Anyone use Medela bottles? Should we switch?

[Pilsy]

A bunch of people warned me E might have trouble taking a bottle after exclusively breastfeeding for several (6) weeks, or it might take a lot of trial and error with various bottles.  Instead, she readily took a Medela bottle from my husband yesterday.  

Is there any reason I shouldn’t just get some more of those?  Does anyone else use them?  I have eight five-ounce bottles because four came with the pump and I purchased an extra set of supplies that included four.  I’m assuming they sell larger bottles and extra nipples.  


I had purchased some Born Free and Playtex bottles, too.  I’m happy to try those with her, too, if there’s a good reason to use those instead of the Medela kind.  


Any thoughts? 


Also, any chance anyone knows whether the one nipple that came with the pump is slow-flow?  I am asking Medela, too, but figured someone might know of the top of her head.  Thanks!  

[Velar Fricative]

Definitely stick with what works, but I would wait to buy more until you've given her a bottle more to ensure that it wasn't just a fluke.

And DD has been eating from Medela bottles from the beginning. My only annoyances are the cost and the fact that Medela sucks and likes to sell every single damn part of anything separately.

[laurenh]

Nope, keep it simple! If she takes it and doesn't have any gas issues, it should make things easy for you. Just portion the bottles when you pump so they're ready to pull out of the fridge and be warmed up I'm almost positive it's a slow flow nipple. FWIW, we never increased the flow the whole time DD was on bottles.

[smilee1079]

We pretty much only used Medela 5 oz bottles... never needed bigger either. I think in total we had 10 bottles and 2 nipples and then 2 dr. browns for daycare too. He will drink from any bottle though.

[jackie011]

We started with Avent and he didn't take well to those at all. He did great with the Born Free, but there are so many parts! Finally, we tried the Playtex and according to DH he does best with those. I haven't tried the Medela, for whatever reason. I actually just realized that there was a nipple in with all of my pump parts. I feel like the plastic on the bottles that come with the pump are pretty thin. I'm always afraid I'm going to split a bottle seam when I use the bottle brush.

Our pediatrician told us the first rule of bottles is to stick with what works!

[Pilsy]

suzubell, that’s so kind of you! wow. thank you!

and as a PP said, I can have my husband try a couple more bottles to make sure it wasn’t a fluke before taking your bottles.

i’ll send you a PM.

[hetty]

I use medial bottles and we have had no issues at all.
The nipple is slow flow - I think if you look on the rim if the nipple where it connects to the yellow piece, there is an s stamped on it.

[Pilsy]

Jun 8, 2014 18:19:47 GMT -5 hetty said:

The nipple is slow flow - I think if you look on the rim if the nipple where it connects to the yellow piece, there is an s stamped on it.

How ‘bout that?! 

I just said to my husband, “These people are so smart.”  

Thanks!

[mrshandy]

We've used medela bottles from her first day of daycare. No need for bigger than the 5 ounce kind.

[winemaker06]

I've been using them. I did buy a set of medium flow ones by accident once but you're good if they're stamped with an S and not an M.
I think even the slow flow Medela nipples are a bit fast. But if it works for your baby that's all that matters!

[sh10]

Jun 8, 2014 18:57:25 GMT -5 winemaker06 said:

I've been using them. I did buy a set of medium flow ones by accident once but you're good if they're stamped with an S and not an M.
I think even the slow flow Medela nipples are a bit fast. But if it works for your baby that's all that matters!

Good to know about the nipples, DS is still a super slow nurser and I was considering buying the larger bottles but was unsure about going up a nipple size. We don't really need more at this point, so I'll hold off. Thanks!

[glitzy07]

Medela bottles were the first kind that worked for my bottle refuser. Definitely use what works! And a bonus is not having to transfer pumped milk to another type of bottle and wash double the amount.

He later took to Life Factory glass bottles and would go back and forth between the two types. We now exclusively use the Life Factory bottles, only because C figured out how to yank the nipple out of the ring of the Medela bottles.

[fortmyersbride]

Both of my kids used medela. We also never went above the 5oz size. I even tried some tomee tippies w/ DD at first (got them as a gift) and she straight up refused them.

[shelbyann]

This is what we use too. And we haven't needed larger than 5oz.

[sent]

We use Medela bottles. To be MMM, I use Gerber collars and nipples on them because I had read the Medela collars and nipples are expensive and prone to breaking. You have to buy the Gerber bottles and collars together, so we wound up with some Gerber bottles too and she also drinks from those. They also fit my pump. if you buy the 5 oz bottles they come with slow flow (0 - 3 mo) nipples. Nipples are sold separately so I switched to the medium flow nipples somewhere after 4.5 months when she started getting very upset at the bottle.

Initially I had used Playtex Ventaire, but switched to Medela to simplify the feeding process when grandma started watching her.

[ladygrey]

We used Medela bottles for a long time and they were great. Only when DD started drinking more and the nipples began collapsing did we switch to a bottle with a vented nipple (Tommee Tippee).

[Jalapeñomel]

We've used them since birth.

[VillainV]

We've been using mostly Medela, but also some Avent and some Joovy bottles. He doesn't seem picky.

If you have the Medela bottles and LO will use them, then it really simplifies things to just pump straight into the bottles.

ETA:  Someone got us a Medela breastmilk storage gift set (I think it was this one?) with bottles and nipples, the 2.5 ounce beakers, some storage bags, etc.  We don't use the 2.5oz beakers that much, but even without those it looks like a pretty good deal. 

[winemaker06]

Jun 8, 2014 19:14:01 GMT -5 sh10 said:

Jun 8, 2014 18:57:25 GMT -5 winemaker06 said:

I've been using them. I did buy a set of medium flow ones by accident once but you're good if they're stamped with an S and not an M.
I think even the slow flow Medela nipples are a bit fast. But if it works for your baby that's all that matters!

Good to know about the nipples, DS is still a super slow nurser and I was considering buying the larger bottles but was unsure about going up a nipple size. We don't really need more at this point, so I'll hold off. Thanks!

I will admit that G is collapsing the Medela slow flow nipples now though. So I might have to move up just to see if it helps that. But we have thicker, slower nipples that fit on the Medela bottles that I prefer for now. They're some off-brand someone gave us as a gift. I wish I knew where to get more!

[sh10]

Jun 9, 2014 4:42:54 GMT -5 winemaker06 said:

Jun 8, 2014 19:14:01 GMT -5 sh10 said:

Good to know about the nipples, DS is still a super slow nurser and I was considering buying the larger bottles but was unsure about going up a nipple size. We don't really need more at this point, so I'll hold off. Thanks!

I will admit that G is collapsing the Medela slow flow nipples now though. So I might have to move up just to see if it helps that. But we have thicker, slower nipples that fit on the Medela bottles that I prefer for now. They're some off-brand someone gave us as a gift. I wish I knew where to get more!

C does that too. I'm going to start needing weekly progress reports from you so I know how my next week will go! Haha. My baby scale is coming today, maybe he actually needs the faster nipple, at a weighed feeding a few weeks ago he took more than I expected so I'm sure he takes even more in the evenings. I was tired of not knowing what size bottle he should get at night when I'm gone. Sorry Pilsy, none of my posts really helped you.

To answer your question, we use the Medela bottles because that's what they had when I was pumping in the hospital. We have stuck with the five ounce bottles because DS doesn't get bottles very often, about every three days. Because we don't use them very often, we haven't had any issues with the caps breaking.

[Deleted]

I'd stick with what works. Give a few more to make sure it works but if it does no need to switch.

We only switched around bottles with J because he was gagging and refused dr. Browns both regular and wide necked ones and Avent. We ended up with breastflow. This time I started with breastflow, they took them so I just stuck with it.

[Pilsy]

sh10, we're all in this together. Don't apologize!

Interesting to learn about the collapsed nipples.

And thanks for the set and Gerber tips, VillainV and sent.

[nonsenseabound]

We used Playtex drop ins with the natural latch nipples. They were the only thing that worked for my daughter. She was a stinker about bottles vs. breast.

We did have to move past 5 oz, we were up to 10 oz 3x a day with my son (it was torture producing that much bm).

[anna7602]

VillainV, I loved the beakers. I don't remember why, but I ended up buying more of them when I was pumping for DD.

To answer the OP, don't tempt fate and go with what works! DD was absurdly picky about taking a bottle at all, so we experimented with a bunch of different kinds. I am going to try to introduce a bottle earlier this time around and will start with Medela. I already bought new nipples and collars for the bottles I stored with my pump.

[soozy87]

We use some Medela bottles (the ones that came with the pump) and some Gerber bottles. The Gerber bottles are cheap, fit the pump and the tops fit the Medela bottles as well.