Baby Bottles & Teats
Baby bottles come in a large range of sizes, colours and shapes. When choosing bottles you need to look for ease of filling, cleaning, and clear markings on the side. Although bottles may look alike some bottles stop baby swallowing too much air. Avent have a skirt to allow the air to escape while the Dr Brown's have a small tube inside, Mam have holes in the bottom, all these systems will help reduce the amount of air swallowed.
Bottle Teats
Teats are either made from latex a brown or cream colour or from silicone these are opaque, your baby will make the choice. Teats also can have ways of releasing the air rather than it being swallowed by baby, Nuk have a small x on the top of the teat, Avent allows air to escape by means of the skirt. Teats come with different amounts of holes and different sized holes, so you can regulate how quickly baby takes the feed. Your baby will let you know when it is time to change teats.
Specialist Feeding Nipples
The Medela Haberman feeder and Softcup are both bottles, but the way baby gets the milk is quite different. Instead of a teat (that could confuse a breast fed baby) the Haberman has a long nipple that baby squeezes rather than sucks. The Softcup allows baby to lap from a spoon shaped reservoir. Either of these can be used if baby has facial or oral problems that prevent them from nursing.
