My boy-girl twins are now 9 weeks old and we are looking toward replacing the slow flow nipples we have been using. I am not sure they are ready for a faster flow (how DO you know when they are ready?) but want to order them before we actually need them. We are needing to buy new nipples for our Born Free bottles and was wondering if anyone had tried the variable flow nipples.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. I am going to order the new nipples and try them in a few weeks.
The variable flow nipples are sort of pain to deal with because you have to look carefully at the nipple each time it goes in your babies mouth and line it up accordingly. My little boy used the Flow 2 nipples until well after he turned 1 years old and I only bought the Flow 3 nipples because I felt terrible that he was still using the Flow 2's. Did you know that Babies R Us carries the Born Free brand now? Good luck. S.
as far as knowing when to switch to a faster flow, i usually went by the guide on the nipple package that says what age it's for, unless my baby indicated that he was ready for faster-- sucking hard on the bottle, taking much longer to finish, getting frustrated. occasionally i would switch to faster just because of his age and he would keep spilling a lot of the milk. i figured that was indication that he couldn't handle the speed yet and went back to the slower for a week or more.
I use born free as well and my 5 month old is using the #2 nipples currently. I agree with the others though that you will see signs that your baby is ready to move up, or not. If she seems to suck really hard and get frustrated I would move up. My daughter is sucking the #2 so hard that it starts to invert so I am also headed out to get more nipples soon. I am also curious about the variable flow ones and will probably get a couple to try. However, my son who is now 2 never really went throught the higher nipples. He was always fine with it coming out slow. Go figure. You will notice if you get new ones that flow faster that your baby may spit more milk out and not be able to swallow it fast enough. I would hold off for a while if that happens. Good luck.
My daughter is 18 months old and still likes her milk from a bottle (everything else is cups or a Sigg all the way!)
Anyway, that aside, she has never switched from a "slow flow" nipple and does just fine. So I wouldn't fret too much... I've always had the nagging suspicion that the flow rate is sort of a way to get you out to buy more nipples :)
I would wait and see if they get frustrated with their current nipples and if/when that time comes, change them then. As you can tell, that never happened for us!
Hi T.,
I have never tried born free but we used the vent airs and my daughter didn't make it to stage 2 nipples until she was about 10 or 11 months old. I hope this helps and gl.
