originally posted 1/6/2019; updated 5/5/2023
originally posted 1/6/2019; updated 5/5/2023
I’m guessing you got a ton of different bottles at your baby shower, when you signed up for a baby registry, or even for free in the mail after Target or Buy Buy Baby or Amazon or whoever figured out you were pregnant. If you take a peek at the marketing printed on the bottle packages, you’ll see a lot of pretty bold claims…
“The breastfeeding bottle! … the perfect companion to breastfeeding and the best possible transition to bottle feeding.”
“designed to mimic breastfeeding… rescued so many families dealing with ‘nipple confusion’ and ‘bottle rejection’ that our Comotomo mama’s coined the term ‘Breastfeeding in a Bottle!'”
“Switching from bottle back to breast has never been easier… your baby is able to maintain the learned feeding behavior that your baby exhibits when breastfeeding”
“The wide breast shaped nipple promotes a natural latch on similar to the breast. Designed to give a more comfortable and contented feed for your baby.”
What does all of this tell you (other than the fact that every single one of these bottles is somehow THE #1 MOST BEST BREASTFEEDING BOTTLE EVER)? I know that it tells me– that bottle feeding can affect breastfeeding, and that it must happen often. Why else would the manufacturers go out of their way to claim their bottles are just like breastfeeding and don’t cause problems?
So let’s say you’re breastfeeding and you really want to use bottles sometimes, too. How on earth are you supposed to pick a bottle to even start with if every company has similar claims and the boogeyman of “nipple confusion” is lurking around every corner?
That’s where I come in. Get comfy. Let’s chat.
First, let’s quickly discuss nipple confusion. We’ve come to see this is an incorrect term. After all, babies aren’t stupid and they aren’t confused– but they quite often have a nipple or flow preference.
Babies are hard wired to breastfeed, if given the chance and properly functioning mouths and brains. In the beginning breastfeeding is a learned skill for both of you, no matter how strong your instincts are.
But babies are also smart, and they can be creatures of habit. Breastfeeding and bottle feeding use the same muscles, but often they use those muscles in different ways. Given a choice, they quite often will choose the option that is easier for them. They’re not confused- they’re making an educated choice! Look at those baby geniuses go!
Now that you understand babies aren’t confused, we need to talk about something else.
There are no bottles on the market (yet) that act the same way as a breast.
I don’t care if it’s rounded like a breast, I don’t care if the nipple is colored like some fictional person’s skin tone, I don’t care if the manufacturer is so bold as to say it’s developed only for breastfeeding.
No. Bottle. Is. The. Same. As. Your. Breast.
When babies latch to the breast correctly they get a large mouthful of nipple and areolae- and depending which study you look at, your nipple and areolae swell 2-3 times in size to fit your baby’s oral cavity.
There are no bottle nipples that expand this way in a baby’s mouth. NONE. They would need to be incredibly soft silicone, so soft that they’d probably break down easily as they were used & washed. You’d be running through them as fast as you run through diapers.
What am I saying here? Ignore all the claims from all of the companies about their bottle being best for breastfeeding. Instead, I want you to keep three things in mind- A) flow rate B) nipple/teat shape and slope and C) nipple tip shape. Let’s discuss.
A) Flow Rate
When discussing baby bottles the term “flow rate” refers to how fast the milk comes out of the bottle nipple when baby is sucking. Most bottle brands sell nipples of varying “flows” or “speeds”, and they suggest moving up in “speed” as baby gets older.
Unfortunately bottle flow rates aren’t universal. It’s not like comparing the MPG of a new car or the carbohydrates per serving of your favorite breakfast cereals.
What one company calls a “slow flow” nipple may let milk through just as fast as another company’s “level 3”. What’s worse, flow rate is usually wildly inconsistent within the same brand and level of nipple. Some brands are more consistent than others, but generally you even can’t be sure that two nipples in the same package flow at the same rate!
Bottle manufacturers can put any claims they want on their products- there is no oversight. A bottle labeled “0-3 months” (or “anti-colic”, or “just like the breast”) doesn’t really mean anything!
Us IBCLCs generally like to have breastfeeding babies using the slowest possible bottle nipple. We want babies to take the bottle slowly (since breastfeeding is usually a slow process) and we want them to have to actively suck to get the milk out. Babies are smart. Some babies will get a bottle with a fast flow nipple and say “heyyyyyy, that was easy. Why am I working so hard on nursing? Why have you been holding out on me all this time?!?” and bam, you’re stuck in flow preference land.
There is a sweet spot here- you don’t want the bottle to be too easy but you also don’t want it to be too hard. I generally recommend that bottle feeding takes a baby about 5 minutes per ounce. When purchasing bottles you may want to start with the brand’s slow flow nipple and the adjust up or down depending how your baby does.
How do you know how much milk to send to daycare or to leave with your infant?
It’s also important to remember that all bottles drip when you invert them, and MOST bottles will give the baby milk even if baby is just chewing on the bottle nipple. Do you want your baby chewing on your nipple when they’re hungry? These factors make bottle feeding awfully attractive for some babies, so with a slow flow you can hopefully minimize the amount of milk baby can get without sucking.
There have been a few recent studies that measured flow rates from various bottle nipples using different methods; they found that the slowest flow nipples are usually not from the brands that are constantly advertising about how breastfeeding friendly they are.
If you’re interested in learning more about bottle flow rates, Infant Feeding Labs has great trainings for parents and also for professionals.
Bottle Selection Tip: Choose a bottle with a slow flow rate to try first, even if your baby isn’t a newborn.
B) Nipple/Teat Slope and Shape
If we want to encourage babies to get a good mouthful of nipple and areolae when they breastfeed, we want them to similarly get a good mouthful of the nipple when they bottlefeed. This can be difficult when a bottle nipple abruptly changes in shape from narrow to wide.
These nipples (left to right Nuk Simply Natural, Medela Calma, Avent Natural, Tommee Tippee, and Chicco Naturalfit) have narrow nipple tips and wide bases. Babies will usually either stay on the tip and suck it like a straw, or they will try to fit the base of the nipple in their mouth (spoiler: it won’t work) and end up with air pockets where the tip meets the base.
Instead, look for nipples that gradually change in shape from narrow at the tip to wider at the base. If they are narrow at the base, you’ll want baby’s lips to be able to come up almost to the collar (plastic o-ring base); if the nipple is wide at the base but appropriately sloped, baby will be able to get the nipple deeply into their mouth with no air pockets.
These nipples (left to right Lansinoh, Dr Brown’s Original Narrow, and Evenflo Balance + Standard) have nipples that gradually slope from narrow to wide, which is a more natural shape in baby’s mouth. Not pictured is the Pigeon Nursing Bottle which also has a gradually sloped nipple shape.
Bottle Selection Tip: Choose a bottle with a nipple that gradually changes width from tip to base.
C) Nipple Tip Shape
I have no science to back this assertion up, but it makes perfect sense to me, so I’m adding it to my list. Look at the bottle nipple tip. Would you want YOUR nipple to be that shape after/while baby sucks on it? No? Then avoid it when choosing a bottle. Some of these shapes are absolutely cringeworthy.
When a baby is nursing and detaches from your breast your nipple should look round, or the same shape it was when it went into baby’s mouth. A “lipstick” nipple, a flattened or creased nipple, a pointy nipple- these are all signs that baby may have been mashing your nipple against their hard palate. This causes nipple damage, makes it harder for baby to get the milk out, and it really freaking hurts.
So if a bottle nipple tip is shaped in a way that you’d never want your nipple to look, why on earth would you want to use a bottle nipple in that shape?
Bottle Selection Tip: Does the nipple tip look like a very painful, unhappy human nipple? Avoid it.
So after all that information… what bottles should you pick?
Generally I think it’s better to start with only TWO different bottles. If you’re heading to the store, consider one bottle with a narrow nipple base, and another bottle with a wider base and a gradual slope from the tip. You’ll of course want to choose the slowest flow available in whatever bottles you purchase. In some cases this may mean that the bottle itself comes with a faster nipple and you’ll have to buy the slow-flow nipple separately.
If you’re buying two bottles to try, these are a good starting point:
Lansinoh (left) and Dr. Brown’s Original (Narrow Neck) with Preemie Nipple (right)
FYI, the “slow flow” nipple that comes with the Lansinoh bottle is still pretty fast flow. When I bring this bottle to home visits I also bring the slower version of the nipple, which is the Pigeon SS/Super Slow/Level 0 nipple.
Other bottles with gradual nipple shapes similar to these:
Pigeon Nursing Bottle (left) and Evenflo Balance + (right, standard neck shown but they also sell a wide neck)
Looking for glass bottles? The Pigeon Nursing Bottle and Evenflo Balance + Wide Neck come in glass! You can also get the Dr Browns Original and the Lansinoh in glass but they are the larger size bottles.
Some bonus bottle shopping tips:
- babies eating breastmilk usually only eat 3-4 oz per serving so there’s no need to buy expensive, giant 8 oz bottles!
avoid any bottle that requires you to hold it in an uncomfortable position for you or baby.
- avoid all “anti-colic” claims. We don’t have a firm hold on exactly what colic is or why it happens (babies crying for 3+ hours a day, 3+ days a week, for 3+ weeks in a row) but if a bottle could really cure it, then all the other products marketed as anti-colic (infant gas drops, baby carriers, swings and other baby containers, baby probiotics, belly wraps, tubes you stick up baby’s butt) wouldn’t exist…
Once you’ve got your two test-drive bottles all washed and sterilized and your milk pumped, you’re ready to give this bottle thing a try. I often suggest parents start with the more narrow-based nipple that they’ve chosen; if it doesn’t work, use the wider sloped nipple the next time.
For directions on exactly HOW to give a breastfed baby a bottle, read on to part 2.
If you’d like to learn much, much more about bottles for breastfed babies, or if you are a lactation or baby care professional looking to broaden your skills I highly suggest you pick up a copy of Balancing Breast and Bottle: Reaching your Breastfeeding Goals.
Please note: This blog post includes Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase items through Amazon after following my links above, I earn 4% of the purchase price.
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64 thoughts on “Bottles for Breastfed Babies (Introducing a Bottle, Part 1)”
Baby boy is 4 months old and has been breastfed with intermittent bottles since birth. He will generally tolerate bottles but clearly hasn’t ever loved them. Last weekend he completely refused bottles while we were traveling. He has since resumed, but not without protest. We have been using the narrow Dr. Browns bottles with preemie nipples (paced feeding). He often gets choked up/coughing when drinking and sometimes gags when the bottle is first put in his mouth before any milk is coming out. Of note, he often does the same gagging with pacifiers and doesn’t really take them often. Often it takes quite a while to coerce him into beginning to drink from the bottle and may take 20-45min to drink 2-3 oz. Does this seem more likely a nipple shape issue or flow issue? Trying to decide if trying a different bottle altogether or just a different nipple flow with the dr browns is a better approach. Also has the evenflo balance + standard neck been discontinued- it seems unavailable online.
I can answer your last question- no, the Evenflo Balance+ Standard Neck isn’t discontinued it’s just always sold out. Try Evenflo’s website and Lactation Hub. For your other questions about your son every baby and situation is different and I can’t comment on what I think might be happening without evaluating him!
I just saw the LactationHub Gentle Flow+ nipples. They look almost exactly like the Pigeon ones. Do you have any experience with them? What’s your opinion?
https://lactationhub.com/breastfeeding-friendly-bottle-nipple-s-and-ss/
I’ve seen them too, in the past Lactation Hub has had some manufacturing issues with their bottle nipples and the entire batch I bought was defective so I’m not going to buy and try these.
Thank you for this incredibly useful info! Do you have any information regarding flow comparisons for Pigeon and Lansinoh when you get a bit faster in flow? Lansinoh Slow Flow is too fast (5 oz done within 8mins) but 8mo baby is starting to struggle to finish bottles with Pigeon S (takes over 30mins and leaves 1-2 oz behind) which is hard for her daycare. Wondering if Pigeon M is slower than Lansinoh? The Y cut worries me that it won’t be though.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks so much for the article. I learnt a lot from this. I have a 3 month old exclusively breastfed baby refusing any kind of bottle.
My situation is slightly different as that I am in over producer and my milk flow is very fast. Our feeding sessions have never lasted for more than 10mins and only one side each feed. I use Haaka to express the other breast when I need to release pressure.
So my question is if a slow nipple is frustrating to my baby or is bottle feeding completely different and my flow shouldn’t matter? Or if it does, should I try fast flow nipples instead.
Any and all articles I read never mention anything for mothers with fast flow or super fast milk flow. So I really hoping to get some help here and hearing back from you.
Yep, almost all the bottle refusing babies I see are used to a fast flow human nipple. In that case a slow flow nipple may not be helpful for your baby- but remember that every brand’s version of “slow flow” is different. For that reason I always focus on nipple shape first and flow second.
Love this article! My baby doesn’t hate the bottle but just doesn’t know how to drink from it. She moves her tongue around it and kind of like chewing on it from side to side without closing on the nipple. Could this be a sign of tongue or lip tie? She also only latches on to the nipple of the breast. Please help Rachel, thanks!
It can be a sign of lip or tongue tie, yes, but it isn’t always!
Can I use the Pigeon SS nipples on my spectra bottles that I already own or is there something about the Lasinoh bottles that make them better?
I never recommend putting nipples on other brand bottles because it can affect the vacuum and venting even if it seems like it’s a perfect fit. The only time I’ll suggest it is if it’s the same company under a different brand name (like Lansinoh bottles with Pigeon nipples).
Hi.. my baby had multiple episodes of bottle aversion. We always had issue with flow. She is 7 months.. is medium evenflow slower than pigeon slow / pigeon medium flow? Looks like venflow medium is a bit slow for her and its fast flow is too much for her. So we wanted to find one which is faster than medium flow of evenflow and slower than fast flow
Wonderful 3 part series! Thank you so much for writing it. I will be referring to it often in the coming months. One thing that I either missed or was not mentioned is when you feel it’s appropriate to introduce a bottle to a breastfed baby. There’s always stories of nipple confusion out there to scare people off – and my husband would like to help share in the feeding workload.
My lo is 10 weeks and has been using the Dr browns narrow. She’s combo fed and at night we feed her formula. As she’s outgrowing then 4oz bottles, we’re looking to transition to an 8oz. While the dr browns level 1 worked great for her, I don’t love the narrow opening and all the parts. We got the lansinoh S nipple and she’s dripping a lot on the sides and bottom. I’m not sure if the flow is too fast – I think it shouldn’t be since the Dr browns level 2 was OK for her. Is it possible that she’s having a latch issue since the base of the lansinoh is much wider than the Dr. Browns?
It’s likely the flow is too fast- the Lansinoh “slow” speed is actually relatively fast, faster than a Dr Browns level 1.
Hi Rachel! Dr. Brown’s has added a new “options + wide neck” bottle and nipple that looks more like the lansiloh and Evenflo bottle nipples. What are your thoughts on this nipple? Do you still recommend the Dr. Brown’s Options + Narrow Neck or are you liking the new Wide Neck more now?
Good question- the Dr Browns wide neck is still a pretty steep transition so while it looks a little more like the Lansinoh, it’s still not a great fit for most babies and of all their bottles I like the narrow neck best.
Thank you for this post. I notice you keep using the Dr. Brown’s original bottle in your links. Is the newer version (Options+ bottle) the same? I want glass but can’t find the original bottle in glass anywhere! I know they used to make it because I babysat for a family that used them years ago, but looks like it’s no longer made.
My soon to be 4 month old was bottle fed formula in NICU until my milk came in. We continued using bottles with breast milk for 1 feeding a day so my husband could help. We fell off that nice schedule and life got a little more hectic.. now he does not like the bottle at all- we used dr.browns only, I’ve since tried como tomo and advent.. he doesn’t get super upset, just plays with and gums the nipples.. he will occasionally take it, but it’s kind of a battle and not consistent. Any suggestions?
I’m preparing for baby’s arrival and wanted to have two of your suggestions on hand. I was trying to avoid the Dr Browns venting system and also use bottles I had on hand so I got Dr Brown’s premie nipples for use on other standard neck bottles (I checked that this worked without leaking). I have now determined I cannot buy Lansinoh, pigeon or the evenflo balance+ bottles anywhere (I’m in Canada and the evenflo ones recently disappeared from the market). Would the Dr Brown’s wide neck nipples fit the guidelines? I’ve never seen one in person but I don’t really know what other options are out there that meet the criteria and that wouldn’t cost me $40+ in shipping to get (which makes me nervous in case I needed more)
Hi mostly exclusively pumping, working on the latch Canadian here. My babe only uses pigeon nipples. You can get pigeon bottles in Canada- mostly in Asian baby boutiques (they are a Japanese brand) Just Google it « pigeon nipples/ bottles Canada ». In Vancouver- baby square, baby en route who have physical and online stores. Canabee baby online. They are quite expensive compared to the drugstore brands though as they are import brand so I only have a few bottles but what I do now (after lots of researching) is to buy the pigeon nipples and put them on the Philips anti colic bottles NOT the Philips avent natural ones. The nipples fit the ring “perfectly” on the anti colic ones. The lids close but kind of smush the nipple. The bottle is definitely not as nice or of as good quality (pigeon bottles are PPSU, lighter, cuter) and we definitely still prefer the original bottles. The nipples also fit on nanobebe, Maymom wide and nuk original bottles which you can buy here easily. Also Evenflo ships to Canada but $$$. Hope that helps.
Hi! I am an IBCLC and your bottle summary was recommended during during a GOLD conference presentation. I am wondering if your nipple shape recommendations are personal practice based recommendations or evidence based? If evidence based, do you mind sharing your resources? My go to has always been Dr. Browns narrow with a premie nipple as this is what the NICU uses. This post is very useful for other options! Thank you!
My resource is linked in the blog post, but all of my words and recommendations are my own from my years of doing literally hundreds of bottle refusal consults.
I just have to say, I was ecstatic to learn of a slower flow nipple compatible with Lansinoh. Fingers crossed this does the trick. We are 12 weeks in and she is finally sucking the Lansinoh nipple but the slow flow is still too fast. I just ordered the ss pigeon nipple so praying that works!!!!! I didn’t know it existed until reading this so thank you!!!
Does the nipples on the evenflo bottle have a good slow flow, or does their tend to be fast like Lansinoh. Also, do you have a personal preference on their standard or wide neck bottle?
The Evenflo Balance nipples are much slower than the Lansinoh! I like the standard neck better because babies tend to collapse the wide neck.
What about Evenflo in comparison to Pigeon? Is Evenflo faster than Pigeon SS/S or about the same?
Also, are the Evenflo/Lansinoh nipples interchangeable with the bottles?
The Evenflo Balance+ slow nipple is slower than the Pigeon/Lansinoh S/level 2. The Pigeon SS is slower than the Evenflo.
I am not a big fan of switching nipples on other brands of bottle collars, particularly the nipples like these that have a built in air vent, because a differently shaped collar can compress and close the air valve. Basically it’s not “if I fits I sits” 😂
Rachel, do you have a recommendation for bottles/nipples that come with the popular breast pumps, i.e. Motif Luna, Spectra, etc.? I am trying to minimize the amount of milk transferring I have to do and would love to be able to utilize the milk collection bottles supplied with my breast pump.
I’m not a big fan of ANY of the nipples that come with pumps. A better bet would be to see if you can can use adapters to screw the chosen bottle body to your pump- you’d still be minimizing milk transference but IMO if your choices are a crappy nipple with your current pump bottles or pumping into a different bottle with a better nipple/teat, I’d choose #2.
Thank you so much for the post. My baby latches on Lansinoh beautifully but the flow is still too fast even with the super slow flow nipple… so can’t use Lansinoh.
So right now we are trying Dr.Brown’s wide neck. Is that nipple good for breastfed babies compare to the narrow neck? The preemie nipple is actually better. However, my baby has hard time to latch…
Should I try the narrow neck?
Hi, do you recommend the evenflo standard OR wide neck nipples/bottles? My baby has failed 4 bottles so far (including the lansinoh), and he seems to gag/be overwhelmed by large nipple sizes. I have very small nipples so I’m wondering if this is why. I’m trying the evenflo next since the dr. Brown’s nipple looks long, but not sure which to get!
Thanks!
Any glass bottle options? Looks like Lansinoh no longer makes one and it’s impossible to buy the Pigeon bottles!
Hi is there a big diffrence in your opinion between evenflo balance standard you mention in the blog and evenflo balance wide?
My 5 week old has a small tounge tie but breastfeed fine. He has been taking lansinoh bottles with slow flow nipple but milk often leaks out the side of his mouth.
My Pediatrician said that my 4 month breastfed baby should be eating 4-6 oz per feed, and the charts say 4-8 oz per feed by the time they’re 6 months. I only nurse her, but am pumping and freezing for when I go back to work when she’s 6 months and have no idea how much she will need to eat at a time. I was going to buy larger bottles because all I have is 4 oz. Everything I read seems contradictory, and formula is different then breastmilk but a lot of charts dont differentiate. You said 3-4oz each feed, does that change at all at different ages?
Hey mama I actually can answer this for you. Breastfed baby’s never eat more than 3 to 5oz no matter how old they get and it’s because your breastmilk chances for your baby’s needs. The older they get the more calories your breastmilk will have. With formula fed baby’s you have to go up an Oz ever so often as they get older because formula stays the same and doesn’t change like breastmilk does. So let’s say baby is 6 month old if breastfed they will most likely be eating 4oz every 3 to 4 hours and if formula fed they would get 6oz every 3 to 4 hours. I hope that helps.
This is helpful to know. What happens if you are exclusively pumping and storing it for use in the future when you go back to work? If it is milk pumped from month 2 and baby is eating in month 5 will they get enough calories?
Breast milk is good for all babies at all ages. It doesn’t vary in calories or composition so much that milk for a baby of one age isn’t healthy for them at a different age!
There is a new bottle that has come out since your post called the Chicco Duo Hybrid with the Intui-latch nipple. It appears to be sloped and look a little like lansinoh. I’m curious as to your opinion and if this would be a good option for us?
So the Chicco looks like it has a graduated width similar to Lansinoh or Evenflo but when you look closer you can see it ALSO has a horizontally squished nipple like the Mam bottle, which means it’s going to encourage a narrow, shallow latch by default. Generally I avoid nipples like this unless baby is really tongue tied or has other oral function issues and cannot make suction work with a wide gape. Good question!
Reading this post was SO incredibly helpful. Thank you, thank you! I was getting info from experienced moms that didn’t match with what my SLP friend has been giving. Yours laid it out so it was so easy to understand.
We our due with our first in September. My question is regarding narrow vs. wide bottles. Do you have a preference to use in conjunction with breastfeeding? I am hoping to use glass bottles so I’m trying to find something that matches up with everything you suggested. Thank you!
Great article, thank you!!! I have three questions:
1) Any opinion on the original medela nipple (not calma) or the Lifefactory glass bottles (i think now discontinued, i dont know why. I hope nothing bad!)? Both are regular/narrow neck and both with slow flow nipples that came with bottles.
2) How many bottles should you register for? Just the two kinds in smallest quantity possible?
3) If baby seems to take the very first bottle you try (in your example dr. Brown narrow with preemie nipple), should you still try the #2 bottle choice or any others in case they like it or latch even better?
Sorry for so many questions. Thank you so much!!!
I’m also wondering about the original Medela bottle/nipple. It appears they are interchangeable with Dr. Brown so I would assume they are okay?
They aren’t exactly interchangeable, unfortunately many of the nipples don’t flow or work the same when put on a different company’s bottle or collar so it gets tricky when you try to Frankenstein!
Hi, I’m so glad I came across this information! Thank you! With that being said, I’m a mew Mama who has managed to successfully breastfeed, yay, but now when introducing bottles my babe refuses them. I have tried several bottles (como tomo, tomee teepee, avent) and various nipples, my husband has tried giving each of them too. Our babe just cries and fusses each time we give it a go. He also HATES a pacifier. Needless to say, we are stressed because I go back to work in a month and our new baby (now two months old) refuses to take any bottles we’ve tried so far. Now that I’ve read your tips, I’ll give the two brands you recommend a try (with the nipples recommended). We remain hopeful! You’re right about it being stressful. Thanks again for sharing this information and I hope it works out for us! Best, P
OMG. This is exactly our story… actually every single detail fits ! 2 month old baby, 1 month “deadline”, all the different bottles…. And I’m desperate. I hope you had some luck with the bottle!!
This is my situation too!! Wondering what worked for you all? We are trying evenflo next
Hi! This is very helpful. I was wondering if you recommend WHICH feeding is a good one to try a bottle first (ie first of the day because baby is hungrier? Evening? ). I am interested in trying a bottle but don’t know when to start in terms of when to do it, pumping for it, etc.
I like starting with the second morning feed of the day (so say baby wakes at 8AM, nurse for that one and then try the bottle at 10/11).
I wish lansinoh had a preemie flow because I think the width of it is more similar to a breast than the narrow browns bottle. I think the new wide neck browns bottle that supposedly resembles a breast actually doesnt because it not naturally sloped, do you agree? And I think the pigeon nipples are like lansinoh and they DO have super slow flow, but I’m having trouble finding them!
I agree, it’s super frustrating and Lansinoh and Pigeon are the same company… so if you make a slower flow of the SAME nipple and sell it in other countries why can’t you just sell it in the USA too?
How would you recommend cleaning a bottle – do you favour high temperature sterilising such as a microwave device or a cold water solution?
I recommend following the CDC guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/healthychildcare/infantfeeding/cleansanitize.html
Have you heard of or seen the MAM brand bottles, the original ones. Would that be an acceptable bottle to use based on nipple shape? It also has a “0” flow nipple as an option. Before reading this article I went to the store looking for nipples that kinda anatomically looked like mine and grabbed a “MAM” bottle with a “0” nipple.
Hi, not sure which MAM bottles are the “original” but the ones with the squished nipple are really only used for very tongue tied babies who have no tongue lift.
Do you recommend sticking with the preemie nipple by Dr. Brown or should I buy the newborn one for my 5 weeker?
Always start with Preemie no matter how old baby is. If they collapse the nipple or refuse to eat because it’s too slow, or take longer than 20 minutes to eat ~3 oz, move up to the next speed. Many babies taking breastmilk in bottles use the preemie nipple until they turn 1!
Thank you! I thought the breast colored bottles are the most ridiculous marketing ploy. You are a breath of fresh air! I had low milk supply and I realized how much money I spent on goods that were marketed toward breastfeeding women that are useless.
Do you have a recommendation for a longer, more narrow nipple base bottle that is not Dr Brown? I would really love to avoid cleaning all the components if possible
Hi, I’m pregnant with my second child and my husband and I have kinde bottles that we would like to use this time around so that I can share feedings rather than just me breastfeeding. We have all flows but as far as the nipple shape is concerned what is your opinion in this brand if you have any experience with it? I really enjoyed logistics of this line but I’d like to know your opinion to see if many women have had success using this brand. Thanks!
Hi! I really dislike the kiinde nipple if I’m being completely honest. It’s a odd shape which encourages a narrow latch. But every bottle works for at least one baby out there…
Thank you Rachel for this article. There have been a few recent studies that measured flow rates from various bottle nipples using different methods; they found that the slowest flow nipples are usually not from the brands that are constantly advertising about how breastfeeding friendly they are.
Wonderful blog post! I have very similar opinions and suggestions when I consult with a breastfeeding mama going back to work and introducing a bottle. THANK you for making it into such an easy and comprehensive read!! I will refer people to your posts!
Have you heard of Mason Bottles? We used their nipples and they worked well. I chose them because of their design and that we could use glass mason jars that we already had. I would love to get your opinion of them though!