fast flow nipples

I give my babes 1 to 2 bottle of formula a day, we nurse the rest of the time and they do well with either. I have been (selfishly) thinking of trying to switch to fast flow nipples to speed up those feeds but heard ages ago that you should stick with slow flow if nursing or they may decide a bottle is easier and want only that. What do you all think? I am not ready for them to quit altogether but they take longer on the bottle, I usually only do it if they are freaking out at the same time to eat or the last feed of the night when hubby can help me.

 

well, it's kind of a case of depends-on-the-child. some babies will 100% prefer a fast-flow nipple (or any bottle nipple or pacifier) to the breast, while other babies will switch back & forth no problem. the risk is that there's no way of telling in advance which kind of babies you have. if they were to start rejecting the breast it could mean a lot of work to get them back to nursing, so for me, personally, it wouldn't be worth it. GL with your decision!

 

We did end up switching to fast-flow nipples for my DS (he gets one bottle before bed). He was getting so frustrated with the bottle and spent most of the time crying and thrashing around. Once we switched the nipples he was instantly better and we haven't had a problem since. However, my DS is older when we switched (probably 8-9 months old). I really wasn't really worried about him preferring bottles to the breast at that age. He still prefers the breast.

 

As Rachel said, it does depend on the child. I never went off of slow flow when I was nursing. I am way to paranoid of them not wanting to nurse to try. You can try... but be ready to switch back if they show any signs of bottle preference and you are not ready to stop nursing.

 

Thanks everyone, maybe I'll hold off a bit longer then.

 

I used level 2's when my LO was about 4 mos. I switched back after a month because we had a nursing strike...I had gotten into the habit of letting her have 2-3 bottles of EBM (my other LO wouldn't take a bottle) and she started preferring that. I do feel pretty sure the nipples contributed. I would hold off if possible...IMO. I worked hard to get back to exclusive BFing and she finally came around. Until we weaned a little bit ago she only got the one bottle at night with a level 1 nipple.

 

I don't know at what age I did this... but I didn't buy new nipples... just poked/cut small (very small) holes in the slow flow ones! anyway, for us we only gave them 1 bottle a day, if that. good luck figuring out what will work.

 

We did the same thing. Instead of buying new nipples, I stuck a toothpick in the slow flow nipple hole to enlarge it. It did the trick.

 

My babies are the same age as yours and I am also holding off a faster flow and will just offer sippy cups when they are older and skip faster flow nipples.