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All
about Bottles and Teats
You
don't need advice on buying a bottle! Right?
Maybe
- Wrong!
Buying a bottle
can be daunting, just because of the choice available out there,
and each and every manufacturer claims to be the best for your baby.
Some
of the considerations you must consider are:
Click
on topic to go direct
And you thought
it was going to be easy. Nothing about having a baby is easy!
125ml
or 260ml bottle
The size of
the feed is proportional to the age and size of your baby. 125ml
feeders are more commonly used for new-borns right through to approx.
6 months, and the 260ml from that time on.
Choosing
the right teat for your baby.
There is a
battle going on by all the manufacturers to promote their bottles
and teats to new mothers, the upside of this is a wealth of choice
and ongoing development to bring you the best. The downside is the
confusion.
Teats come
in two main materials, natural rubber and silicone rubber. Natural
rubber is a brown colour and is more resilient to the ongoing battering
the teat will take from sterilisation and daily use. Some babies
take to the brown colour because of the likeness to the breast.
Sometimes switching teats during feeding can cause tension for your
baby, and you may find it harder to change than you thought.
Silicone is
the preferred choice of manufacturers and carers alike. The clear
rubber makes it easier to see milk deposits when cleaning. The cleanliness
of teats prior to feeding is a major concern, so anything to assist
is promoted. Silicone is odourless and tasteless, of the two it
is the more expensive and cost should figure highly in all your
decision from here on in.
Teats come in
three sometimes four different sizes or "flows". New-born (0 months),
Slow (0-3 months), Medium (3-6 months), and fast (6 months+). The
flows are regulated by hole piercing at the tip of the teat. All
teats are clearly marked on their packaging to assist you. Some
brands also carry Variable flow teats, which allow you to regulate
different flows to suit the feeding time.
Anti-colic
Teats.
Anti-colic teats
allow air movement through the bottle and help to prevent trapped
wind, one of the causes of colic in the new-born. Because the air
is released into the bottle when the baby suckles, he/she does not
intake air alongside the fluid while feeding. Again these feeding
bottles will be more expensive, but some mothers would pay any money
to ease a colicky child.
Are
you mixing beast and bottle?
You may decide
to mix breast and bottle. This is made easier these days with some
manufacturers adapting there whole range to cover all aspects of
feeding. So, if you do decide to switch the transition will be made
easy with minimum disruption to the baby. If you are breastfeeding,
sticking to the type of bottle attached to the pump will make life
easier, but is not essential, the only difference will be more washing.
Ask your retailer for advice on buying the right pump.
Is
the bottle adaptable?
Later on when
your baby begins to feed himself, you may want to attach handles
or a straw, or a spout. Some bottles easily transform into cups
and storage jars, with the right attachment.
Again adaptation
is something to consider, depending on your dedication, but is nothing
to loose sleep over.
Disposable
or Traditional
The debate
rages on about the causes of colic. Look for the facts. The theories
to the causes and particularly the remedies to colic are wide ranging.
Clinical tests are what you need to look for, if you are affected
by colic.
Research has
shown the effects of colic to be greatly reduced by reducing the
intake of air by your baby while feeding. Disposable feeding is
one of the most affective methods of doing just that.
The process
works by using little clear plastic bags attached to a holder. The
holder is a once off purchase at around the Eur6.00 mark, within
which you place the disposable bags filled with the baby's feed.
The bags can be bought in packs ranging from 40 to 100. As the baby
drinks, the feed is released, and the bag collapses in the process.
Very similar to drinking a Capri-Sun juice drink. Because the bag
collapse, no air is able to escape. In a normal hard container,
there has to be a balance of air into the bottle as much as the
liquid released from the bottle.
Again you must
ensure your disposable holder is adaptable to the breast pump you
are using, in order to mix breast and bottle. The only safe way
of ensuring this is by sticking with the original brand you have
chosen.
A
wide or narrow neck
We all know
the traditional slender bottles available on the market. We probably
used them ourselves, the design hasn't changed much. The change
of shape in modern times has happened for many different reasons.
The first is
cleaning. The wider neck allows us to greater access to all the
corners of the bottle. Cleaning your bottle is imperative. Dried
milk deposits especially, they are the more favoured breeding ground
for harmful bacteria.
Some manufacturers
have provided curvaceous sides which they maintain are more user
friendly for baby to grasp.
Another factor
is customer loyalty. Like any business, the makers want you to use
all there products. By making their bottles only adaptable to their
product, helps their cause. Fair enough, if the range is good enough
and competitively priced.
A
gripper or normal bottle
Gripper bottles
are great! Or are they? It has to be said, from the baby's point
of view the hole in the middle of the bottle is a great assist in
developing motor skills while feeding by yourself for the first
time.
But they are
harder to clean! Again bacteria can fester along those hard to reach
corners.
Glass
or Polycarbonate
Simple. Glass
is heavy but will last you a lifetime. Poly is lighter for baby
to hold, but is not as hard wearing.
Designed
or Plain.
Designed bottles
adorned with your favourite Disney characters are indeed lovely.
They are also more expensive. Some designs can cost up to 30c more.
Check before you buy.
On the plus
side, designs, animals, and colours do stimulate young babies minds,
and can make feeding time that little bit more fun.
As you already
know Baby.ie does not hold back in the promotion of FUN!
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