Medela SpecialneedsTM Feeder 150ml

Excellent bottle

Good

Sorry this is so long but I wish I knew these things in the beginning. My daughter was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate on her left side. We had no idea because we were never able to see her face on the ultrasounds due to positioning. The moment I found out my main concern was feeding my baby girl. I didn’t know if she would have feeding difficulties I didn’t know anything about it. I tried breast feeding but it made everything way more stressful at the time. The NICU nurses gave us these Medela bottles and they work amazing. It was hard at first. Its a difficult bottle to get the hang of and I had to try a few different things and angles and pressures to squeeze it. It took me a week to figure out how to even use it properly because the nurses in the hospital weren’t familiar with it. The moment it changed and got easier for me was when I researched this bottle. I found a video from the lady who created this bottle. She explains how and why it works and how to use it. IWhile your baby is learning to drink and suck and swallow it is more difficult at times and what worked best for me was just taking the time while I'm feeding my baby to focus on what she was doing with her mouth. I realized I can feel her movements and when she wanted to drink and wanted to stop. Its super important with this bottle to pay extra attention to when your baby is ready for a break to get a breath for a second in between swallows. The milk only comes out as you squeeze the nipple and you can see how much is coming out if you squeeze it in front of you first as a test. The cons is they only go to 5 ounces, theres no cap, and its probably ideal for just mom and dad to use since theres a lil bit of a learning curve compared to other bottles. We ended up getting some of the Dr.Brown Specialty Feeder Bottles thick and thin ones, the thin ones work perfectly for my baby girl and they hold 4 or 10-12 ounces I think. They just have a little blue insert that goes in the nipple and I think slows the milk flow for them. I wish I had all the bottles the say she was born just to try them because the Dr.Browns are easier to use and everyone else can help feed her if needed. However these Medela bottles dont leave her as gassy as the Dr.Brown bottles do. I still use these bottles and they are my personal favorite to use when I feed her but I mostly use them at night now because if I leave them and they tip over they dont leak. The Dr.Brown bottles leak everywhere if the fall over without a lid!! If you have a baby with a cleft I think you should try this bottle at least once. They may like it due to the fact that they dont have to work as hard to drink but I know practice makes perfect. Also no matter what bottle you use. I’ve found that the more often I burp her, the more content and happy she seems. She will burp 2 times from half an ounce sometimes. If you read this review thank you and I hope it helped you in any way and if your angel was born with any abnormalities just remember to be extra patient and extra loving. Thanks the support and help you are given by others and thank yourself because you are doing great and your baby is beautiful and so blessed to have an amazing parent doing the best they can do with what they have to work with.♥️

Due to cleft palate my baby was unable to feed, thanks to this, my baby now sleep with full stomach. Grateful!

Most reviews are for cleft palate/lip newborns so I thought I would leave a review as we purchased for our newborn who has a weak suck, tight jaw, and an uncoordinated tongue *see update below*. As a result, he has been unable to get an effective latch or suck. A nipple guard helped some, but he still only pulled an eighth of my supply from a breast. After some research, we purchased this as a means to mimic the breast as much as possible and also for the awesome benefit of him having to work on strengthening his tongue and suck. It has been really excellent as we can also mimic the nipple towards his nose to get him to open for a latch before allowing him to take the "teat." We are very gentle and mindful when rinsing/cleaning as these are quite expensive and so far it has held up well. Also huge bonus it fits with all Medela bottles since I'm currently exclusively pumping.*update* still 5 stars just to share that I posted this review before my little guy was finally diagnosed with a deep posterior tongue tie. The speech therapist and ENT were not surprised that this was the only bottle effective for him and actually super impressed I even found it (kudos to the Baby Whisperer!). I am grateful we found it otherwise I fear he would've lost a harmful amount of weight by the time we could get in to see the right specialists and have his tongue tie released.