

Since about 10 weeks of age, my four-month-old son Axel has been refusing bottles and has been exclusively breastfeeding.
Some babies refuse bottles once the sucking reflex that they are born with disappears and sucking becomes due to conscious effort rather than reflex. Unfortunately for me, my son fit into this category of fussy feeders.
My husband Eddie and I have tried multiple brands of bottles, at different times of the day; expressed milk versus formula; feeding in different locations in the house; various distraction techniques; and changing it up between Mum and Dad feeding – all with no success.
Giving up on this increasingly frustrating exercise for a time, I had accepted that until weaned onto solids, Axel and I would literally be attached at the boob. While in a weird crazy mum way this made me feel kind of special and wanted (don’t judge me!) after four months I have been craving a more substantial break from the little guy.
Being asked to review the Tommee Tippee Advanced Anti Colic bottle and the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature glass bottle gave me the motivation I needed to give bottle feeding another crack.

Bottle #1: The Tommee Tippee Advanced Anti Colic bottle
We had not tried Tommee Tippee bottles before. The first thing I noticed was how cool the bottle looked: it's colourful, and the three-piece anti-colic straw had me intrigued.
Also, the teat shape is unlike the other bottles we have used, which have had much longer teats which are nothing like my nipples.
To be completely honest, we did have a couple of unsuccessful attempts at first, with Axel doing his usual thing - swirling the teat around his mouth and turning his head away from the bottle.
Then one morning Axel had slept for 11 hours overnight without waking for a feed (yes, we may have a fussy feeder but we are lucky to be blessed with an incredible sleeper!) he woke up absolutely ravenous, almost chewing his entire hand off, I knew this was our best chance.