My nearly 16-week-old daughter is in daycare where she gets bottles of breastmilk. I've been using the Medela bottle system because it's easiest for me; that's what I pump into. But her caregivers have told me that she becomes very gassy after her bottles and that she sucks so hard she collapses the nipple (I'm using the medium flow nipple for 4-12- mo-olds). Yesterday I tried giving her one of my older daughter's old Avent bottles with the size 3 nipple, but they told me she was still really gassy after the bottle. So gassy that she becomes really upset and rigid. (I never observe this because she doesn't get bottles at home, so I'm just going on what they tell me.) Does anyone have any advice for a different bottle or technique to try? I would really like to stick with Medela for practical reasons, but I'm open to experimenting. Thanks.
I used medela bottles at daycare with BM, but we also used Dr Brown's anti-gas bottles. Maybe pick up a bottle as a test to see how it goes.
You can also try Gripe Water, which is very helpful. I needed both the bottle and the gripe water with my gassy girl.
: )
good luck!
I see a lot of people suggested Dr. Brown's - they attach on to the Medela pump parts too.
I am using Born Free glass bottles. She's not gassy at all after her bottle of BM. But my daughter is only 3 weeks old and gets only 1 bottle of Bm a day. De. Browns and playrex dropins usually get rave reviews. There are a couple of newer bottles I noticed by the breastfeeding supplies the other day. They may be worth a look.
Maybe try a lesser flow nipple for newborns? A breastfed baby is used to having to put a bit of energy into it to get the milk out. She might be applying the same strength to the bottle nipple and thus getting her tummy full of air.
Maybe a lesser-flow nipple would be more in line with the effort she's making?
I agree with the suggestion t give her a bottle yourself and observe to see if you can figure out what's going on. Lot os other things might be at play besides the type of bottle/nipple. I used the Playtex drop ins lined with Gerber bags and we didn't have a gas problem. I pumped with my medela pump into medela bottles and then would pour into the bags, it worked well. We did this until she was about 5-6 months old and then tried the Medela bottles with a Gerber latex slow flow nipple, she's still using them and she's just turned two.
Good luck to the little sweetie!
I've used the Dr Brown's from day one of bottle feeding and never had a gas problem. I love the venting system, I think it really made a difference... that said, I didn't try other, non-vented bottles. But at 17 months, she's never had an ear infection either, which I've heard was a big deal with kids and bottles (the negative pressure?)
We bought some on ebay, new, for a better price than in the store but I'm sure you can get them on a sale/with coupons, etc. to off set the price too. I used to handwash the bottles and venting parts, now I just put them all in the dishwasher and my life is easier!
You could also call up a lactation consultant and ask them about the nipple collapsing issue, they might have suggestions for flow or if one nipple is better for a strong/breastfed sucker than another. My babe wasn't a strong sucker at first so the Dr Brown's were fine for her.
Good luck!
Before you go buying all kinds of new bottles (which may work, of course), try giving her a bottle at home (or having someone else do it, like her dad) so you can observe her behavior yourself. It takes much more sucking on the breast to get milk, so bottles should be easier. Perhaps she is sucking so hard at daycare because she is used to the breast? If she's fussy at daycare and taking in more air when she eats, it could contribute to the problem. Are they rushing with her because they have other kids to deal with? Do they use a different position? Just a couple of ideas.
I have used 2 types of bottles. With my daughter I used Dr. Browns and LOVED them. Then when my son was born they hadn't come out with a BPA free version of them yet. (They have them now) so my girlfriend got me a Born Free starter set. I used those with my son and they worked great. Either brand has a special valve system that helps with gasiness. Oh and both of my children were breast milk bottle fed for the first 6 months.
I have a girlfriend who used the playtex drop ins with great success. She breast fed and supplemented.
Good luck!
Playtex bottles with the plastic liners worked best for us. We used them for almost a year and my son never had a problem with them. They worked great and you don't have to worry about a dirty bottle, just leave the bottle and the liners at the daycare and make sure you leave them with clean nipples each day.
My daugther was very gassy as well and the Dr. Brown bottles helped a lot! Also, since she's sucking the bottle so hard that she's collapses the nipple then I would try the next nipple flow available and that might fix the problem entirely.
Good Luck!
M. ;-)
You could try just an old-fashioned nipple. These newer ones that say they are shaped like a breast nipple are not shaped that way. The infant draws the breast nipple out more like the shape of the old bottle nipples.
Tell whoever is giving her the bottle to hold back on it a wee bit.
Breast fed babies suck harder than bottle fed babies and so are inclined to take in a lot of air with the milk.
If the bottle holder pulls back on the bottle then baby will need to work a bit harder to get the milk and is less likely to take in air.
Couple other things that may help. One is to hold her more in a sitting position ( they ARE holding her to feed her, yes?) The other is to feed slowly and burp her one or two times during the feeding.
Best wishes and God bless
Grandmother Lowell
Dr. Brown's bottles are supposed to be good. maybe it has nothing to do w/ the nipple flow and is the nipple itself. My youngest would only take a bottle called breastflow or something like that it had a nipple inside a nipple and was supposed to mimick nursing. Maybe its the way they are preparing I know that milk seperates so you have to shake it some that could be the cause of the gas maybe ask if they can stir it when they get a bottle ready for her.
I've heard that people have good luck with the drop-ins because they compress as the baby sucks and then there isn't as much air.
Did you also pump for your older daughter? If so, then this likely isn't the case, but I know that I had too much lipase in my milk and it "soured" about 12 hours after pumping. It wasn't bad for the kids to drink, but it tasted kind of soapy and gave them a little bellyache. I wasn't able to store milk really for longer than a day. Some women find that their milk goes right away (an hour or two) and others never have this problem. Again, if it wasn't a problem for your older one, it shouldn't be now, but if this is your first time pumping, try tasting a tiny bit of milk about a day after you pump it. If it tastes soapy you probably have an excess of lipase. Apparently you can scald the milk to prevent this from happening, but I just gave my kids formula at daycare and nursed at home. Good luck!
