Anyone with a Prem with a weak sucking reflex? Bottle recommendations?

Andrea - posted on 01/27/2010

My daughter didn't take the breast and we tried diffrent types of bottles... I really wanted to us the nuk bottles but she wouldn't have anything to do with it... so her dr told us to try Avent, they are somewhat shaped like a breast nipples. She did really well with them and it even cut down on her reflux as well. She would also take Dr Brown bottles but didn't like that the nipple was so small

Nicole - posted on 01/27/2010

Our lactation consultant/occupational therapist had us do exercises with the bottles to get our girl sucking more strongly. It really helped her! I would recommend seeing an occupational therapist who specializes in nursing /sucking issues. We found ours at the children's hospital. And we were never able to breastfeed due to her weak suck. . .it was just too hard for her! Also, a nipple with a faster flow WILL NOT help. Does a woman's breast change the size of it's "holes" as baby gets older? NO! Think on that maybe.

Lauretta - posted on 01/27/2010

My son was born at 29 weeks and he was in the NICU for a month. He had a feeding tube for most of that time, then drank out of the tiny bottles from the hospital. I used a breast pump and he was able to use Avent bottles at @3 months with no problem.

Courtney - posted on 01/17/2010

Hi Caroline, my name is Courtney and I have twin girls born at 31 weeks as well. They were tube fed for about 2 weeks and it took an additional 1-2 weeks for them to be able to tolerate taking 8 bottles/day due to them using too much energy. Unfortunately by that time I had issues and had to give up trying to pump by breast milk and therefore never really got to try breast feeding with them. Not sure if you have the resources, but we had an occupational therapist working with the girls while in the hospital to teach them and us (on hand placement) to promote the whole suck, swallow, breathe sequence. A speech therapist would be the best to help with this type of problem. After hospital bottles, I used the Dr. Brown's. I really liked them for being "the right fit" for the premie mouth, but there are a lot of parts to clean. As for getting a faster flowing nipple as someone else suggested, it doesn't make them try to such and therefore they wont learn how to do it. It also causes them to choke more if they can't swallow that much at one time. Also allowing them to suck on a pacifier will help promote the sucking part, but not combining with the swallow & breathe part. I hope this helps!

Heather - posted on 01/14/2010

If she has a high arch that is causing the poor suck we had to use a nipple that looks like a nuk pacifier. If that doesn't work also try the playtex bottles (the ones that are bent). My son has a hard time sucking and eventually had to have a feeding tube put in, but when we do try with a bottle it's always one of those. I hope this helps. Good Luck

Christi - posted on 01/14/2010

My preemie was 33 weeks. I didn't get to breastfeed, but we ended up staying on the hospital bottles because that's what she did well on. Our hospital used the Similac Disposable Nipples that work well with any standard size bottle. They say they're disposable, but our nurse suggested to just sterilize them like any other. I wasn't ever able to find these nipples in the stores, but you can ask your pediatrician as they get them for free from distribitors. You can also get them from e-bay. I acutally used them for her and then ordered a ton more with our twins, all have done really well with them. Good luck!

Caroline - posted on 01/14/2010

Cheers - all very helpful! Looked for NUK and could not find here and I'm in a hurry cose we are going camping!??? So I got a Dr Brown and a Pidgeon and an evenflow so i'll see what works best and donate the losers to the SCBU. Thanks everyone!

Kidada - posted on 01/13/2010

Hi. I had that issue with my daughter. Try Playtex Drop ins with the orthodontic nipple --http://www.playtexbaby.com/Products/Prod... It resembles the breast. My daughter's milk had to be supplemented and she was tube fed for a few months, so this was a good transition. Her very first bottle was a haberman feeder. That was so she wouldn't swallow the milk to fast and she had a high palate. I hope this helps!

Melissa - posted on 01/13/2010

We love the Dr. Brown bottles... my son took to them right away and did better on them than on the ones the hospital uses. We even asked to hospital to use our bottles because he did so much better on them. They are kinda a hassle when it comes to washing them since they have so many parts, but I wouldn't use anything else now. At the hospital they were concerned that he wasn't going to take to bottles easily but he likes the Dr. Browns. Good Luck!!

Alison - posted on 01/13/2010

My son didn't have a lot of success with breastfeeding because he couldn't suck hard enough but he really loved his soothie in the hospital so he now has soothie bottles. They work really well.

Rebecca - posted on 01/13/2010

Caroline,
my daughter was a 31 week born baby too and she used to get very tired trying to breastfeed. in the nursery i gave her breastmilk in a bottle, i insisted because breastfeeding just wasnt working as she was too weak. when we got home i did both. I used the PIDGEON bottles. NOT the wide neck ones, the STANDARD size teats. The nursery recommended them too. i think wide neck bottles are no good for premmies with littles mouths. The Pidgeon bottles were excellent and not too expensive.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FROM A MUM OF A PREMMIE!

Michelle - posted on 01/12/2010

I love the Dr. Brown's bottles. My daughter doesn't have near as much gas as she used to. I don't really even have to burp her with that bottle and the nipple would probably be perfect for a baby having problems with sucking. It's the only bottle I will use, you should try it. Good luck!

Lindsay - posted on 01/11/2010

My daughter was unable to breastfeed at all, her sucking just wasn't strong enough...so I pumped all her milk. We used the preemie nipples from the hospital in regular bottles for a while, then bought faster flowing nipples after that.

Cari - posted on 01/11/2010

I like the Playtex VentAire bottle system. It helps with gas.

Caroline - posted on 01/10/2010

Thank you all for advice, nice to know others have had to work it all out too. Will have a look at bottles and see what I can get in New Zealand. Has anyone heard of Dr. Brown bottles?
Hannah - do you think ive left the sole breastfeeding too late? Ive tried alot but I nearly lost my milk a month ago so got a little shy

HANNAH - posted on 01/10/2010

Nuk was the only ones we could use at the beginning. We took one of our twins (32 weeker) home with them since she couldnt suck other ones. It took her to 14 weeks to be able to breastfeed only. We were able to switch to the avent bottles after a little bit. (I think just a few weeks) For my daughter it was a combo of week suck and high palate so giving breaks during feedings, pointing the tip to the roof of her mouth and holding her checks (to make a fish face, this helps make a seal and is one less thing for them to do) all helped. Good Luck!!!

Nav - posted on 01/10/2010

The nuk teats were advised to me when I had this issue. Hang in there though I hope you manage to suceed.

Stephanie - posted on 01/10/2010

maybe you could try a faster flowing nipple my son uses the medela niples with even flow bottles the nipple if you get the skinny ones fits in his mouth almost the whole thing and he uses a fast flow it has really helped he can't seem to get anything out of a newborn nipple or even a medium flow let me know if I can help you out any more feel free to message me! oh and I hate the playtex dropins he couldn't get anything out of thoes no matter what flow I used