Nipple flow-level and EPing

[packerup]

I may be joining this group soon, since my 9-month-old son is refusing to nurse completely. If we don't figure something out soon, I would still like to EP for a couple months, since I have a full-month supply in the freezer and would like him to get BM for a year.

First of all, I must say that you ladies are amazing, especially those who have EPed from the very beginning. Holy cow. I had to EP when I had a 30-week preemie with my first-born, and that lasted 6.5 weeks before I quit. I was miserable and frustrated and stressed out (especially with our daily 90-minute trips each way to/from the NICU), and I just could never produce more than about 8-15 mL total each session. I tried everything I could, including prescriptions, and it just wouldn't work. I just want to say that you are truly amazing and giving your baby a wonderful gift that not everyone is physically able to give.

My main question is about the nipple flow level if we do switch to EPing. I know that the advice, if you're bottle-feeding your nursed baby, is to use the lowest flow possible on a nipple so that he won't prefer the faster-flow to the breast. Is there any reason to use a lower flow nipple with a EP baby?

TIA!

[Widget123]

If you ignore the advice for nursing moms, nipple flow is very much age driven. In your case I'm not sure I'd immediately start off with a fast flow nipple, rather I'd work up to it over a few weeks. But yes, EP babies can and may want to drink out of faster flowing nipples over time just like FF babies and EP moms have no reason not to use those nipples... Unless you are really paranoid about over feeding, I wouldn't worry about it.

[madalynw]

My 9mo who has been on bottles since she was 2mo is STILL usig the Newborn (level 1) Avent nipple and she is completely satisfied. She does not collapse it, is not frustrated, drinks really fast and is overall very happy.

That said, we've been using the same set if nipples since the beginning and I feel like I should probably replace them sooner rather than later. And I'm not sure if I should go up one level, two levels, or stay on 1... The speed of flow does not matter since she does not nurse directly. And maybe a faster speed would ease the transition to sippys?...

Any tips? Sorry to hijack this thread but since the topic of flow speed came up...

[Deleted]

If you are pumping a large amount of oz when eping, flow speed of the bottles isn't as big of a problem, as you aren't going back and forth from breast to bottle and aren't trying to avoid bottle nipple preference. Of course you should still keep the flow slow enough that they have time to realize they are full and aren't chugging a bottle in 5 minutes flat.

If you are struggling to keep up with ounces, stay with slower flow bottles so that you are sure baby isn't just eating too fast to realize they are full.

sipper cups kind of work different from bottles anyways, so don't' worry about that part.