I am about to head back to work in a few weeks (Yes, there's no holiday break for me!) since my maternity leave is about to end. And so begins my story of starting to bottle feed.
My newborn (aka Thing 2) is very impatient when it comes to drinking his milk. I was building my milk supply by doing a direct latch on one breast, while pumping the other one to maximize each letdown. And I noticed that every time my let down would stop or my milk would slow down, Thing 2 would always kick his feet, get irritated, and cry as if there's no milk flowing down.
And so I would resort to feed him my expressed milk from a bottle. Though the nipple of Medela is already a slow flow, he would chug his milk so quickly as if I deprived him of milk when he was sucking at my breast.
If he'd rather drink from a bottle than directly from me, my milk supply will go down because my nipples will not be stimulated enough.
I needed to find a nipple that simulated a real person's nipple so that my child would not prefer a fast(er) flowing teat (vs mine). I found Medela Calma. Medela Calma is the latest innovation from Medela which functions like a real nipple instead of just a synthetic teat.
According to Medela it:
- Enables babies to maintain their natural feeding behaviour learned on the breast.
- Babies can drink, breathe and pause regularly.
- Supports an easy transition from the breast to the teat and back.
- One size is sufficient for the entire breastfeeding period, just as in nature.
Convinced that I needed it, I bought one Medela Calma locally for P700 from a distributor. It is a bit pricey but I just wanted to try it out since I was desperate to protect my milk supply.
So what's my verdict? I give it 3/5
- The Calma takes a longer time assembling since it has 3 parts (excluding the cap and the base cover) vs a normal nipple that only has 2 parts.
- Very expensive but should be worth the money if you don't need to change nipples at each stage of a baby's life. Just don't know yet the strength of the silicone nipple -- how long it will last before it tears.
- With my child, there was no nipple confusion and he transitioned quickly from breast to Calma. Milk doesn't flow out of the Calma unless properly and effectively sucked on by an infant, which helps promote longer breastfeeding.
- However, for impatient newborns like mine, I suggest that when they are hungry and fussy, use a normal teat first. And then once they have relaxed and settle down, change the teat to a Calma.
I give it 3 stars our of 5 because of the price and assembly bu over-all, it served its purpose and delivered its promise.
Jersey Lomellina one-shoulder tank $150
Tulle draped bandeau tank $125
Off the shoulder tank $118
