The choice of bottle teat will depend on what you are feeding your baby. This in turn will depend on your baby’s age and sucking reflex. The right teat is therefore very individual. Which is why it is important to observe your baby's feeding behaviour closely and base your choice on that. The ages stated on packaging merely offer a guide.
Difrax has various sizes of bottle teats, ranging from Small, Medium and Large to Extra Large. The size relates to the size of the feed hole. All our S-bottles are provided with S-size teats as standard, with the exception of the porridge bottle XL.
Below is a guide to sizes:
- The S sizeis used for thin food. The S size teat comes as standard on all S-bottles, with the exception of the porridge bottle XL.
- The M sizeis used on thin and thickened food, once your baby reaches around 3 months of age.
- The L size is used for thickened and thick food, for example, milk thickened with baby rice, or porridge.
- We recommend using the XL size only for very thick porridge cereal from 9 months on. The XL teat is only available for the wide S-bottles.
Your child’s feeding behaviour will be the determining factor when choosing the right size bottle teat. The average feed should last approximately 20 minutes, regardless of age. The recommendation is to change to a larger size teat only when a baby consistently starts to take longer than this to finish a feed. The 1-2-3 teat can offer a solution for babies with very inconsistent feeding behaviour, and for switching between thicker and thinner foods.
Some babies may still choke with an S-size teat. In this case, change to the dental teat. This teat is designed specially for babies who easily choke when feeding or for whom the standard S teat is too fast-flowing.
Read more on how to choose the right teat or shop in our webshop now bottle teats.