As I mentioned earlier in New Mom TOP 5 Essential Equipment, I had hoped to primarily breastfeed. However, even if this plan had worked out, I would still have needed bottles for feeding the baby my pumped breastmilk. But, onwards and upwards, as they say.
Luckily during the trials and tribulations of the first week, we were saved by the premixed Similac Organic Formula bottles of which we had received earlier at the hospital – baby did not go hungry while we sorted things out!!!
Right now, our favorite bottle is the Nuk. For details on how we got here, see below! You may prefer one of the other brands we tried!
Bottle Registry!
The bottle I put onto my registry was the MAM Feed & Soothe Bottles. Although these looked promising, there were too many bottle parts. And when we went home from the hospital, the bottles frustrated and overwhelmed me.
I thought all I needed to do was pick a bottle and add it to my registry, but I picked wrong. Well, wait. That’s not fair. It’s not that I picked wrong, it’s just that I didn’t pick what I needed because I didn’t know what was out there.
When the baby came, all I wanted was something basic – something like what’s in cartoons.
Ensue Bottle Hunting!
The closest available option was the Phillips Avent Glass Bottle that we were able to get from the nearby grocery store. These seemed promising at first, but we dropped and broke 1 bottle within a day. Then, while the baby was “drinking,” she suddenly became inconsolable and we realized no milk was coming out! We were tapping the tips on our arms to try to get it out and it just failed! Next we tried the Dr. Brown Bottles. But, something wasn’t working with these bottles, and we couldn’t figure out what. The baby was drinking from them, but she was hiccupping and coughing and spewing a lot.
Meanwhile, breast feeding wasn’t working – she couldn’t stay latched! And the Momcozy M5 pump I had selected wasn’t collecting milk correctly – it kept gathering in the flange area and wasn’t going into the container!
Only a few days later we decided we needed help, and asked our Pediatrician what to do. She referred us to a lactation group that was able to rush-fit us into their schedule that Friday.
Lactation Expert to the Rescue!
It was here where we learned that bottle brands have different flow speeds:
The Dr. Brown 4 oz. bottles start off with Level 1, which is often too fast for newborn babies and causes hiccupping, coughing, and spewing. Apparently we needed to use something slower, so we switched to the Preemie nipple. Not because she was a preemie (or premature) baby, but because she needed to drink at a slower speed. However, if the Preemie nipple had been too slow, we could also try the Transition nipple which functions at a speed between the Preemie and Level 1 nipples – only available online.
Nuk Bottles are structured to better imitate a breast. The goal of trying this bottle is that it would decrease nipple confusion, a common side effect of a baby needing to use to bottles right after birth. Like the Dr. Brown Bottle, the Nuk Bottle also has different flow speeds, but we were told to start with (S) or slow flow nipple which comes with the 5 oz. bottles. Once baby is older and becomes frustrated while drinking, we can update to the (M) or medium flow nipple – difficult to find online and/or in-store.
To help with the breastfeeding and pumping, we were given some guidance that I’ll address in other posts.
Bottle Ping-Ponging!
We’ve been going back and forth between the Nuk Bottle, Dr. Brown Bottles, and the Evenflo Bottle because it was similar to the Nuk width and style. Here is the overall comparison:
Nuk Bottles Win – with one exception!
Ultimately, we’ve decided to use the Nuk bottles long term! Why? They check all the boxes above as well as:
- Nipples are silicone, not hard plastic
- Most similar to an actual breast nipple
- Baby likes it better!
The exception for nipples is related to our preferred travel formula: Similac Organic 2 oz pre-made formula bottles which are fantastic for quick feeds out and about, and those bottles use a “Dr. Brown-esque” nipple. We have found that if you choose to keep the ring, you can use different Dr. Brown nipple speeds with those bottles! That way you don’t need to carry around Nuk bottles when you’re not home!
What are your thoughts on bottles?
Did you find as we did that the natural shape of the Nuk was your preference?
Let me know! I’d love to hear more perspectives!
Kiminy Cricket 