69: Signs Your Bottle Nipple is Too Fast For Your Baby

(This baby is dribbling milk out of the corner of their mouth while trying to take their bottle.)

Last week I shared my new favorite bottle for newborns and why. This week I’m going to review some signs that the milk may be coming out too fast for your baby. 

When the milk flow rate is coming out too quickly, it can not only cause distress but also discoordination of your baby’s swallow. Like trying to keep up with too much liquid coming into your mouth too fast. As you can imagine, this is not ideal for safety, enjoyment, or digestion.

So without future ado, here are some signs the bottle nipple might be too fast a flow rate for your baby. 

First up is “noisy” or “messy” feeding. Gulping, dribbling milk out of the corner of their mouth, coughing and/or choking while taking a bottle are all signs the rate is too fast. Some babies even start putting their tongue in a funky position to block that waterfall. (Some babies are very good at compensating when necessary.) Another sign that the milk flow rate is too fast is super fast feeds with large volumes. We are not meant to down full meals in 5 minutes and neither are infants. 

Since the flow rate labels on bottles are not comparable between brands/types, it is often easiest to go down a size within the exact bottle system you are currently using. Unfortunately, a different “slow flow” brand, or even different bottle system within the same brand, may or may not be slower that what you currently have. So if there is a step down option within the brand and exact type of bottle you are already using, that’s a great place to start.

Now, if a simple nipple change doesn’t resolve things or you keep seeing signs of difficulty, then I recommend seeking support, possibly from a speech language pathologist who specializes in infant feeding, to rule out other issues and provide specific bottle recommendations as well as feeding strategies. Getting to the root issue of feeding concerns quickly saves time, money, stress, and helps avoid snowball issues. 

Regular coughing or choking, shutting down, difficulty taking in nutritional needs, labored breathing, congestion, wet sounding breath, change in voice, constant gulping, other odd sounds, or frequent milk loss is not expected when your baby is eating. 

Now I don’t mean that to worry you. Some babies have a moment of gulping and then feed the rest of the bottle without issue. They just needed a moment to get organized, especially if they were hangry or upset before their bottle. And, many babies only need a simple nipple swap. So if you notice consistent signs of a too fast rate, give swapping the nipple a try. You will know (or your baby will tell you) if the flow change is too slow and they are frustrated, collapsing the nipple, or working so hard to get the milk out they fatigue before they can fill up. But most parents, in my experience, are simply using too fast of a nipple or accidentally using a variety of nipple flows because the number on the side is hard to see…

If you have specific questions regarding bottle flow rates, or other infant feeding questions, shoot me an email at Barbara@FeedingbyJanuary.com. I can’t wait to hear from you. And if you found this episode helpful, I would be so grateful if you took one moment to rate the show.