As a baby’s feeding develops and they are taking a longer time feeding from a Level 1 teat, many parents choose to move up to a Level 2 teat. Kellymom (2020) How to bottle feed the breastfed baby. Available at https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/ [Accessed 6 December 2021] Slow flow is generally preferable for newborns, while you’re both learning how to feed. If the flow rate is too fast it makes paced feeding more difficult. In which case babies would have very little control over how they feed: milk would flow into their mouth faster than they can swallow it. This might make your baby cough or splutter, or struggle to keep up with the flow of milk so it dribbles to the side of their mouth. This could also mean they feel upset, get indigestion and bring up lots of milk.

Just to showcase how much flow rate varies by manufacturer, here is a guide to some of the bigger brands teat flows. As a baby’s feeding develops and they are taking a longer time feeding from a Level 3 teat, many parents choose to move up to a Level 4 teat. If they can't control the rate of feeding, they are more likely to over-feed. Non-responsive feeding has been associated with discomfort and fussiness in the short term (NHS 2021) and linked to obesity in the longer term (Hurley, 2011; Watchmaker 2020).

You'll need several bottles, teats and a bottle brush, as well as sterilising equipment, such as a cold-water steriliser, microwave or steam steriliser. These bottles are shorter and fatter than the basic ones but you can put the same amount of milk in them. They usually come with silicone rather than latex teats and have a self-sealing lid. If you are mixed feeding (feeding from both bottle and breast) it may help to choose a teat that will encourage your baby to open their mouth wide and take in the whole teat rather than just the tip. Those with a medium wide base and a short to medium nipple length encourage babies to open their mouth wide and cup their tongue around the teat (Pearson-Glaze 2019, Bahr 2010). This article describes it well. When should I change bottle teat size? If you’re unsure if they’re ready, rest assured there’s no exact science to when it’s time to change up the flow rate on your baby’s bottle.

If the hole in a baby bottle teat is too large and the flow rate is too fast for your baby, then it is possible for excess air to flow through with the milk and increase the likelihood of reflux. How long do teats last?Herman (2021) How you offer a bottle can be more important than what’s inside, Available at https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/breastfeeding/paced-bottle-feeding/ [Accessed 6 December 2021] NHS (2021) Bottle feeding Advice. Available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/advice/ [Accessed 6 December 2021]

Never leave your baby alone to feed with a propped-up bottle and never leave them alone in bed with a bottle. They may choke on the milk. Keep the bottle horizontalsklearn.model_selection.train_test_split ¶ sklearn.model_selection. train_test_split ( * arrays, test_size = None, train_size = None, random_state = None, shuffle = True, stratify = None ) [source] ¶ Pearson-Glaze (2019) Best bottle for a breastfed baby, Available at https://breastfeeding.support/best-bottle-breastfed-baby/ [Accessed 4 December 2021] As a baby’s feeding develops and they are taking a longer time feeding from a Level 2 teat, many parents choose to move up to a Level 3 teat. Do not add extra formula powder. Using too much can make your baby constipated and may cause dehydration. If your baby is struggling with their feeds – spluttering, choking coughing – or on the other side of the spectrum becoming agitated and fussy while eating, it could be time to change teats.