If there’s one aisle in Babies R Us that can be quite overwhelming, it’s the bottle aisle. I never understood people who said their baby wouldn’t take a specific bottle or nipple type. My oldest daughter took the first and only bottle type I gave her. When my middle daughter came along, I finally understood those parents. She refused to take certain bottles, and at some point stopped taking a bottle all together. Now, with my third baby, the game has slightly changed.
My son was born with a lip and tongue tie. He was diagnosed by his pediatrician, confirmed by a pediatric ENT who wasn’t willing to do anything to fix it, and again confirmed by a lactation consultant who strongly recommended he get his tongue and lip tie snipped. I felt that as time passed, his latch got better and it became easier for him to take a bottle – but every feeding time it’s work. We have to use certain techniques that work for us when breastfeeding, and different techniques to get him properly latched onto a bottle. I almost regret not fixing his oral issues sooner, because at 3 months I see he still has difficulty. He is gaining some good weight, but has a shallow latch and gets frustrated.
As you can imagine, we’ve tried many bottles. I thought we had settled on a very basic bottle with a narrow nipple, but even that he still has difficulty with. When I was asked to try out the new Chicco NaturalFit system, I was curious. I wasn’t sure how our experience would turn out, especially since the nipples on the Chicco NaturalFit are suppose to mimic the breast. Anyone with a child who has a tongue tie will tell you that breast-simulating nipples will not work well. Now, I don’t want to sound like an infomercial or tell you we had an amazing experience, unless of course it was true. When I first gave my son expressed breast milk in the Chicco NaturalFit bottle with the tilted newborn nipple, I expected him to play around with it on his tongue until he would eventually push it out. I was wrong. He latched on with ease and sucked down his entire bottle- something he’s NEVER done before. I took pictures of his latch on this bottle to show my husband, because I just couldn’t believe it. Thinking it was a fluke, I tried again the next day and sure enough, he was still latching with ease on the Chicco bottles. This was our personal experience, your experience may be different.
The Chicco NaturalFit system also comes with pacifiers, but those didn’t work well for my baby. given the shape of the nipple, I thought he would have been able to latch on and keep it in his mouth, but he wasn’t having it. Turns out, he’s not a pacifier-baby. He prefers his fingers!
You can find the entire Chicco feeding product line at Babies R Us. I love that Chicco has a 100% satisfaction guarantee for all NaturalFit bottles. Those who purchase NaturalFit bottles have the opportunity to return the bottles for a full refund plus the cost of shipping (up to $6.99) if they are not satisfied with the purchase. For additional details about the satisfaction guarantee visit ChiccoShop.com. Be sure to visit Chicco on Facebook and Twitter to stay in the loop on their current products and promotions.
There’s also a fun contest going on where you can win some great Chicco products
Chicco Natural Fit Contest!