Formula / Bottle / Nipple Questions

[Jodi AKA BostonTeacher]

I posted this in the formula thread, but thought that maybe there were others out there who don't subscribe to that thread that could help me.

DS is 5 days old. We've been using Similac Advance with Iron since day 1 and have been very successful thus far. He eats, pees and poops well. We are now having some bottle/nipple issues though.

Questions:

Have you noticed a difference between the ready-to-use and the powdered formula?

DS is doing really well on the r-t-f and I'm hesitant to tamper with that.

If you use powdered formula what kind of water do you mix with it?

Are there any things that need to be taken into consideration such as the age of the house/pipes? Should I boil water or use filtered or bottled water?

What have you learned from your bottle/nipple experiments?

We had been using the samples that the hospital gave us with the matching disposable nipples. They worked great for DS. We ran out yesterday and DH prepared a Ventaire bottle. It took DS 45 minutes to suck down a 1/2 ounce. DH then made up a Playtex Nurser with a Drop in Liner and the formula came out so fast that it was running all down DS face. The poor thing was fussy and cranky for the next 9 hours...and his poor parents didn't get to sleep until 3 a.m. I think that maybe too much air got into his tummy or something b/c the only thing that was different was the bottle/nipple.

[Sidsou]

Congrats on your newborn!!! In all honesty a lot of variations in how your baby feels is really quite normal at this point. I just wanted to warn you about that. Everything is new to him - even being at home now is new.

RTF and powdered - I know moms that claim they are different. Less spit up with one or the other. Especially at this point, I would go with whatever is easiest for you and the baby. You can always switch later on to powdered to save $.

Powdered & Water - I always use either bottled water or water at our house (it's tripled filtered). Especially when they are this young, I would err on the side of caution. I probably would just get the bottled water rather than boil it - I'm sure you don't have a ton of time on your hands at this point.

Bottle Experiments - Every baby is probably different when it comes to a preference for bottles. At 5 days, he might be more insistent on using one shape of nipple or something like that - dont' be surprised if he completely rejects a certain bottle. I would try what you have at home and see how he seems to do. For us, due to the colic, a nurse recommended trying the Dr. Brown bottles - they are supposed to cut down on the air ingested. He was still, of course, collicky but I felt like they helped so I kept using them and are still using them at 11 months.

Congrats again and good luck! The first few weeks can be tough sometimes.

[cgmom313]

Jodi - I posted in the formula thread, but will give you my 2 cents on the last question.

What have you learned from your bottle/nipple experiments?
I use both the advent and the Playtex Ventaires. With the playtex Ventaires (Stage 1), they do tend to be a little tight when the first used them. Even when the nipple was brand new. To help and ensure they are open up, we put a toothpick through the hole. That seemed to work fine, and my DD does quite well on Stage 1, We have tried to move her up to Stage 2 but it comes out 2 fast. The advent also work great and they have 3 stages and I do notice on the Stage 1 advent it comes out a little faster and she does take the bottle a little faster. So try the advent. I know that Target has them in single packages and you can try to see if that works. (Also, the Advent bottles are easier to clean. the playtex ventaires have so many pieces)

Good Luck!