A full baby is a happy baby!
(read on)
Since Noah was born I have become quite the expert on baby bottles. In fact, I have no shame in admitting that I know way more than a man should know bottles. 🙂
I know the difference between slow-flow and fast flow; I know that some bottles have BPA in them (although I’m not really sure what BPA is, other than that it’s bad for you!) I know that some baby bottle nipples are naturally shaped (meaning they are shaped like a woman’s breast) so that a baby can latch on to them more easily. U know there are traditional shaped nipples, vented shaped nipples, multi flow nipples, slotted multi flow nipples, and even adjustable nipples! There are orthodontic nipples, elongated nipples, bell shaped nipples, latex nipples, and silicone nipples (Wow, that’s a lot of nipples!)
Sure, I may know way more than any man should know about baby bottles, but it’s all good. There’s no shame in my baby bottle game. But you’re probably wondering why (or how) I’ve become such an expert on baby bottles. Let me explain.
Although some children born with Down syndrome aren’t able to breast feed, we were fortunate in that Noah could. However, when it was time for him to start using a bottle we had a hard time finding one that worked well for him. One of the characteristics of Down syndrome is hypotonia (low muscle tone) which can make it hard for children with Down syndrome to use a bottle (and breast feed.)
In addition to his low muscle tone, we also had some fear that he has aspirating while drinking from his bottle and had to have a barium swallow study preformed on him to rule it out (if you’ve never seen a swallow study before, you can watch a short video of Noah’s here.) It turns out he wasn’t aspirating at all, rather he was just drinking way to fast. In other words, we needed to slow this cowboy down!
So here we were on a mission to find the best bottle for our son with Down syndrome. I almost wore my fingers out searching google for the best bottles for children with Down syndrome. Then I thought we were going to have to take out a second mortgage on our new house just so we could buy (and try out) all of these different baby bottles.
Seriously, if you came over to our house you’d think we were baby bottle testers considering how many different bottles we have stocked piled in our cabinet. To be honest it was sort of frustrating trying to find a bottle that worked well with our son.
We would buy one and milk would spill all over him (and us) when he drank from it. We’d buy another and he’d almost pass out trying to drink from of it due to how hard he had to suck to get anything out of it. We’d get another and he’d made all sorts of scary gasping / choking sounds (hence the reason we did the sallow study.) All I wanted to do was find a bottle that worked well for my son, and allowed him to eat comfortably, but it seemed like such a challenge. I wondered if other parents had such a hard time finding a bottle that worked well.
After much trail and error we finally found a few great bottles that seemed to really due to the trick.
I personally think all the bottle reviews you’ll find out there are irrelevant. Every baby is unique and has different feeding needs. We were using using a speech / feeding therapist with Noah and would bring Noah’s bottle in with us to his speech therapy appointments so she could watch him drink from it and give us feedback on how that particular bottle was working for him.
If it wasn’t working out, we would try a different one the next time. We repeated this process until we found one that worked best. In addition, Noah’s speech therapist had us use a Z-Vibe to perform the Beckman Oral Motor exercises on him, which helped him to gain additional muscle tone in his mouth, therefore helping him drink from his bottle (and breastfeed) better.
I’ll mention the three bottles that worked best for our son (and a bonus 4th bottle), but treat this list (and all the bottle reviews online) with a grain of salt. They provide a good starting point, but you’ll want to work with your child’s speech therapist and/or pediatrician in order to find the best bottle for your child.
I’ve learned that bottles are pretty much like everything else, what works well for one child may not (and probably won’t) necessarily work well with your child. I think choosing the best bottle for a child with Down syndrome (or any child) boils down to trail and error. Yes, it will be costly. Yes, you may get frustrated when you spend money on a bottle only to have to shelf it because it didn’t work well with your child (even though the online reviews said it was “the best.”) Yes, you’ll go through a lot of bibs as milk spills all over the place. But in the end, it’s all worth it.
As you can see in today’s video, Noah really enjoys drinking from his bottle, and feeding time has become a much more positive time for us.
With that being said, if you are looking for a good bottle for your son or daughter with Down syndrome, here are a few that we had successes with during our bottle hunt. Feel free try one (or none) of them out. Like I said, these are just what worked for us, and may / may not work well for your child.
The Philips AVENT BPA Free Classic Bottle
The Playtex Drop Ins Nurser Bottle
The First Years Breastflow Bottle
I wanted to mention these Medela Storage Bottles
I liked these bottles because they are so small which enabled Noah (and his small hands) to hold on to them by himself. (The other bottles I mentioned are much bigger, and he had a hold time wrapping his small hand around them, and holding them by himself when they were full of liquid due to how heavy they became.) The only drawback is these bottles only hold 2 ounces so if you are doing a typical 8 ounce feeding you have to fill them up four times.
This is ok with me since Noah had such a great since of accomplishment holding and drinking from his bottle with no help from mom or dad.
What bottles have you tried and liked (or disliked?) Did you have a hard time finding your child a bottle that worked well for them? Take a second to leave a comment and tell us about your baby bottle experience.
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Great information. We have always used Dr.Brown's bottles & she did ok with them since theres different nipple sizes but washing them is a pain. BTW when did Noah start holding his bottle? I'm having trouble with my baby girl. She's 14 mos. & just doesn't yet.
Noah is 11months here holding the bottle. The key for us was using a smaller bottle that Noah could actually get his hands around which were those storage bottles.
Merlin,
Like my wife said, the smaller bottles that I mentioned as a "bouns" bottle worked great for Noah. They are pretty much the "cheapy" bottles they give you at the hospital. They worked great for Noah since he was able to wrap his hand around it (they are much smaller.) Plus since it only holds 2 ounces of liquid it wasn't as heavy as the other bottles; which also made it much easier for him to hold.
I agree with you on those Dr. Brown's bottles; washing them was a pain!
Where are you guys from by the way?
That was a great post and how true. With our 2 year old daughter, who doesn't have Down syndrome we used the Dr. Brown bottles, which we loved. We tried the Avent bottles with her, but had a problem with them leaking. However with our son who is now 9 months old and has Down syndrome we started with the Dr. Brown bottles. We now use Playtex Ventaire, which we have had great success with. The only reason for the change was that Jacob has heart surgery at 4months and afterwards when they went to reintroduce the bottle, they found indicators of aspiration and after a swallow study confirmed it, we have to add 3/4 teaspoon of cereal per ounce of formula. Jacob's Speech Therapist in the hospital said this amount of thickener will clog the vent on the Dr. Brown bottles, so she recommended the Playtex Ventaire bottles which vent out the bottom. We have been using these bottles since the surgery and he has been doing great and is now starting to attempt holding on his own. We are so proud of our little man and the fighter that he is.
Thanks for sharing, I'm proud of your little man also! How did the heart surgery go, and how is he doing now?
Also I believe we tried the Playtex Ventaire bottles as well, and if I remember correctly they actually were pretty good. Like I mentioned every child has unique needs, and why there will never be a "one size fits all" bottle. :)
Are you on our facebook page? Feel free to post a picture of your little guy if you'd like. Everyone there enjoys seeing pictures.
I think you blog is awesome and has a lot of great information. I found your blog when I was about 13 weeks pregnant with Jacob and we got our genetic screening results showing a 1:7 chance of DS. Between these results and the results of the amnio at 17 weeks, I spent many hours online looking up all the medical information I could get my hands on about DS. What I found with the medical information is just that, medical information. The long list of medical condistion that a child with DS could have and all the statistics of a child with DS having each, so I soon turned my research to blogs of parents with children with DS. Then after our Level II ultrasound at 20 weeks, followed by the Fetal Echo confirming that Jacob had a complete AV Canal defect that would require Open Heart surgery, most likely within the first 6 months after he was born, I began researching the medical information and blogs of parents with children with DS and heart defects. I am the type of person that handles things by finding out all I can and it was never a question of whether we would have Jacob or not. I think I was lucky to know ahead of time because by the time we went to the hospital for Jacob's arrival September 22nd, I was ready to be there just for him.
Jacob spent 10 days in the NICU coming home on Oct 3rd. On November 17th, we took our little man to the hospital where his heart surgery would be, as he was in respiratory distress and it was unknown if it was due to his heart or something else. We found out that although he has already received 2 months of the RSV shots, that our poor little man had RSV. He spent 11 weeks in the hospital between the RSV and his heart surgery, which was January 16th. On Feb 3rd, we got to leave the hospital and Jacob has been doing great. Jacob has recovered from the surgery so well, that there are days that I wonder if we really went through all that and the only confirmation is seen when I raise his shirt to see his battle wound. He has been back to the Cardiologist twice and he says that the repair looks great and there is no signs of any leaking. The only heart med he is still on is one dose of Lasix each day, which he will hopefully come off of by his next appointment. Jacob has already taught me two things, one is that he is stronger than I am and two that he is the hardest worker I know.
I am sorry that this is probably more than you were looking for in your questions, but it is blogs like yours that have given me the best information. I am on your Facebook page and will definitely share pictures as I too, love to see all the beautiful pictures shared there. You were correct in your original post every child is different and not just in the bottle that works best for them :).
What is your Facebook page name?
https://www.facebook.com/NoahsDadcom
Thank goodness I'm not the only parent with a cupboard full(and a bank account diminishing) of tried and tested bottles! My little man Mason, now 4 months, spent 8 weeks in the Neonatal unit and got so used to the slim neck teats that they supplied that I struggled to find one similar when I finally brought him home. I eventually found that the Pidgeon BPA free slow flow bottle was the perfect one for my boy as the nipple is a long slim one that allows him to suck it right back into the soft pallet. I think that because he was born prem and his mouth was so tiny these types of narrow teats worked best for him then and that's what I've stuck with. The thing I have found hardest so far is changing the flow of the nipple. He was so used to having a slow flowing teat that when I gradually changed him to a medium flow he coughed and spluttered quite a bit. Masons speech therapist showed me ways of holding his cheeks together and his chin up to help build strength in his muscles and he's now taking his bottles like a pro!
I'm not sure whether these bottles are available in US, I'm from Australia and I'm hoping they stay here until mason stops bottle feeding otherwise I'll be doomed! :)
I have lended out our bottles so that others don't have to buy all of the different types to try :) Glad your man found his match and is doing so well :)
@Penny,
Thanks for your comment. We have met so many friends through our site and Facebook page from Australia. It's been fun! What part of Australia are you from? Also are you on our Facebook page? If so have you noticed how many Aussie friends are on there. :)
I feel the same way. I thought I was alone in this.lol My son is 5 months and has larygomalacia and we have had a hard time finding one he doesnt get choked with. Plus he is very tounge tied so some bottles he cant get a suction on. We are going to the ENT next week to look into getting his tounge clipped. Now we finally found one and yesterday we started putting cereal in his milk and he cant suck it through the hole.lol
Our son Paul had trouble with his suck reflex right from the get-go which was very frustrating and scary! to us. Heck, everything was scary to us - first-time parents, twins, an unexpected diagnosis for one baby... We had tremendous luck with a Haberman nipple. It took some doing to track one down, but Paul had no trouble sucking from it and within 4-5 months he was using a regular bottle with regular nipples. Haberman nipples are long and slender and have to be "pumped" full of milk/formula first before the baby can start feeding. I believe they were originally developed for babies with cleft lips/palates. Essentially the nipple lies on the back of the tongue and it takes very little movement of the tongue to release the milk. (We used it with the Medela storage bottles at first). If your hospital has a feeding clinic they can help you locate one or talk to a good lactation consultant. Once we moved to regular bottles, we had good luck with the Platex Ventaire.
Thanks for your comment. We too were first time parents (but not with twins! You deserve an award!) :)
And I agree, the feeding clinics are soooo helpful, and really helped put our mind at ease when we were dealing with all the "surprises" with Noah. I'm so glad things are going well for you guys.
Where are you guys from?
Rick,
We are doing some bottle testing right now with House. He spits up everywhere and has since birth. I have lots of these bottles from the first go round with our typically-developing son. Trust me, this is not an issue just for children with Down Syndrome. Would love to get some ideas on when speech/feeding therapy should start. Trying to get a jump of things!! Sweet Noah is just the most precious. I couldn't be more proud of you with your new degree in hand. Good luck and looking forward to more posts.
Feeding therapy can start ASAP, speech for language development depends on the requirements of the ST the one we plan on using wants Noah to start mimicking as well as other things before starting. It is never too soon to be assessed though :)
@Honey,
Thanks so much for your kind words, I really appreciate the encouragement.
By the way I checked out your blog, I think it's super cool, and very transparent of you to keep a running blog like that. My wife is in to running, maybe you two could buddy up some time!
I look forward to following along with you on your running journey.
We used the breastflow and also MAM bottles for our lil guy in addition to nursing. Great info!
Thanks so much! How old is your little one now?
Hello from England! My daughter Cicely is now nearly 10 months old so we are thankfully through the stressful bottle choosing stage but I remember clearly those early months and endless trials! We tried Nuk - no good for Cicely - in the UK you can't get slow flow Nuk teats for some reason. Then we tried Tommy Tippee which were just too big for Cissy's tiny mouth and would make her almost choke. And then we started with Avent which I had avoided thinking something more specific with special shaped teats would be better for Cissy - however Avent was the winner by a long way and Cicely is very nearly able to hold her bottle too! Only the little stumpy bottles, but even so - she's loving the (almost) independence!!! Good luck all mums and dads out there with bottle choosing! It's a minefield!
Thanks for your comment Becky, and so cool your are from England! Maybe we can bring Noah (and his parents) for a visit to see you guys sometime! I'd really like to see England. :)
By the way, I'm glad you found a bottle that worked well for your daughter.
Lily-Jane is 11 months and uses Dr Brown bottles with one scoop of thickener.We used Avent bottles and for us they really were a waste of time .We had a very hungry girl, who then became a very sick girl ,with meningitis. The GP didn't pick it up which is scary and put it down to the fact that she had a chest infection and in her own words" these "children are always sick and don't drink properly and not to worry. Well we did worry and didn't leave it there we took her to the ER. Thank God ,that the Doctor on call saw that all was not well. She spent 2 weeks in intensive care lost 8 of her fingertips and brain damage to the left side of her brain .And Praise God she made it and will be 1 year in June and is the most delightful child. Such a Gentle little girl. Love her so much. Finding the right bottle is very important,but finding the right GP is also important!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Liz, I am so sorry you and your family had to go through all of that. I'm thankful that you didn't just take your GP answer at face value. Like you said, finding a good pediatrician is very important. My wife (who is a pediatrician) actually posted a great write up on this very topic recently. For anyone looking for a pediatrician, I suggest checking it out. (And please leave any that we may have missed in the comments ---> http://noahsdad.com/qualities-pediatrician-child-down-syndrome/)
For Ryan it was not about the bottle, it was all about the nipple! After many many many experiments, we ended up using the nuk nipple... its a little flat in the middle, worked perfectly! But it was a process, Bc no 2 kids are going to have the same needs. Good luck all!
Bethany, so true. Each child is unique.
So glad you found a bottle / nipple that worked well.
We use the haberman bottle by Medela. Great bottle with adjustable flow. She wouldn't have been able to come home from the hospital so soon without it!
Awesome, thanks for sharing! How old is your daughter now?