seem to find right teat for him as number 2 is a bit slow for him number 3 are a bit fast as he took his bottle in 6 minutes although it did not bother him and variflow teat for thicker liquids was just much toooo fast so I did try putting the dr brown teat in the advent bottle but the teat seems to collaspe, any advice???? Please give :-)