In my home area of Lanarkshire, Scotland, where until recently the area 
held the distinction of having the worst breastfeeding rates of the 
entire UK (and we have woeful rates overall), it is common practice to 
punch extra holes in teats. It's one of those 'Mummy skills' that are 
not recorded or noted in official literature, but have a street wise 
credibility.  So knowing when to poke another hole through, and how big 
to make it, is a known Mummy skill.  Other Mummy skills are to know how 
to add the 'right' amount of extra formula to night feeds for longer sleep!

My point is, that if you look at cultures who have been using bottles 
exclusively for three, if not four generations, it's common practice to 
alter the teat to suit the baby (or the mother!).  As such, it's pretty 
well known, and accepted, and accommodated, that babies suck on teats 
differently, and that much fiddling is sometimes required to get the 
teat to accommodate to the baby.  (The skill was not making it too wide, 
and flooding the baby out.)

Somewhat at a tangent, but useful to observe that bottle feeding 
families have long understood that teats are not one size fits all...  
Also a skill that means you don't have to keep buying new teats as the 
baby grows....

Morgan Gallagher

Susan Burger wrote:
> Dear all:
>
> I don't think I have ever worked with a mother with a bottle that had more than one hole --- 
> except for a few babies that were receiving some predigested formula.  
>
> So within the one-holed variety of bottles I see a lot of variation in the speed of the flow 
> and the ability of babies to cope with that flow.
>
>   

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