First Years Breastflow bottle

[nilatti]

My husband has been trying to feed our baby with the First Years Breastflow bottle and he says that there's too much air getting into the nipple. When he makes it perfectly vertical, there's no air, but the flow is too fast and the baby chokes. Can anyone recommend a good position for using this bottle (maybe post a picture?)? I like that the nipple design makes him use the same mouth motions as breastfeeding--that's why we chose it, and why I'd like to stick with it.

[lilith1]

Maybe at an angle that fills the nipple almost, but not all with milk? I remember using them at the beginning in the hospital and it was tricky. I had the opposite problem, too much milk in the outer nipple. You get the hang of it. I would experiment with the angle of the bottle.
It may sound silly, but you checked the nipple size? I don't remember them being fast. Good luck.

[expat-mama]

Hmm...not sure what the problem could be.
You are using the slow flow nipples? We just switched to the medium flow and it is MUCH faster. So if you are using medium try the slow flow- I found whichever way you hold the slow flow there really is no way it can come out too fast.

Anyway, we had no problems holding the bottle at a 30 degree angle. There will be air in the outer nipple part but it won't be near the bottom where the milk comes out, and the bottom will constantly be filled with milk.

[nilatti]

We're using the "stage 1" nipples, and the others that came in our starter kit were stage 2...is there a 0?

[the janet]

I wish I had known about these bottles before my son arrived! We've had to supplement quite a bit the last week or so because of what I assumed was a low supply issue...but looks like might also be a posterior tongue tie issue. We're going to the peds on Tues so we'll confirm.

Anyway, I think we're dealing with a nipple confusion issue, too, b/c I've noticed he's become a very lazy sucker at the breast...which I think is  affecting my supply. I've gone back to work and am pumping, generating about 4 oz total each session.

I bought some Breastflows yesterday and my husband used it this morning. Apparently, he HATED it. He was able to get the milk out but was very irritated about having to work for it.

Any tips on how to encourage him to suck from the Breastflow in a gentle way? I don't want my husband to have to force the bottle into his mouth but we don't know what else to do...and I don't want him to go back to using a conventional bottle.  

Edited to add: My husband just texted me that subsequent feed went well with the Breastflow. Maybe he just needs to get used to it? Hope it helps with nursing!!

[lunarlady]

We love these bottles. I've used them with both my girls and they maintained a great latch in part, I think, because of these bottles. Also, the flow is really slow which helps prevent overfeeding, the bane of the pumping mom!

If the lid is on too tight, they don't work well. (too slow) You want just snug, not super tight so they won't leak tight...if that makes any sense. What home canners call finger tip tight (tightened using only finger tips.). When we use ours we hold it at about 45 degrees so the inner nipple is full. The outer nipple will sort of half fill during feeding. Baby has to have a good latch (big mouthful) or the milk will not flow. When baby gets a good latch, the outer nipple sort of collapses slightly, and baby works for the milk.

Stage 1 is slow flow. The only time I've had fast flow issues was when one of the two nipples was cracked or when I didn't correctly nest the two together when making the bottle. Good luck and hth.