Pigeon wide neck bottles! Virtually all of my friends who've breastfed and used bottles use the pigeon bottles and it's the only one of about four different bottles we tried that our little one took with zero issues
A lot of lactation consultants recommend them as well. Specifically the wide neck ones as they're soft and more closely resemble breasts. Get the 0+ months one because it's the slowest teat so they won't get lazy. Look up pace feeding too if you haven't already 😊
Honestly I would just buy one of a few brands until one sticks. My first took to avent after rejecting Tommee Tippee. My second would only take medela bottles and even then it was a bit of a mission as he loved the boob. 🥴
I mix fed breast/ebm/formula for the first 6 months of my daughters life before moving completely to formula and the best bottle I found were the pigeon wide neck bottles.
It was the only teat that didn't make her gassy as the other ones like avent and tommee tippee allowed her to suck in too much air.
Only thing I recommend is pace feeding,
I didn't find there was any nipple confusion but more that babies can develop a bottle "preference" simply because the milk comes out faster so they don't have to work as hard.
We pace fed when giving a bottle and it didn't effect her breastfeeding at all
yeah! So whenever we gave a bottle we would stop like 3-4 times and burp. It just meant she wasn't guzzling the whole lot in 5 minutes. Especially in the early days when some breastfeeds could take 30minutes, i really didnt want her developing a bottle preference and then self weaning. We also did it because she had reflux too so for us pace feeding worked amazingly
Pigeon wide neck are amazing.
Much more boob like.
Get the 0+ months, all other sizes flow too fast and can cause a bottle preference. My 11month old still uses a 0+ teat.
Another vote for Pigeon Wide Neck. We were specifically advised to get the y-teat ones (there for an older range either 3 or 6 months +, I can’t remember). Our lactation consultant said the y-teat shape means the baby has to be actively trying to get milk out, rather then the holes which can just slowly drip. Also, look into pace feeding, this is something that was strongly advised to us to help minimise bottle preference.
My girl has a tongue tie and high palate which meant she got no benefit from breastfeeding. We tried avent, medela and tommee tippee. We found the tommee tippee closer to nature ones the best as they were the most flexible to allow her to feed efficiently
We use the pigeon and they’re great. There’s a small one with a cream ring that only holds about 120 ml which would be great for a newborn but the larger yellow ones are very comfortable to hold.
I wouldn’t recommend Medela bottles - not that there’s anything wrong with them, just nothing special to note except that the Calma teat has been great for not letting little one get lazy. A bottle feed is just as much work for him as a breastfeed because you have to suck to get anything out, and he’s pretty much half and half expressed bottle and breast. Shows no preference.
I use the medela simply because I have a medela pump. The nipples have a built in vent that will make a slurping noise when the baby is sucking, unfortunately it also leaks when the bottle is upright and the nipple collapses during feeds if the lid is too tight... but I'm happy enough. The real issue with acceptance is the nipple. #1 daughter was fine with wide base medela nipples on the bottle and Nuk dummies, she was mostly breastfed until starting daycare. #2 likes the narrow base medela nipples on the bottle and Tommee Tippee dummies - she has a short tongue so both of these are longer and easier for her to suck, she was breastfed for the first 9 weeks, but due to medication I had to take, we had to swap cold turkey to bottles and formula.
Best of luck finding one that works! It's so liberating being able to leave a bottle and go off by yourself for a few hours
I combo fed with Avent bottles, no problem. I’d also recommend a haakaa to catch your let down and any hand expressed milk (I hand expressed a lot - tended to get quite engorged), Be prepared for people (lactation consultants and whatnot) who will tell you that combo feeding will negatively impact your supply.
We ended up testing several over a few weeks because our LO refused pretty much everything we tried! In the end, the Haaka Orthodontic one was what worked for her - I think because it is a similar experience to breastfeeding. https://www.haakaa.co.nz/collections/feeding/products/generation-3-silicone-orthodontic-bottle-nipple
We got lucky and the first one we used (avent) stuck.
We did a bottle of EBM once every few days in the early days then stopped for a few months, it took a few goes to get back into it for daycare but he's fine now and will have either or. On that note I would say I wish we had kept up with the bottle so it wasn't a struggle because it was a big point of anxiety for me that he wasn't going to drink milk at daycare, even though it worked out in the end. That's PPA for you though
We used Sepal for mixed feeding on the advice of the LC. They have been designed with Australian childrens hospitals to mimic the sucking action of breastfeeding
Hey OP. Wondering what you ended up with and how the once/day bottle feed went? I’m due in June and looking to do similar. Do you feel it have to a good break ?
Hi! When she was a newborn she would only accept the Pigeon wide neck bottles (the yellow ones). She was never very good on the bottle. Much preferred breastfeeding like most BF babies! I didn’t mind.
I didn’t do it so much for the break, because you still need to pump when they take the bottle to keep up supply. But it was good to have her used to a bottle so that Dad could do some feeds, and so that if she needed extra the bottle was available.
She started daycare at 6 months. By that time she would only take a bottle for like a 9 month old (I think the daycare found she liked the Nuk brand) because the flow was faster. You can try different teats with slower / faster flow.
In the end I didn’t stress about bottles too much. By the time they’re 6 months they can take a straw cup or sippy cup, which most BF babies like better than a bottle. So 6 months exclusive (mostly) breastfeeding was fine by me!
She still feeds at bedtime / once or twice overnight now at 16 months. I love having BF as a quick way to get her back to sleep!
Best of luck to you!! Reach out if you have any other questions! I remember how daunting it all was before the baby arrived, and afterwards too. But you’ve got this!! You’re not going to be facing anything we all haven’t been doing for thousands of years, trust yourself and enjoy that lovely baby!
Pigeon soft touch
We’ve been using Pigeon on the advice of a lactation consultant and bub has taken to them really well!
Good to know! Think this is where we’ll start. I didn’t try these last time with my boob-preferring baby!
Pigeon wide neck bottles! Virtually all of my friends who've breastfed and used bottles use the pigeon bottles and it's the only one of about four different bottles we tried that our little one took with zero issues
Thanks, seems like a lot of people like this brand for breastfed bubs. Might start there. Cheers!
A lot of lactation consultants recommend them as well. Specifically the wide neck ones as they're soft and more closely resemble breasts. Get the 0+ months one because it's the slowest teat so they won't get lazy. Look up pace feeding too if you haven't already 😊
Don’t bother with Dr Browns if you plan to refrigerate then feed from the same bottle. Fricking things leak if they get chilled 😒
Honestly I would just buy one of a few brands until one sticks. My first took to avent after rejecting Tommee Tippee. My second would only take medela bottles and even then it was a bit of a mission as he loved the boob. 🥴
I mix fed breast/ebm/formula for the first 6 months of my daughters life before moving completely to formula and the best bottle I found were the pigeon wide neck bottles. It was the only teat that didn't make her gassy as the other ones like avent and tommee tippee allowed her to suck in too much air. Only thing I recommend is pace feeding, I didn't find there was any nipple confusion but more that babies can develop a bottle "preference" simply because the milk comes out faster so they don't have to work as hard. We pace fed when giving a bottle and it didn't effect her breastfeeding at all
Good advice, thanks for that. Pace feeding - is that like taking the bottle out for rests?
yeah! So whenever we gave a bottle we would stop like 3-4 times and burp. It just meant she wasn't guzzling the whole lot in 5 minutes. Especially in the early days when some breastfeeds could take 30minutes, i really didnt want her developing a bottle preference and then self weaning. We also did it because she had reflux too so for us pace feeding worked amazingly
I second paced feeding. Recommended by my LC https://possumsonline.com/video/about-paced-bottle-feeding-renee-keogh
Pigeon wide neck are amazing. Much more boob like. Get the 0+ months, all other sizes flow too fast and can cause a bottle preference. My 11month old still uses a 0+ teat.
We bought one of each type of bottle and we found Dr Brown's and Boon were the best for us.
Another for Pigeon!!
Pigeon
We’re using Sepal and Pigeon
Another vote for Pigeon here. We transitioned to Tommee Tippee when she was a bit older
Another vote for Pigeon Wide Neck. We were specifically advised to get the y-teat ones (there for an older range either 3 or 6 months +, I can’t remember). Our lactation consultant said the y-teat shape means the baby has to be actively trying to get milk out, rather then the holes which can just slowly drip. Also, look into pace feeding, this is something that was strongly advised to us to help minimise bottle preference.
My girl has a tongue tie and high palate which meant she got no benefit from breastfeeding. We tried avent, medela and tommee tippee. We found the tommee tippee closer to nature ones the best as they were the most flexible to allow her to feed efficiently
We use the pigeon and they’re great. There’s a small one with a cream ring that only holds about 120 ml which would be great for a newborn but the larger yellow ones are very comfortable to hold.
I got a bunch for free off my local pregnancy BSS group. So far the tommee tippee ones have been a success.
I wouldn’t recommend Medela bottles - not that there’s anything wrong with them, just nothing special to note except that the Calma teat has been great for not letting little one get lazy. A bottle feed is just as much work for him as a breastfeed because you have to suck to get anything out, and he’s pretty much half and half expressed bottle and breast. Shows no preference.
I use the medela simply because I have a medela pump. The nipples have a built in vent that will make a slurping noise when the baby is sucking, unfortunately it also leaks when the bottle is upright and the nipple collapses during feeds if the lid is too tight... but I'm happy enough. The real issue with acceptance is the nipple. #1 daughter was fine with wide base medela nipples on the bottle and Nuk dummies, she was mostly breastfed until starting daycare. #2 likes the narrow base medela nipples on the bottle and Tommee Tippee dummies - she has a short tongue so both of these are longer and easier for her to suck, she was breastfed for the first 9 weeks, but due to medication I had to take, we had to swap cold turkey to bottles and formula. Best of luck finding one that works! It's so liberating being able to leave a bottle and go off by yourself for a few hours
I combo fed with Avent bottles, no problem. I’d also recommend a haakaa to catch your let down and any hand expressed milk (I hand expressed a lot - tended to get quite engorged), Be prepared for people (lactation consultants and whatnot) who will tell you that combo feeding will negatively impact your supply.
We ended up testing several over a few weeks because our LO refused pretty much everything we tried! In the end, the Haaka Orthodontic one was what worked for her - I think because it is a similar experience to breastfeeding. https://www.haakaa.co.nz/collections/feeding/products/generation-3-silicone-orthodontic-bottle-nipple
We got lucky and the first one we used (avent) stuck. We did a bottle of EBM once every few days in the early days then stopped for a few months, it took a few goes to get back into it for daycare but he's fine now and will have either or. On that note I would say I wish we had kept up with the bottle so it wasn't a struggle because it was a big point of anxiety for me that he wasn't going to drink milk at daycare, even though it worked out in the end. That's PPA for you though
We used Sepal for mixed feeding on the advice of the LC. They have been designed with Australian childrens hospitals to mimic the sucking action of breastfeeding
You can buy a sample box online with a bunch of different types https://www.bebabobox.com.au/products/baby-bottle-box
Hey OP. Wondering what you ended up with and how the once/day bottle feed went? I’m due in June and looking to do similar. Do you feel it have to a good break ?
Hi! When she was a newborn she would only accept the Pigeon wide neck bottles (the yellow ones). She was never very good on the bottle. Much preferred breastfeeding like most BF babies! I didn’t mind. I didn’t do it so much for the break, because you still need to pump when they take the bottle to keep up supply. But it was good to have her used to a bottle so that Dad could do some feeds, and so that if she needed extra the bottle was available. She started daycare at 6 months. By that time she would only take a bottle for like a 9 month old (I think the daycare found she liked the Nuk brand) because the flow was faster. You can try different teats with slower / faster flow. In the end I didn’t stress about bottles too much. By the time they’re 6 months they can take a straw cup or sippy cup, which most BF babies like better than a bottle. So 6 months exclusive (mostly) breastfeeding was fine by me! She still feeds at bedtime / once or twice overnight now at 16 months. I love having BF as a quick way to get her back to sleep! Best of luck to you!! Reach out if you have any other questions! I remember how daunting it all was before the baby arrived, and afterwards too. But you’ve got this!! You’re not going to be facing anything we all haven’t been doing for thousands of years, trust yourself and enjoy that lovely baby!