How to Find the Right Baby Bottle Nipple Flow 

When Leny Gocheva, a mother from Swampscott, Mass., gave birth to her second child, she didn’t think twice about the bottle her family would use. They’d successfully used a Philips Avent bottle with their daughter 3 ½ years earlier, so sticking with that brand seemed like one less thing she needed to worry about with a newborn. However, feeding didn’t go as smoothly for her son.

“After our son came home from the hospital, he struggled to gain weight and frequently spit up, which constantly woke him up,” says Gocheva. After numerous doctor’s appointments, possible milk allergy diagnosis, and biweekly weigh-ins, her son still hadn’t gained the appropriate amount of weight, and spent a lot of the time fussy or crying.

“Nothing seemed to help,” says Gocheva. “After a few more sleepless nights and continued weight loss, the pediatrician had us switch to hypoallergenic formula to eliminate the possibility of an allergy and put him on reflux medication in case reflux was causing his discomfort and crying. We also scheduled appointments with two lactation consultants—at that point we were desperate and worried he was heading toward hospitalization and a failure-to-thrive diagnosis.”

Fortunately, their lactation consultant picked up on the possible culprit—a bottle nipple that was failing to dispense milk efficiently.

“After hearing this, my husband tested every single nipple we had at the house,” shares Gocheva. “With some of them, he couldn’t get any liquid out at all. He also found significant variability even within the same nipple size regarding how much fluid they dispense. It had never occurred to us that the issue could be with the nipples rather than our baby!”

After finding a nipple that did work for their child, Gocheva says it was like they had a new baby. Their son started gaining weight, and he spit up less often. He didn’t cry for hours at a time due to hunger, and she says they were even able to stop using the hypoallergenic formula and reflux medicine. 

While Gocheva is thrilled that they were able to figure out the problem with the help of their lactation consultants, she says she still experiences rage and guilt.

“We couldn’t believe something like this could happen,” she says. “How could bottles/nipples not be more tightly regulated in the U.S.? I went back to Amazon and read some of the 1 star reviews and a bunch of other people had the same issue. It was a terrible feeling to realize that we had been inadvertently starving our newborn for weeks. At the end of the day, we were lucky that we figured it out relatively quickly and avoided hospitalization. Since then, we have heard stories that other parents are not that lucky.”

Gocheva is not the only parent reporting potential issues with the Philips Avent Natural Response nipple. Other issues similar to the one Gocheva and her family experienced can be found on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s SaferProducts.gov, as well as the brand’s website and Facebook pages, and in online parent groups.

CR reached out to Philips Avent for comment about the challenges parents have reported with the Natural Response nipples. They responded, “At Philips, we know how important it is for parents to feel confident in feeding their newborn, which is why we continue to optimize our product offerings and communications based on consumer feedback. For example, we brought back our 2 oz First Flow Natural Response bottle at the end of last year by popular demand.” The company also suggests referring to updated nipple flow charts and additional information about flow rates on their website. “For parents who might have questions on flow rate, or which bottle might be best to use, we also offer additional information about bottle nipple transition and flow rates via Philips.com product pages and retailers, as a starting point.”

Philips is also not the only brand whose bottles have been the source of frustration for parents. Other major brands like Dr. Brown’s and Comotomo’s bottles have also been the subject of parent complaints. CR reached out to both companies for comment. Dr Brown’s said in a statement the company had no current plans to change its existing products or nipple flow information and that caregivers should consult their pediatricians with feeding questions. Comotomo did not respond to our request for comment.