Updated on April 6, 2017
The Breastfed Baby’s First Bottle #LoveIsInTheDetails
There are two words every breastfeeding mom hears at some point along her breastfeeding journey. Maybe she heard them when she was still pregnant, or maybe she heard them when another mom was giving her some breastfeeding advice. What are those two words? Bottle refuser. Will your baby be a bottle refuser? Is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening? These are just some of the questions that might be swirling in your mind before your baby even makes his or her arrival. I know they were questions I thought about before The Heir was born. Introducing a bottle can be a nerve wracking experience for any new mom. I’m going to give you a few pointers that just might help encourage your baby to be more accepting of the bottle, and I’m going to tell you about a great option for introducing a breastfed baby to a bottle for the first time.
First, let’s talk about when to introduce a bottle to a breastfed baby. Presuming that breastfeeding is established, going well, and you’re not going back to work right away (here in Canada we get one year of paid maternity leave), you want to hold off on introducing a bottle right away. The clincher is that you don’t want to wait too long. Confused yet? So was I. This is something I discussed with my midwives when I was pregnant with Petit Prince because The Heir was never really that great with bottles. I wouldn’t call him a bottle refuser as he would eventually take one, but it certainly wasn’t the easiest thing to do. My midwives recommended that a bottle be introduced between week four and week six. This allows baby to become well accustomed to latching at the breast and avoids “nipple confusion”, but also introduces the bottle early enough that it reduces the likelihood that baby will refuse bottles altogether.
Now that I’ve covered when to introduce a bottle, it’s time to cover how to introduce a bottle. The first step is to pick a bottle. It can be really daunting to select the right bottle to start out with, but Philips Avent has taken the guess work out of this process. The Philips Avent Natural Bottle has a nice wide nipple base. In effect, it is more “breast like” than other bottles making it easier for baby to achieve a good latch. That’s not the only thing that’s so great for breastfed babies using this bottle. The nipple is also extra soft and flexible so it mimic’s mom’s breast creating the most natural way to bottle feed a breastfed baby. Something that I like to do when introducing a bottle for the very first time is to use freshly expressed breast milk if at all possible. You don’t need to overdo it, just a couple of ounces will do that first time. It can also help to have someone other than mom give the bottle to baby. Your baby will have this uncanny ability to know when there’s milk available “on tap” when being offered a bottle. If your partner or a grandparent can give that first bottle, baby may be more receptive!
Don’t forget to burp! Sometimes when giving baby a bottle, it can be easy to forget to give him a chance to take a breath and get a good burp out. As baby is drinking, it’s a good idea to stop every ounce to burp him. The Philips Avent Natural Bottle actually has an advanced anti-colic system to help prevent air from making its way into baby’s tummy. This innovative twin valve system allows air into the bottle, not into baby’s tummy. In combination with frequent pauses for a burp, this can help prevent baby from getting too gassy.
What about clean up? There’s nothing worse than investing in some bottles only to find that getting them thoroughly clean is almost impossible. I highly recommend purchasing a bottle brush to make bottle washing easier, but the Philips Avent Natural Bottle is designed to be super easy to clean. The bottle itself has rounded edges that are easily accessed with a bottle brush. In addition, the bottle has just three parts so when you’re done washing it, it’s easy to put it back together for the next feeding. There’s nothing more annoying than going to grab a bottle for a feeding only to find that there’s a tiny part missing and you can’t quite get it put together properly. This is not an issue at all with the Philips Avent Natural Bottle. Thank goodness!
How did the Philips Avent Natural Bottle work for Petit Prince? As a breastmilk donor there’s rarely a shortage of breastmilk in my freezer, but most of it is earmarked for donation to the Northern Star Mothers Milk Bank here in Calgary. When I want to go out with a friend without the kids, I’ll leave some freshly expressed breastmilk for King Dad to feed Petit Prince. This isn’t something that happens all the time around here, so Petit Prince’s opportunities to use a bottle are sometimes few and far between. Apparently he’s just a little particular about his bottle. Who knew? I wish I’d had this bottle to introduce to him as his first bottle. If I had, I bet it would have been a favourite! He did drink from it a little bit, and I noticed that his latch on the bottle was just like his latch on my breast, and that’s awesome. The features of the nipple that make it more like a natural breast are great, and something I think most breastfed babies would enjoy. The extra soft and flexible nipple allows baby to move easily from breast to bottle and back to breast. In fact, a good friend of mine swears by the Philips Avent Natural Bottle. It was the first bottle she tried with her son, and was their favourite through their breastfeeding and bottle feeding journey!
You can connect with Philips Avent on social media by following them on Facebook and on Twitter. If you’re interested in learning more about the Philips Avent Natural Bottle just click HERE.
How would you like the chance to WIN 1 of 40 three packs of 9oz Philips Avent Natural Bottles? The giveaway is open to the USA & Canada (excluding Quebec, Alaska, and Hawaii) and closes on June 24th, 2016.
Philips Avent Natural Giveaway
Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Philips Avent and I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
When we need to, we use Phillips Avent for our little man! It matches our hand pump, so it’s a perfect fit for us.
Same for us
I remember messaging Lindsay from Maman Loup’s Den asking her all sorts of questions about introducing the bottle. We were planning to see the new Star Wars movie and my mom wanted to be left with a bottle just in case, but I didn’t want her to have to be the first one to give him a bottle. Anyway, we tried a Life Factory bottle and made a mess haha, sounds like the wider softer nipple on this bottle would solve some of our problems! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’d use the bottles for my little one due in July
Oooo those bottles do sound fantastic!!!! Great giveaway!
Avent bottles are great! We are way past the bottle stage, but that was one of the brands we used and loved way back when. 🙂
Love Advent bottles for littles 🙂
I will be using these with my new niece or nephew that will be here in August.
We are expecting, so I would save these to use with our little one.
Id share with my friend due really soon!
These are great! I’d love to win and let my sister have them for her new baby!
Those are some great bottles. We used Avent when my boys were all little. Passing along the contest to some mommy friends. Thanks!
just had my second so would use them for him
I always used the avent bottle myself. The natural ones worked really well for his acid reflux. Would definitely use again!
I always used Tommee Tippee… they are my favorite (even toddler sippy’s)! These look awesome, too, though!
Great article! I would use these bottles (in addition to some Tommee Tippee and Kiinde bottles that he has already used successfully) to send my little guy to daycare and keep him on breastmilk as long as possible.
These look like a great bottle for transitioning. Thank you for the information and thorough review.
Easy to clean bottles are the best. Luckily all my kids were fine switching between me and bottles, so my husband could feed the baby when I was away. We used to have breast-like bottles that had a million pieces to clean, so we switched to a simpler design with our third kid. So much better. These look great too!
I would use this for my first!
I will save this for baby #2!
These look great! Will definitely share this with some of my pregnant friends!!
Would love to use these for our little girl (:
I remember how scared I was to make the switch but with a ton of patience, I was able to slowly move from breast to bottle and it brought a ton of independence to our life.
I’m going to keep these for my 2nd child. Thanks for the share!
Bottles have gotten so much better since I had my son! I wished I could have breastfed, but it wasn’t feasible for me to do.
If I win I would use this for my 7 month old she does really well with and likes the Avent bottles a lot
I would save them for my first grand babies
If I was the winner, I would give these bottles to my sister in law, who is pregnant with her first!
I would use them for my baby
I would give it to my friend
I would love to win this for my co-worker. She is having twins!
I would share with my niece who is going to have a baby boy in May.
I will use these for my baby!
I would share with my daughter who is due in June
I would share with a friend 🙂
I would use it for my little ones
If I win I will share with a friend
I would gift this to a friend
I would gift it to a friend who’s gonna be a mommy in a little under 3 weeks!
If I win I will be sharing these with a friend who is expecting her first little one!
ill share with a friend
keep for myself
I would definitely share with my friend who is expecting her second!
I will share with a friend who is currently pregnant
I would share with my friend who’s expecting her first baby.
If I win, I will use it for my newborn
Would love to use these bottles for my little one!
I will share this with my daughter. She has used these bottles before and is expecting again. Thanks!
They would be for my new granddaughter.
I would share with my bestie who is expecting her first
It can be so hard to get a baby to take a bottle. We started both our girls early and I feel that made all the difference for them. They had no problem going back and forth between the two. Thanks to improvements in bottles I think its made it so much easier to do this.
They would be for my little one
I loved avent with my first. I would definitely be keeping for myself.
If I win I would use them as I have been told that they are the best one in the market.
I will give this to someone. 🙂
If I win I would share it with a friend.
I’d share with a friend
with my little one, i am due April 22 of this year.
We will use for our new grandson.
hopefully myself, trying to get preggo 🙂 if not, my sister in law has a little one 🙂
I would keep! I have 2 kids under 2!
I use these with my twins, but if I won, I would give these to my sister-in-law as she just had her first baby.
I would use it for my little one.
I will give it to my daughter, for my new grandchild. Thank you! 🙂
I would give it to a relative that is having a baby
Me!
Even though my little is one, I’d still like to have a good bottle for nigh time.
I would use for our new addition on the way 🙂
My daughter currently won’t take a bottle, but my sister is due in May so I would give them to her!
these would be for our third kiddo, due in september!
I would use the bottle on my toddler as I am a firm believer in breastfeeding for the first year so will be nursing babe #3 when they arrive come July. 😀 Thank you for the chance to win.
I would share these with my best friend who’s first baby just turned 6 weeks!
I would use them for my little one!
I’d use this for a friend.
I would use for my little one, I love Avent products
use it my self have a baby due in may
for my baby!
I would share with my new nephew due in July.
I am past the bottle days! but my neighbor is just a young girl who is due in June… would love to gift these to her! I loved Avent when my guys were little!
I would use this for our little one. It will be our first child, due in August, and I am completely overwhelmed by all the choices I need to make. This would eliminate one such decision.
I would keep it!
I will share with a friend!
Share with a friend
I would give it to one of my friends that are expecting.
I’d share them with my sister who is currently 2 weeks behind me with her pregnancy 🙂
I would use the bottles for our little one due in October and if they didn’t work for us then I would donate them to a less fortunate family.
For Myself!
This would be for my daughter-in-law or my daughter. Both are starting families. It would be for whoever has the little one first.
I would use it for my lil one. Who is due on 11/14/16. It took us over a year but we are so happy!
Great due date! That’s my birthday! 😉
I’d possibly use this for my soon-to-arrive little one, and if not, then I’d share with someone in need.
I would use with my daughter – she is 2 months and these bottles seem to work the best for her.
I have a spot in my cabinet waiting for these.
For me, to get ready for our new little one.
if i win,i will give to my cousin ,whos due to have ababy boy
If I would happen to win I would give the bottle to my niece. Or I would keep it here for when she comes over. Actually I would trade – hers she has now to this one
I would have to definitely use them with my children but also share the love with friends and family
I would share with a friend!
This would be for my family!
Definitely use it for us for now then pass them along.
They would go to my son who just made me a Grandma!
I want these bottles for myself!
I would use it for my lil girl
Sooooo, we did the whole bottle around 5 weeks thing, and it went well enough. But then we didn’t continue with it and are sort of starting from the beginning again at 5 months. We’ve been offering babe a bottle of freshly squeezed (haha, orange juice?) milk every day and he’s not refusing the bottle, per se, but he’s not really taking it either. We’ve tried both the Philips Avent Natural Bottle and the Tommee Tippee Closer Bottle and neither one seems more appealing to him than the other. We first tried the Life Factory bottle but the flow is too strong and he just wears the milk or takes the whole top of the bottle into his mouth. Any suggestions? (also, I figured I would post here instead of emailing you, just in case anyone else was having the same problems)
If I were to win I would be using this for my little boy.
I would use them when trying to introduce the bottle…. A few months away as babe is due in 5 weeks
If I win I will be using them for my son.
I’d gift them to an expecting friend or family member!
My daughter in law is having a baby girl, my first grand baby so if I win I would give it to her to use.
I would use them for my baby due in July!
my friend just had her first baby, I’d share the love and gift it to her <3
We would keep it for the little one!
if i won i would gift it to y friend she’s expecting her second baby soon
I’m due in July, so if I won I would save these for our selves 🙂 I never tried these types, just the standard bottles, so it would be interesting to see how much better!
Share with a friend.
We have a friend who is gonna have her first little one. I will give them to her.
I’m planning on sharing with myin laws. They also have a baby.
I would use these to try and introduce my bf baby to a bottle!
I would use these for my little coming in September!
If I won I would share with my sister who is having a baby next month.
I’d use the bottles for my son. It’s what we currently use and I love it. Ivetried different bottles with my daughter but they werent the right fit for us. Avent has seemed to work great with breastfeeding as well for us.
This will be for our little one due Nov 8th.
I totally waited too long for my son and he was a boob snob. He would not take a bottle from anyone!!! Now I know better for my next lol!!