Don’t fall for the marketing. When talking about flow, every bottle, just like every breast, has a different flow rate. There is an amazing study by Britt Pados, PhD, RN, NNP-BC (Know the Flow, 2019) who looked at the flow rate of 45 different brands/types/flows of nipples. The take away: Package information does NOT accurately reflect the flow rates of bottle nipples. Every brand has their own labeling system and that system is NOT consistent across brands. Here are some other interesting facts from that research:
🍼The Avent Natural Newborn had the slowest flow, followed by the Enfamil Cross-cut, and the Dr. Brown’s Ultra-Preemie.
🍼 Within certain brands, the same level nipple may still flow differently. Meaning, if you have 4 bottle nipples, each one will flow at completely different speeds.
🍼 The Dr. Brown’s brand has the most consistent flow rates. Tommee Tippee, The First Years Breastflow, Medela Calma, and Enfamil Standard were the other nipples with consistent flow across nipples of the same brand
🍼 Tightening the nipple to the bottle too much can cause a build-up of suction pressure in the bottle making the nipple collapse. This makes it harder for baby to get milk from the bottle. Don’t screw the nipple too tight.
🍼 The fuller the bottle, the faster the flow. When a bottle is more empty, it flows slower
🍼 Sometimes the nipple hole didn’t get cut all the way through in manufacturing and it can actually be sealed shut. If baby appears to be sucking well, but is not transferring milk, make sure the nipple hole is actually open.
My favorite bottles for the breastfed baby are:
⭐️ Dr Brown’s narrow neck Preemie (you can see why I don’t like a level 1, as it’s flowing faster than all the other brands in this video)
⭐️ Evenflo Balance narrow neck
⭐️ Lansinoh
⭐️ Philips Avent Natural (when used right can still promote a deep latch)
For the full course on how to pick the right bottle for your baby, consider taking Latched. Not sure how to pump and breastfeed? My course, Pumped, will empower you to reach your breast AND bottle feeding goals. Both can be found at at [ Ссылка ]
