Bottle feeding Expressed Brest Milk (EBM) - more complex that we thought...

We had no idea when we bought our supply of traditional glass bottles that bottle choice was so complicated and there were issues such as; there really is no such thing as interchangeable nipples for baby bottles.  From the admittedly limited reading I had done of bottle feeding EBM the biggest challenge sounded like it would be getting your baby to take the bottle at all.

It was apparent the first time we bottle fed William the bigger issue was how fast he could finish a bottle.  Being a healthy breastfed baby makes him a VERY strong nurser and the slow flow nipples on the glass evenflo bottles were no match for him.  He drank 4oz in about 4 minutes the first time which was much to fast to for him to realize how full he was and he got very upset when there wasn't more milk in the bottle.

First we tried to find other nipple for the glass bottles and that was when we learned just how complicated bottles have become, there is almost no interchangeability between bottle companies, and often none between product lines of the same company.  There were other companies making glass bottles with different nipples, but we knew we might have to give up the idea of glass for a bottle that he could eat slowly and calmly from.

After talking to other moms we tried Advent, Dr. Browns, and Breastflow bottles, and it was the very weird large double nipple of the breastflow bottles that was a winner in the end.  Of course there is no glass option for these bottles but at least they claim to be BPA free.

Jim's been practicing with these bottles in preparation for me returning to work next week.  He's getting rather good at calming tricks and he found a clever little way to bottle feed when William is upset.  Jim mimics side-lying breastfeeding in bed by laying down with William on his side and offering him a bottle that way.  I thought it was a very clever adaptation.