Bottle nipple size to use if breastfeeding

I EBF my twins except for one bottle of EBM at bedtime. I googled a few weeks ago and found that level 1 is closest to the same flow as the breast so I shouldn't go up to level 2. Is that what others are doing? Are you staying at level 1. It takes my twins 20 min to finish a 7 oz bottle at level 1.

 

It depends on the bottle and the baby. With Avent they say level 1 or 2 is fine for breastfed babies and my daughter does better with level 2. Edited: My daughter has been using the level 2 nipple since she was about 3.5 months old. She was crushing the level 1 with her suck and it was taking forever for her to finish.

My boys both use/used Dr. brown's bottles and DS2 is on a size 2 nipple and DS1 eventually went to a size 3 nipple around 6 months when he was taking bottles. DS2 doesn't seem to need size 3 yet despite being 6 months.

Edited again: DS1 was EBF and the twins are mostly breastfed (bottles while I'm at work of pumped milk and a bit of formula).

 

^^ it depends on you and your baby 1 is closest to breast, but if it's taking forever for them to finish eating, or they are getting frustrated trying to suck, it won't hurt to bump them up to lvl 2. If #2 chokes them, you can move them back to 1 for a few weeks.

 

Again, depends on the baby and the mama. I have little chuggers and a forceful letdown/oversupply. So for my little ones, they will eventually move up to the level 2/medium flow because that will more closely resemble their experience with mama. And honestly, they just get frustrated if the flow is too slow.

Basically, do they seem like they are frustrated? If so, it may be worth it to try a level up. If they seem happy with the speed they get their milk, I'd stick with what you're doing.

 

It definitely depends. I say go with as slow as they will let you. My 11 month old is still on size 1 Dr. Browns and has no issues. I can't believe yours are drinking 7 oz though!!! That is a ton of BM to pump. Gigi only takes 4-5 oz of BM at any given time. I can't imagine if I had to pump enough for 7 oz per bottle (eek!)

 

My three month old takes a Level 2 on a Dr. Brown's bottle but like the previous poster, I have oversupply combined with a forceful letdown so she is used to getting her milk fast. I've been told that she gets mad and gives up with a Level 1.

 

Depends on the baby. We stuck with #1 the entire time but we didn't give bottles very often. I was sick once and dh was very frustrated with my son not taking a bottle so he tried upping it to a #2 size (without my knowledge) and baby almost choked. Needless to say, they did not go visit his parents. The theory is that if a baby figures an easier way of getting milk, they'll generally refuse the harder way (nursing). My daughter, early on if I was not persistant, totally would have refused breastfeeding if she had her way and I used a bottle.