What flow/size nipple for 4 month old breast fed baby?

[motito]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what size nipple/flow, I should be using for my 4 month old daughter.

She has very sporadically taken a bottle from Daddy....but for the last couple of weeks, flat out refuses.  I have tried every bottle on the market....and the only one she will use occassionally is the nuk ortho.  I have been giving her only the slowest teat flow, as I am almost exclusively breastfeeding and plan on continuing with the occassional bottle from daddy or me at night, or when I am out.

I was wondering if I should try a faster flow for her?  I have really strong let down, so maybe the slow flow is too slow and she is getting mad? 

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!!

[* Paula *]

They do say that you should stick to a slow flow teat if you are breast feeding, but if you say you have a stong let down it might be worth trying a faster flow nipple.

You can only try, and if she does not like it you can always go back to the slower flow teat.

HTH's.  Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Paula

[zed]

I too had a very fast let down.  I found that both of my boys couldn't handle a #2 nipple until long after the six months mark.  When I tried the #2 nipple they would coke and a lot of milk dribbled out of their mouths.  When this happened (especially the choking) they would get really mad and refuse to take the bottle. 

Because of all of this I rarely ever used a bottle with my boys and around six months of age found that I it was easier to go with a sippy and sometimes I helped them drink out of a normal glass.  Especially with my second boy.  I actually had to teach him to take a bottle by starting with a glass, then a sippy w/o a valve, then with a valve, and finally he was open to trying the bottle. 

You are probably wondering why I wanted him to take a bottle if I he wasn't interested.  Well, that was out of convenience for me.  It was easiest for him to drink a bottle in the car.

[motito]

thanks for the help....I ended up buying the #2 nipple (for 6months and over), and she TOOK 3 OZ!!!  My DH gave it to her after I breastfed her both breasts, so it did not interfere with BF.

She did NOT choke and nothing spilled out.  She did fall asleep right after though....something she has NOT done after eating.....I am thinking she needed it!!!

She took a cat nap and then I gave her bath, songs, BF again and bed. 

[zed]

glad to hear that it went well for you.

[*Mona*]

that's great
I think you could also try a variflow [sp?] teat [like avent one] but mybe not just yet if your LO is happy with no2 teat now

[* Paula *]

That is great news

[CharlotteandCharlie]

Dd2 was breastfed with the occassional bottle of formula until six months.  Around her 7 month date I decided to switch to a faster flow nipple ... mostly because it took her 5 mins to drink a bottle rather than 20.   After about a week of no problems she began to projectile vomit her entire bottle right after a feeding. 

With some help from Kimberly I switched her nipple back to slow and the type of bottle I gave her.  She is now 8 months and takes maybe 8 mins to drink her bottle and the vomiting has disappeared.

I don't know if it was an extra long stomach bug or the fast flow nipple but I wanted to put it out there that my 8 month old does super good on a slow flow and I would have considered my let down to be heavy.

HTH