when to increase nipple flow rate?

how do you know when it's time to go up the next "size"??

we use playtex bottles and are already using "medium/3+mnth" nipples for our 5 week old

however, it takes her 20-30 mins to finish 3oz of formula (IF she even finishes it)

is this bc the nipple is too slow for her, or is she a lazy eater??

Re: when to increase nipple flow rate?

Good question!! I still haven't changed from SLOW on Ann's bottles (BM in Playtex Drop Ins) and she's 16 weeks!

Re: when to increase nipple flow rate?

we went from stage 1 to cereal nipples because we needed to add cereal... but when we dont add cereal we were at stage 1... dd was litereally getting mad and growling at the bottle..lol. so i went to stage 2... it still wasnt fast enough she was getting mad then would give up on eating because she was bored with it taking so long.. we went to stage 3 and shes doing great

we use dr. browns... i would say go by your dd. if shes getting mad up it.. if shes ok with taking that long leave her be

Re: when to increase nipple flow rate?

i thnk part of the problem is she gets confused


for just formula we use the medium
for the rare occasion we give water its the slow
and at night she gets formula and cereal so we use the variable flow


she never knows what shes getting! my poor baby

Re: when to increase nipple flow rate?

I used Playtex Drop Ins and we switched our DD from the Level 1 nipples to Level 2 around 3-4 months old because she was getting noticeably frustrated that the formula wasn't flowing fast enough to keep up with her. We never actually had to move her to the Level 3 (Fast) nipples and she's 13 months old now. She is still content with the medium flow. Go figure!

Re: when to increase nipple flow rate?

We switched to level 2 at 8 weeks...she was working really hard sucking, and it was taking her almost an hour to eat....sometimes she would get sleepy too


you can try the next one and see how it goes....if it doesn't go well, you can go back