Avent teats worst on the market - find out what's best! *updated*

At the homebirth conference, there was a talk by a very experienced midwife and lactation consultant. She was talking about nipple trauma and went on to discuss comparisons of some bottle teats to nipples, and you could clearly see that Avent are one of the worst on the market with a short teat. There was a photo image comparing teat lengths and you could clearly see how much difference there was to the recommended teats, which were much longer and better simulated to a nipple for adequate sucking. I will have to ask her which ones she does recommend, but I just find it funny that so many best sellers in their categories are not always the best at all! Having used Avent before I was quite shocked!

Kelly, I have used Avent for both of my boys, and am having trouble with the youngest and his fidgeting with the teat. I will be most interested to find out which ones are recommended!

OMG!! I never would have picked Avent for being one of the worst!! Hmmm Kelly you've got to find out what are among the top ten picks then.

I only noticed the difference when I bought another brand of teats and put it on the avent bottle. When you put on the lid to the bottle; the teat on the new brand I bought gets squashed and partly bent over because the avent ones aren't as long.

aahhh, maybe that's why Josiah fusses sometimes with the bottle...would be interested to hear what the recommended brand is.

Bel

Becka - just wondering whether the teats you fitted in the Avent bottle were the cheap dept store brands - had thought of getting them but weren't sure whether they'd fit and didn't want to waste the $

Sorry for getting off the subject.

ABA has known about Avent being the worst style of teat on the market for a little while now. I think the bes tis actually the older style ones. you know the type on the cheap bottles you can pick up from junk shops. Just the plain old ordinary narrow long ones.
I alwasy bought these bottles as a cheap EMB storage option but never realised the teats where also a better option. I too used Avent with Evan when he would have EBM. Glenn would take it from anything so I just used what ever was clean & handy, lol.

Jaspen, I bought the 2-pack (about $5) of the Heinz VitalFlow teats in '3' size which is the fast flow. They have several different styles, but I bought the one with the wide neck as I figured I'd need a wide neck to fit the Avent bottles properly. Most of the brands available in Woolies (home brand & well known brands like Avent, Pidgeon etc) looked like the neck of the teat would be too thin/narrow and it would leak when put in the Avent bottles.

There were some really fancy looking teats available in different shapes but were anywhere from $8 upwards, not something I was prepared to pay when there was a possibility that Maddy either wouldn't like them or they wouldn't fit. Either way, she seems happy with these.

WOW I can't believe that either! I bought the Nuk ones to begin with as I thought it would help prevent nipple confusion for some reason LOL. I figured since it imitated the nipple it would be best. Anyway they weren't...

I now use the Tomee Tipee teats which I have found to be great. I'd love to hear what is recommended though.

I noticed that lactation consultants and MCHN's I have encountered were anti Avent, but they never explained why. I did buy the cheaper bottles as suggested, but I found they were worse for Maggie than the Avent, so I just used them for milk storage.

both my boys have preferred the cheap "orthodontic" shaped ones which I bought just to try with some cheap slim line bottles I'd been using for storage (the double pack of teats cost a whole $1.50 at the time) but have got used to Avent once they were fimiliar with feeding from the odd bottle of EBM and thus I was like FionaJill - used whatever was handy. Initially though they did seem to have a bit of an issue.

ETA - I never knew how much had to do with the shape of the teat or the flow rate though cause they certainly preferred a faster flow rate than Avent bottles tended to come with - the fastest flow or the III on the variable flow was the only one they drink with.

I would have to agree. I have used Avent teats, the wide neck ones, and DS hated them. There were also some teats on the market that were "drip free" which were a bit silly, as you couldnt test the temp of the milk on your arm with them. The only way to do it would be to squeeze the teat with your fingers, which would not be hygenic.
I found the best teats for DS were the PUR brand. Never had a problem with them.

Well if you see pictures of a baby breastfeeding and see how far back they take the breast, you will see it's quite far - something a short teat does not emulate. There was a diagram with angles and lengths measures up and there was certainly less length and reduced angles in the Avent. Just passing on what a very experienced and successful lactation consultant displayed (who is also a MCHN in Melbourne - lucky, lucky women in that area!).

Matilda hated the avent teats & after I went out & bought 2 bottles & teats when I started using EBM I was shocked that she wouldn't take it. Then in my microwave steriliser was a cheapo bottle which I decided to use once to see & she took it perfectly. It doesn't surprise me, but at the time I was dissappointed that I spent $$ on good bottles & teats.

Wow that suprises me. I used the ordinary ones with DD1 and 2 but have used Avent... everything since DD3. I haven't really noticed any difference, Although I found them the best for coliccy babies. Tommee Tippee, I think it is, has a new flexi teat and bottle out two 150ml bottles and teats and covers for $20 in woolies. They are supposed to simulate the breast right down to the flexi teat and the shape of the bottle. I was tempted to buy a pack, but really have heaps of Avent ones at home. hmmmm makes me think.

Kate ~ Thinking more carefully about it - we changed the teats because Em didn't seem to be drinking fast enough. Sometimes taking a bottle over 2 hours whilst other times only taking 15 mins or so. Everyone else theory was that he was sucking so hard that he was cutting off the milk or something... anyway we tried another one which has helped slightly but he still has LONG feeds and just grazes on and off. Just must be him as baby rather then the teats I think!

Avent was the only brand i used with Nick, so that's pretty scary, but with Ryan i used the Tommee Tippee self steralizing ones and i love them

I breastfeed Indah & have expressed from early on with the AVENT pump & then used the bottles, never had any probswith nipple confusion... so I am happy with them... But interesting to read about it!

I bought one avent bottle for Lindsay and it was useless. The silicone is so hard that he couldn't even suck on it properly. So I have since always used the old fashioned teats and bottles because they can get them so much further into their mouths. Not to say that some people don't swear by them, but for a brand that espouses they are the closest to natural, they should put their money where their mouth is.

I used Avent purely because I like their bottles and pump the best. I pretty much had everything Avent, and I liked it that way as things all worked together. I was lucky however in that jenna only had occasional bottles of EBM through her entire first year, and would pretty much take anything that was shoved in her mouth!
We also used the Pur self sterilizing ones when travelling as we didnt have to take anything else with us, and all we needed was a microwave.

Its interesting, but I really do believe that the best teat for a baby is the one they will take ;)

wow that's really interesting, all my friends seem to think that they are better for baby's, they keep telling me that they are more nipple shaped than other ones lol
has anyone seen the new tommeetippee "Closer to Nature" bottles? i saw them at the shops the other day and i was thinking about buying them there a bit expensive lol $20 for 2 but they look really good, if anyone wants to look at them they aren't on the au site, but they have them on the uk one

Wow. Thanks for posting this Kelly. We tried the Avent teat with Ryan for all of a day and he got so cranky with it. It was like he was sucking the life out of it and getting nowhere! We bought one of the Tommee Tippee packs, 3 for $15, and haven't looked back. Ryan loves them and seems so much happier!!!!

i'm with candy - we use the tommee tippee 3 pack with the ortho teats - the girls were happy with them and a first/last fed from me for 8 weeks but no nipple confusion probs in this house

I went through all hell breastfeeding my first son, as he was so weak (born at 28 weeks), and I never made enough milk being unable to breastfeed until he was 6 weeks old.
I had to comp feed him with formula,using a mainline from nursing mothers, and a few other desperate measures, but as he also has severe projectile reflux (he could vomit milk back up at a distance of around 3 metres away from his head) feeding was "interesting " to say the least.
When he finally refused the breast totally at 8 months, I was also told my the early childhood nurse,,,,stay away from avent or the orthadontic teats. She said the old regular shaped ones were the most favourable for the sucking action that natural breast tissue allows. Apparently the orthadontic ones arent much chop either according to her.
She also said the plain cherry shaped dummies were the preferable ones to use as well.

I too tried to use the Avent bottles because I had to leave EBM for DS when going to uni. And the Avent Isis breast pump was the best one from experience with DD(baby #1).
DS would not drink a drop from the Avent bottles.
I asked mt CMHN and she suggested the Pur. I went to buy it and came across the Pigeon Peristaltic teat bottles. If you take a look, the whole teat is much wider and rounder, like the shape of a breast and to get the milk out, the baby has to suck the way they do with the breast. The teat is also very stretchy, like the breast. They say it immitates a breast and it really does.
I would express using the Avent pump and bottles and then feed it to DS using the Pigeon bottles. They are great. DS obviously prefers the real deal, but he will accept EBM from the Pigeon and is happy to drink water from the Pigeon bottles.
I recommend it and would be interesting to see how these were rated.

Because of Gus's struggles we have had loads of advice on feeding and nipple confusion etc. We regularly see a speech therapist specialising in feeding/sucking issues and numerous LCs. Every expert we've seen (bar one) has recommended the Pigeon Peristaltic teat as the "only" teat that even approximates the type of sucking involved with BFing. These teats fit in with the Avent bottle system so that makes things easy. x

And the winner is....:

The preferable teat for breastfed and really all teat fed babies is the old fashioned long teat, very little shape to it. There are a range available the longer the better, the cheapest is in the supermarkets all on narrow neck bottles, not the wide neck bottles. Simple like our grandmothers used. I will have a DVD out before to long on the whole topic of natural neurological breastfeeding. -- Robyn Thompson

Told ya so LOL

LOL......cheapos win, thank goodness.......interestingly the long neck cheap ones are the ones that Olivia and Charlie both took to easist........

Our MCHN, lactation consultant, speech pathologist and paediatric physio all recommended the Pidgeon Peristaltic Teats (or anything else that was long). So I figured that was enough good advice for me.

We were using Avent, as we had the Avent pump, but I changed to Pigeon.... now I am fully formula feeding and we still use Pigeon.

Like Lut said, they are stretchy like a nipple, and they are most cloesly shaped.

I have yet again changed teats to the Pigeon Peralistic ones and they seem to be the winners with Em. They are shaped like the cheapo ones (which we tried as well) but have a better flow rate for the poor little man!

It's interesting to hear this as I used AVENT with DD and never had any problems. I had problems with BF and she wasnt getting enough and would have top up feeds form the AVENT teat and bottle. She always attatched back to the breast freat and would feed well and wouldnt hesitate for breast or AVENT teat. I guess what it comes down to is what your baby prefers just like with the dummy.

Love

Yeah it doesn't mean that if you don't use it you *will* have problems - just that if you do use it, you are *more likely* to have problems. I'd rather start off with something I know is going to give me more chance to be successful with feeding, hence why I shared this stuff. But I haven't used bottles much or in a very long time - and hopefully wont have to again :)

I was the same with Ds#1 Avent was theonly teat he would take & I never had a problem with breast confussion. DS#2 on the other hand, would only take the old long style teats, but he hardly got EBM in a bottle anyway.

I never had any problems with Aleise taking the Avent teats but when she was first born the visiting MW instructed there is a fault with the teats for 0 months (size 1) and she recommended to upsize to size 2 and we noticed Aleise took more formula at one sitting then. We also use Pur and no probs with that either. I really think she's just not a fussy baby as she will basically take anything put in her mouth and has even consumed cold formula as the "bottle warmer bag" didn't keep her bottle warm longer than 2 hours!

Avent has been our best friend! coco has gone from bottle to breast the whole time and been completely happy. I would stick with them. I also loved the Avent Isis hand pump. xo

Another Avent user here too! We had no trouble with DD switching between Avent and cheapie brands. Good to know this though, might come in handy when we conceive #2.

Nic

As my DS was premmie, he spent a bit of time in hospital after he was born and every nurse we came across while he was there warned us off Avent teats. They advised us to go for a long style teat like the ones you buy cheaply in the supermarket (as mentioned in Kelly's previous post). We did so and they have been the best for him. I tried a couple of other different styles, but always ended up going back to the cheapies as he preferred them.

Its amazing how much money we waste on findin gthe perfect product. Between bottles, teats, pumps, nappies, slings & all those things in between we must buy so much that is a complete waste of money. I know myself have tried sooooo many different styles of sippy cups over the years & I always think, Oo thats $5 more then this one, it must be better! The best sippy cup I have found that is spill proof & they can still suck the water from is a $2 cup from the reject shop I bought one day to give glenn a drink with out him spilling a bottle of water while in the pram. So from my $16 cups to my $2 one. The o'l cheapo wins hnads down for me! Its the same with teats & dummies too. its always been the cheap ones that have been the best, but only after I have spent a forturn on the expensive ones!

Yep, same here with the dummies, FionaJill. Josh is only keen on the $2 Happy Baby dummies. I've bought him a couple of "nice" Tommee Tippee ones, but he's not interested! Not that I should complain - he saves me a fair bit on teats & dummies!