Tobie here: I hate new nipples. Paige has had her nipples for about longer than 4 months and you could drive a truck through the hole. Works nice for Mom and Dad because it literally takes less than 5 minutes to feed her a bottle since she barely has to suck, but I’ve read that when they get that worn, it’s time to replace them. And Cole….he dislikes silicon nipples so after an extensive search I found him latex nipples (fast flow). He was using the same nipples he was discharged from the NICU with. Yeah, that old and that slow (not to mention they were supposed to be disposable nipples and we’ve been re-using them for ~8 months). So I thought “maybe I can get more into him if he doesn’t have to suck so hard to get stuff out”. So last night I went on my nipple run and boiled my freshly bought nipples for the recommended three minutes. This morning Paige wasn’t able to suck her formula through the hole and only managed to squeeze out an ounce before passing out from exhaustion. Cole was able to get 2 oz out of his new nipples after 30 minutes of screaming, passing out and sleep-sucking, then waking up and screaming some more. Fantastic. I’ve been sitting here for ten minutes chewing on his nipples to soften them up and gagging on the taste of the rubber. And I’ve just been chewing on two of Cole’s nipples. Mama bird’s jaws hurt and I haven’t even made it to Paige’s nipples yet. Is there a better way? If my jaws hurt, I can only imagine their frustration and sore jaw muscles. Did I also mention that we are between feeding specialists and we won’t see anyone for about another three weeks? Did I also mention that I wasn’t able to get any solid food into either baby this morning and they haven’t really eaten since last night around midnight and it’s now after 10am? Did I mention some days I would pay someone to come feed my babies to end this frustration? Did I mention some days I don’t mind the thought of a G-tube? Okay that last one wasn’t true…I would never want invasive surgery performed on my babies to ease my frustration….we will get through this. Even if we spend our Friday and Saturday nights chewing nipples. Yes, Eric…I have big plans for us this weekend!!!
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look for the nipples on ebay. We used to get them on there in bulk. I used to use the prong from a cocktail fork to make the openings larger. Hope that helps!!!
Sorry wife, I think one of my servers is going to crash this weekend. I won’t be home till Tuesday.
Tobie…what about the Playtex Vent Aire systems.(curved bottles at top)…Stage 2 or 3 nipples? Just a suggestion. They have the X on them. hope it works. This can be very frustrating!
Shannon
I used to cut the hole bigger with scissors, worked like a charm and I was back to the 5 min. feedings..
We used the Avent nipples…they come in stages 1-4 (basically how many holes are in the nipple). Are there any higher “stages” to the nips you are using?
IS there anyone at the hospital you could call? We were pretty close with our OT. Anyhow, call the hospital and go get more nipples!
I have still have a huge bag of our hospital nipples (Similac Latex) if you want them. I’ve been looking to get rid of them but I hated to throw them away. I don’t mind shipping them to you if you’d like. Seems like you are trying to graduate from them but if you need some in the mean time, let me know!
Stephanie
christmasvacation@gmail.com
You babies are PRECIOUS and I really enjoy your blog!!!
One more thing…two of our babies had feeding issues and OT suggested Dr. Brown’s bottles and nipples. They are shaped much like the hospital ones but they also have grades of flow control. I have one baby on a Dr. Brown #2 nipple, one on a Dr. Brown #3 and one on an Avent #3…to each his own!!!
Tobie,
I’m a regular to your blog, but have never posted. I’ve heard that before you boil the nipples, you can insert a toothpick into the hole, and leave it there until the nipple cools. The hole will be larger once the nipple cools around the toothpick. Just a suggestion….who knows, may just be a myth!
Lisa in Virginia Beach
Silly as it sounds, I used to use a sterile (boiled) knitting needle to stretch the hole size. We use the Playtex Avance system and the holes are the X and it seems to work and the nipples for that fit all standard bottles.
I guess we could come over & chew baby bottle nipples with you this weekend….oh wait, that’s gross if someone else is chewing them ,huh???
Well, at least the thought was there
see you in a few days !!
~Gina
I don’t know if you use Avent for Paige, but the “variable flow” nipple says on it that the lowest setting is faster than the fast flow nipple. Here is the flow chart.
So maybe you could get that and turn it all the way up to fastest? Sorry… no advice for Cole.
Not sure what bottles you are using - but most of the companies - and I know Dr Brown’s do - come with the “Y” cut nipples for thicker formulas…..We used them for our girls as well……good luck!! Look for “cereal” cut or “Y” cut ones…..it will be less frustrating for all!
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I ended up ramming the cleaning brush and my finger through Paige’s nipples. She is using the Y-cut cereal Dr. Brown nipples for her paralyzed vocal cord. Once I loosened them enough, she was able to suck. I think she just wasn’t used to using her jaw muscles that much as her other nipples were so worn out. As for Cole, thank you Stephanie for sending us your remaining Similac nipples as that is what we are currently using for him. I had bought the X-cut fast flow nipples but they are soooo tough that I am going to follow the recommendation of sticking a toothpick through the nipple hole and re-boiling for an additional three minutes. If it still is really stiff, then we will stick with what we’ve been using. I can’t waste feedings with experimentation on Cole.