Baby Bottles & Teats

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 teats 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 (which is opaque). Your baby will make the choice by finding it easier to drink through one type of teat than another. Teats can also have ways of releasing the air rather than it being swallowed by baby. Nuk teats have a small 'x' on the top, while Avent teats 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. To start with baby will only need a bottle with a very small hole.Your baby will let you know when it is time to change teats. (He/she will start to want more milk, and be able to cope with a larger hole in the teat and a faster milk flow.)

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 prevents him/her from nursing.