How do you know when to change nipples?

My 12 week old preemie has been using Dr Brown bottles with level 1 for about a week. Lately she's been eating really slow, taking about 30-45 minutes and sometimes requiring a rest in the middle. My husband has been driving me crazy, trying to poke more holes in the nipples because he doesn't have the patience to feed her. So today, under much pressure I tried a level 2 nipple. The first time a lot of milk just pooled in her mouth. The second time she choked, her eyes got all watery and she started making throaty noises but she did eat more quickly. How do you know when it's time? Is it based on age, size or how well they feed?

 

I'd say that if she's gagging and choking, it's not time yet. We had our on the avent #1's but then we started thickening feeds because of reflux and had to use the cereal nipples. Well, we're trying to phase out the cereal and tried some regular bottles. All I had were #3's and they were too fast-- gagging and choking just like you described. The number 2s are still right for them.

 

I would give her a couple of more tries with the level 2 nipple. Sometimes they just need a little time to adjust the way they suck to the faster flow. Try holding her a little more upright until she gets the hang of it. There is NO way it should take 30-45 min to drink a bottle. I found that was EXACTLY the time to change nipple levels. That and falling asleep during their feeding.

 

We switched when they started taking forever to finish a bottle. It seemed they would actually slow down and get bored because it was taking too long. The first couple of times, they did gag, because the flow was faster than they were used to, but they usually got it by the 3rd feeding. If they're still choking after that, it's probably too soon.

 

i completel agree with the last post. every time we changed the nipple, it took them a efw days to adjust to the speed of the flow. if it wasn't better within 3-4 feedings, i would move it back. and even in that same feeding, if it seemed like more was coming out then going into the baby, i changed the nipple out. but it should NOT take 45 mins. to finish a bottle!!! i had nursers that took that long- actually an HOUR. ugh. that is so hard to sit there that long. good luck.

 

We changed around 2 months for both babies, my DS couldn't handle it (due to him spitting) so we had to back off and go back to the #1 for a while; until he showed us he was ready for it (he took forever for a feed by that point) and then we went to the #3 maybe around 3 or 4 months, now I can't wait for the sippy cup and independent holding to start. God won't life be easier when they can hold it themselves? We have started using the training handles and are doing okay with it (AVENT ones)

 

we didn't go to #2 nipples until 4 months or so -- since we were bf-ing we didn't want the bottle to become "easier" than the breast.. as is common with new babies.

Teri D