I am unaware that Avent has a valve in it. The ones I see are just nipples
and rings and bottles. The valves I am imagining are like on the Starter SNS
or the Haberman feeder. The reason Avent is not so popular anymore is that
the teat is too long for some smaller, weaker sucking babies. They end up
tip sucking with lips just to the fat base. You get a more "fish lips" look
than we want. Look at the box the next time you go to a store. There is an
older baby in the photo with a perfect lip latch on this nipple. Wide mouth
and on the fat nipple base. Premies tend to tip suck on this nipple with a
tight mouth. Weak babies get little for their efforts. I will try your
suggestion to squeeze the air out of the nipple and see what happens. I have
also heard that if you screw the Avent ring on too tight it doesn't work
properly.

No, we don't want a bottle that keeps dripping and forces the baby to keep
swallowing. This exact scenario is what keeps them from learning to
breastfeed. Because they have to work at sucking, swallowing, and breathing
on the breast and this fast flow teaches the opposite (do nothing suckle
wise or you'll drown in even more flow). Also, babies need to be able to
suck, swallow, then breathe and if the bottle is flowing too fast they never
get that pacing in with proper breathing.

I have seen too many premies who are bottle fed fast flowing bottles get
defensive and keep their lips pursed and and tight on the bottle (same
technique trying to latch them on) and they won't initiate sucking because
they have learned not to, or drown in fluid. It can be darn near impossible
to teach them to breastfeed if they won't initiate sucking. At the Wolfe and
Glass conference, they talked about how some premies end up having feeding
problems later on, say at 4-6 months when they totally quit eating.

Plus, think of how uncomfortable this would be if you were forced to keep
eating and swallowing without a break, or being able to do it at your own
pace. You would not enjoy your meals much if it kept coming and coming and
you had to quickly swallow without letting up.

Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC

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