What's a flow rate?
If you didn't know that baby bottle nipples come in different flow rates, or you just found out as an adult, don't feel bad. I have a friend who did not know until her son was almost two years old!
Every bottle brand has their own scheme of nipples with different flow rates, and they're all associated with a certain age that flow rate is directed towards. Typically the flow rate begins slow when a baby is a preemie or newborn, and then it gets faster as the baby gets older! This in mind, remember that development in each area and skill changes in each baby at different rates. Just because a nipple is advertised as 3m+ does not mean your baby needs to switch to it right when they hit 3 months, or 4, and it doesn't mean they can't be ready for it at 10 weeks either! There are different things to look for in their eating to determine whether they are at the "right" flow rate for them, and when the flow rate might need to be changed.
Too Fast or Too Slow?
When we first started with bottles at home, we tried a few different ones; the Lansinoh NaturalWave slow-flow (2S), the Medela Slow Flow, the Philips Avent Natural Response size 1, and the Dr. Browns Anti-Colic size 1. The only one she could actually get milk out of was the Lansinoh. The Medela, Philips, and Dr. Brown's were all too slow, not allowing any milk out. We tried going up to the next faster one for each of them (except the Lansinoh), and she was still not able to get milk out. It was not until the third level for each one that she was even able to get milk out of the bottle, and at that point she was wearing most of it by the end of each feed.
I ended up deciding that the Lansinoh bottles were the ones we were going to stick with, since I liked the nipple shape and bottle size, and these were the nipples she was most comfortable with. We stuck with these until about 4 weeks, but I was not happy with her chugging down 4 ounces of breastmilk in under 10 minutes and immediately demanding more food.
After some research, I found that a baby should be spending more than 15 minutes with a bottle, taking their time with it. The pediatrician agreed that under 10 minutes was quite fast at her 4-week appointment, and let me know that as long as she's not choking or coughing and that most of the milk is staying down, not to worry about how quickly she's eating. Well, it was then that I decided I was a little done with her spitting up 1/4-1/2 of an ounce after every feed, so off I went to see if Lansinoh had a slower nipple.
That's when I discovered that the 2S is their slowest, and I saw many reviews that it's not slow enough. This is when I first saw the recommendation to do "paced feeding," which worked for us but was difficult to teach to family who were used to helping out with feedings often. More on paced feeding below.
Anyhow (I'm getting quite distracted), I ended up finding out that Pigeon makes a Super Slow Flow (SS) nipple which works with the Lansinoh bottles. I ordered a pack from Amazon and was thoroughly pleased! They are slow enough to keep her from leaking out the corners of her mouth, but allow for a natural latch which closely resembles her breastfeeding latch.
There is overlap between many of the bottle/nipple brands, so don't be afraid to mix and match within the different families.
Comments