Choosing Bottles for Your Breastfed Baby

Deciding on the right time to introduce a bottle to your breastfed baby is not only a tricky situation, but also sometimes a scary situation.

Will my baby prefer the bottle over me?

Will my baby never latch on to me again?

Will my baby like this particular bottle?

What if my baby never takes a bottle?

These are just a few of the questions that you might have when you decide it’s time to attempt to give baby a bottle of expressed breast milk. Choosing bottles for your breastfed baby is actually a tad bit harder than it sounds. But it is doable! Here are some basic tips.

You Don’t Need A Lot of Bottles At First

While registering for your new sweet baby, there’s a good chance you’ve gone “click happy” and registered up a storm for a ton of things. However, if you’re dead set on breastfeeding for quite some time, then you may want to reconsider your bottle choices that you have on your registry.

First off, the best thing to do is register for a small number of bottles as there’s a chance that:

You’re baby won’t like that particular one.
Your baby will never want a bottle.
You’ll enjoy nursing so much that you’ll rarely ever use bottles.

Choose a Breastfeeding Friendly Bottle

Many of the popular bottle brands make breastfeeding friendly bottles. They are a great choice to help a nursing baby transition back and forth from bottle to breast.

Some of the popular brands that you can find this option with is:

There are many, many brands to read about and look into when choosing bottles for your breastfed baby.

Characteristics of a Good Bottle for Your Breastfed Baby

A breastfeeding friendly bottle usually consists of a slow flow nipple and a nipple that is shaped very similar to a mother’s natural nipple. This slow flow nipple is important as most mother’s have a slow flow of milk that comes out, therefore using a regular bottle with a regular or fast flow, can result in nipple confusion for your breastfed baby.

A baby can easily prefer the flow of a faster nipple and become frustrated with mother’s slow flow, so make sure your bottles have the right nipples for your little one. This helps to keep your nursing relationship healthy and thriving!

There are also different sizes of nipples. They generally grow with your baby as your baby grows and learns to more quickly express your milk. As they become more efficient at nursing, they can generally handle a slightly faster flow.

Also, you’ll want to consider that some bottles are better at preventing gas and colic and some are just downright more convenient for you. Put your baby’s needs first as a breastfeeding baby, but consider the type of bottle that you may prefer (in terms of parts, washing, traveling, etc…).

Have Patience

It can take many first attempts and several different brands of bottles before you find one that your baby will take. Sometimes, mothers will get lucky and have the perfect bottle for their baby’s first bottle attempt. However, that is not always the case.

Give your bottle a few tries over a few days and then try a new brand (breastfeeding friendly of course) a few days later. Make sure not to overdo the attempts as you don’t want to frustrate your little one. It can take quite awhile for a baby to get used to a bottle. Additionally, there are some general steps to follow when introducing a nursing baby to a bottle. Make sure to check out my post, Bottle Feeding Breast Milk to Baby.

It takes time, patience, and love to decide on when and how to introduce a bottle to your baby. Choosing bottles for your breastfed baby can be a task, or it can be a piece of cake. Just remember, go for the breastfeeding friendly ones and give it time!