I’d love to say that I’m looking forward to being up to my elbows in sterilising bottles, searching for teats under the sofa, and preparing bottles at 3am again. But the truth is, I’m not long finished doing this for Dexter! In fact, Dex is still using bottles at 17 months for his morning milk as he hasn’t quite figured out that drinking is preferable to wearing it!
For this new baby, I hope to breastfeed for a little longer than I managed with Dex - I’ve written posts bordering on essays about this in the past! But even so, I’ll definitely be expressing regularly so Craig can get involved. We make a very good team when it comes to childcare and I can’t imagine being responsible for every single feed on my own. I also think it’s incredibly important that daddy’s get in on the bonding action that comes with feeding and nurturing baby. It’s so important to Craig and I that if I couldn’t express, I’d definitely consider combination feeding to ensure Craig is involved.
Whatever your choice, and it really should be your choice, I’m always on the hunt for good quality products that help parents get to grips with feeding, and give baby the best possible start. The Haberman Suckle Feeder therefore had me instantly intrigued. It is a revolutionary and innovative new feeder that, unlike other bottles, does not require your baby to learn a different way to feed.
They pride themselves on being the ultimate complimentary bottle for breastfeeding mums as it simulates the breastfeeding experience for baby.
There are clear and demonstrable health differences between babies who are bottle fed and those who are breast fed and the Suckle Feeder was developed to combat these and provide a much more natural and safer way of bottle feeding.
Here’s the science…
Suckle System
Unlike other bottles, the Suckle Feeder allows the baby to feed from a closed teat, resulting in a more natural suckling based system which mimics the breast. This way the baby can feed in a more upright position and milk is delivered by suckling on the teat, rather than flowing under gravity (as with vented bottles). It responds like the breast to the action of lips, jaws and tongue, encouraging slower feeding and longer suckling, to properly exercise and develop muscles allowing your baby to feed at his natural pace.
This leads to improved speech development, reduces colic, overfeeding, guzzling and the risk of feed entering the middle ear or respiratory tract. Helping to avoid over-feeding is important because published medical research has shown that rapid weight gain in the first few months significantly increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in later life.”
Reducing Air Ingestion
The Suckle Feeder has created a revolutionary, more natural approach to reducing air ingestion that is designed to make the baby feed slowly and work hard. The closed teat means that air cannot be swallowed from inside the bottle. The teat stays filled at any angle and a filter system removes micro bubbles of air from within the milk before it enters the teat.
Easy Assembly
Designed with Mum and Dad in mind, the Suckle Feeder is also easy to assemble hygienically at 3am with a baby in your arms.
Pop! - Hold the teat by the outer rim and pop it evenly onto the filter.
Snap! – Snap the collar down over the teat.
Twist! – Twist collar down, then prime before use
So what do we think?
I’m impressed. It certainly looks different to any other bottle on the market with its tilted teat and lime green design. It’s very simple to assemble and feels nice and secure when you lock the components together at the ‘twist’ phase.
I tried the bottle on Dexter but he struggled immensely. This is no slight on the bottle as Dex is 17 months and has picked up a bunch of bad habits from conventional bottles. It’s been a long old time since he last fed from my breast! On a positive, he found the bottle very easy to hold and despite some rigorous shaking there wasn’t one drop spilt.
Trying it for myself, I could appreciate how different it was from Dexter’s usual bottles. You hard to work much harder to release liquid and I can imagine this being the case with breastfeeding. To drink, you need to continually suck which forces the tongue to the roof of the mouth which feels unnatural to an adult but does mimic the process of feeding for a baby.
Aesthetically, I love it. It’s very attractive and would look great in any kitchen. The bottle itself has a curved body which is easy for small hands to grip. You haven’t got several components that will easily get lost in the washing up bowl either which is a major plus for me. It’s also great that it holds a full 260mls - I personally think the smaller newborn bottles (150mls) are a con as baby will need than this in a single sitting before long. The volume demarcations are also very clearly marked if you decide to use formula to feed baby.
The bottles are now available on the high street from Boots for £7.49 - a little more than conventional bottles but trust me it’s worth the investment. You can also follow on Twitter @HabermanBaby and Facebook (HabermanBaby) for all the latest brand news.
DISCLAIMER: I was kindly sent a bottle to review - all words and opinions are my own.
