BIBS Bottle Nipples and How to Choose the Right One

All babies are unique in their own way. They have different needs, different preferences, and different sucking techniques when feeding. To adapt to this, our range of bottle nipples offers different flow levels to suit your baby's unique needs. Flow rate refers to the size of the holes in the nipple, which affects how quickly the milk flows into your baby's mouth.

Our bottle nipples are available with slow, medium, and fast flow rates – suitable for both milk and water.

Since all babies are unique, it may be necessary to try different flow rates to find the one that suits your child's feeding habits.

However, a slow flow is recommended for newborns to slow down bottle feeding, allowing them to better mimic breastfeeding, gain better control over milk intake, and prevent overfeeding. Typically, the flow rate will change over time as the baby grows, and the older the baby gets, the more they will prefer a faster flow.

In summary, we can conclude that every child is different, and many factors determine which flow is suitable for your child. That’s why we have not defined age recommendations for our nipples and their flow rates.

Registered nurse Kirsten Lise Andersen* from Denmark recommends using a bottle nipple with a slow flow when feeding a baby with a bottle (and while breastfeeding). This is because breastfed babies are used to "working" for milk during breastfeeding, as it is harder for the baby to suck milk from the breast than from a bottle. The flow rate should reflect the flow from the breast. If it’s too easy for the baby, they might even refuse the breast.

It should take about 15-20 minutes for the baby to finish the bottle. If it’s much faster, consider a slower flow, and if it’s much slower, consider a faster flow.

If your baby is not breastfed, you do not need to mimic the breast as closely. To find the right flow, you can look for the following signs:

Signs that the flow is too slow:

• The baby becomes impatient or irritable during feeding.
• It takes longer than 15-20 minutes to finish the bottle, or the baby falls asleep while feeding.

Signs that the flow is too fast:

• The baby is swallowing too much.
• The baby is coughing.
• The baby is choking.
• The baby is swallowing too much air.

*Kirsten Lise Andersen is a registered nurse and public health nurse with her own practice called “Working with Infants.” She has 15 years of experience working with children as a registered nurse and is a mother of four sons. Kirsten is BIBS's advisor on all things related to health, as she has extensive experience and the necessary expertise to answer all our and your questions regarding infants.