Choosing the Right Bottle

Having experience as a certified lactation counselor, there are a lot of things I look for and take into consideration when I watch a baby feed. I have come to love and hate many of the products marketed to new parents. In general, whether you are feeding from the breast or a bottle, we want to create a deep latch with a good seal to prevent air intake. Babies who take in a lot of air while feeding are more likely to suffer discomfort from gas, reflux, and tummy issues.

One of the most important things I look for when bottle feeding, is nipple shape. We want long, elongated, and gradually sloped nipples. These will allow baby to relax their lips in a wide flanged position, reducing leaking and air intake. Bottles that are abrupt, bulbous, or odd shaped, are not ideal for a proper latch. If you are breast and bottle feeding, you’ll especially want to avoid these nipples: Nuk, Comotomo, TommeeTippee, and the older bulbous Spectra nipples. A general rule of thumb I tell my clients is that after breastfeeding, the nipple should be cylinder shape. Football or lipstick shaped nipples usually indicate a shallow latch, so we don’t want our bottle nipples to be in those shapes either.

An IBCLC can be a great resource for breast and bottle feeding questions.