My sister-in-law just had her first baby. When she goes back to work I'm going to be taking care of him. She's breastfeeding now, and will start pumping when she goes back to work in about two months. I only breastfed my kids, so when she asked me what bottle she should use I was no help. What bottle is the most like the breast?
Thank you for all of your help! I will tell my sister-in-law what you all had to say and let her take it from there.
The avent bottle is most like the breast, but that doesn't mean she will take it. The avent bottle has different flow nipples that make it more like the breast.
We have found that Adiri and Breastflow bottles have been the best! I really like the Adiri ones because they are very simple to use, but both of these types are wonderful when it comes to being like the breast. Good luck!
It's usually easiest to introduce a daily bottle at 3-6 weeks. Baby is most likely to take it at this time without interfering with breast feeding. As far as which brand, as long as breast feeding is established well with no lingering problems, it doesn't really matter too much. Wide mouth bottles (like Born Free) may be most similar to the breast but really, all bottle sucking is much different than breast feeding.
We liked the avent and gerber wide mouth bottles best. They don't leak and are short and stubby so easy for baby to hold when they get older :)
The bottle most like the breast is the Adiri Natural Nurser.
Not the easiest bottle to use though, and also not the cheapest. With traditional bottles, it is more a process of trial and error to see which one baby prefers.
I really liked the Avent brand for my kids.
I had good luck using both avent bottles and "BORN FREE" bottles. My baby has gone back and forth between breast feeding and using these bottles with ease, while other "orthodontic" shaped nipples seemed to confuse her when we tried them. Definitely get your sister to have someone give the baby a bottle as soon as breastfeeding is going smoothly for her. I think its best to introduce a bottle as soon as possible after the first couple of weeks of nursing. Also, another important factor is the size of the hole in the nipple. As long as your sister is still breastfeeding it is important to continue using the size 1 nipples (or the ones designed for a "newborn") If you use nipples with a larger hole than this, the baby may grow to prefer the bottle to the breast as it delivers milk faster and with less sucking.
I babysat for a woman who had this bottle called an "Adiri" and I suspect they are pricey but they are sure cool! The nice thing about this bottle is that even if the baby won't "take" the bottle and suck on it, you can still offer little squirts of milk by squeezing the soft area below the nipple. Congratulations on being a new auntie!
I think the Breastflow, by The First Years, is the best. It's the one my MW recommended as well.
Playtex bottles are the best. They are made to empty like the breast, and are a good transition. This is all I used. You do have to buy inserts for the bottles, but they work great! Playtex are the bottles Kindercare Learning Centers recommend and use as well.
NUK nippkes best resemble the breast.
I breastfeed and pump occasionally - we use DR. Browns and both my children were fine with them...I would recommend that someone give the baby a bottle sooner rather than later though - I think that it will be hard on you, her, and the baby if she doesn't start bottles before returning to work.
The Greber NUK...they are great!
I would recommend smoothie bottles. The shape of the nipple is great. It releases any built up air from the bottle as baby drinks. The shape of the bottle is kind of indented in the middle like an hour glass so you can get a good grip, & it's easy for baby's little hand to grip when ready. I don't think alot of people know what they are because they just look past them at the store but they worked GREAT! Same brand as the pacifiers the hospitals give you. One thing you have to remember just because us mother's think these bottles are the BEST, doesn't mean your sister's little one will like ANY of them. :) Good luck!
We really liked the playtex ventair wide (which are now BPA free). I felt like they didn't make our daughter any more gassy than breastfeeding but weren't a big deal to clean. Dr. Brown's and Born Free tend to be rated really well also.
I don't have any recommendations for a bottle most like the breast, however, in my experience the best bottles out there are the Dr. Browns..... They're certainly not the cheapest, but nor are they the most expensive. They also come in BPA free plastic, as well as glass (the glass bottles are very heavy though). My son and I went through sooooooo many different bottles before I finally tried the Dr. Browns... I steared clear of them for a while because of the price, but we went through so much hell trying bottle after bottle, and wasted a lot of money.
Good luck!
~L
Wow, you have a lot of different recommendations to choose from. I used Evenflo glass bottles (available at St. Vincent Hospital, Segal's for Children & I believe Babies R Us). The Evenflo glass bottles can be used with the Medela Breast Pump. For the nipple I used the Gerber NUK Orthodontic nipples (available at Segal's for Children), they claim to be the most like the breast. From our personal experience our son had absolutely NO issues going from the breast to the bottle as needed. Good luck and congrats to your sister-in-law!
I can't speak to the similarity to the breast, but I strongly encourage your sister-in-law to seek out BPA-free bottle. Here's one site where you can investigate those options: http://babyproducts.about.com/od/feedingdrinks/tp/BPA_fre...
A NEW report just published in Science News reveals that in addition to the previously recognized risks of BPA (bisphenol A), it is now known to contribute to episodes of irregular heartbeat (especially in females, because the effect is stronger when estrogen is present). There's one more good reason for all of us not to expose ourselves to BPA in water bottles or other sources.
Previously, BPA was shown to cause reproductive irregularities in boys and girls, and was thought to cause brain and behavioral changes. It's also suspected of causing reproductive and other problems in fish and wildlife "downstream" from human industry and waste disposal.
As of just a few months ago, several major producers of baby bottles voluntarily stopped producing plastic bottles with BPA, but it is still in some brands and in many sports water bottles and many brands of bottled water. It's also in many food containers, including baby foods. WebMD discusses this at http://children.webmd.com/news/20090306/baby-bottle-maker...
When I was weaning my son I used Platex disposable and he seemed to handle the change very well. Plus it's easy to clean them.Hope this helps,Good luck, M. S,
