Transitioning With Bottle Feeding

A Cynthia Anka Post

A Mom wrote: 

"Been using the Avent 2 for a few feeds and milk is spilling out of his mouth. I am trying to fill the nipple only half way and not tilt the bottle too much but it is still happening. I tried the 1 nipple and that was frustrating him. Any recommendations?"

Transitioning from one nipple level to the next can be a little tricky depending on your child and the feeding habits. This little boy was a premie so he was consuming the amounts for his age but, physically, he was small for his age. 

It is best to go ahead and transition to the next level when you are being given cues that it is time. Your infant will become fussy when feeding, only eat a small amount, just enough to not be hungry but not enough to be satiated, sleep patterns with shorten and may be unusually gassy since having to suck harder to eat. 

The best way to switch is to lay the bottle flat so that nipple is only half full. Your infant will begin to suck. If the suck is too strong for the faster flow, milk may come out too quickly and your infant might choke a bit. Just take the bottle out and get things under control and then try again. May take a couple of feeds for it to register that the flow is faster and he will adjust the suck. 

Some infants switch with no problem. Helps if you have read the cues and the timing is right. 

As for the Mom above, what I suggested was to poke a hole with a sterilized needle to open the flow a bit which would allow her son to adjust this sucking and feed properly. Given a little time, she then switched to level 2 and he did very well. 

Infants want to eat well and eat quickly. Not really into working very hard to get fed. They want to be fully satiated and then sleep a while until hungry again. 

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