Introducing a bottle can sometimes be tricky if you’ve exclusively breastfed and many mums worry about combining bottle and breast in case it confuses their baby. This Medela Calma teat and bottle has been specially designed with this in mind, allowing babies to feed in a similar way as possible, making the switch from mum to bottle and back again less of an issue.
The one size teat lets her suck at her own pace and the bottles are compatible with Medela’s excellent breast pump range. Pricey, so best if you only need a couple for occasional feeds.
Calma is the unique feeding device for babies who are being breastfed, as it allows them to suck, swallow and breathe, as learned on the breast this support the transition from breast to bottle and back to breast again.
One review said, "The Medela Calma is the only teat you need when mix feeding between bottle and boob. This teat makes the baby suck to get the milk in the bottle, similar to feeding from the boob. It means our baby has much less reflux/choking on milk that just drips into his mouth, like other brands. The only thing that is isn't so enjoyable, is how sometimes the baby forgets that he needs to suck to get the milk, and gets cross, before he clocks what he needs to do."
Another mum said, "I bought several Medela Calma teats because my son was having problems latching and I wanted him to avoid nipple confusion. The teats only give your baby milk if they are creating a vacuum, i.e. sucking properly like they would on the breast. This means that the baby can use the same technique on the bottle as they do on the breast (and vice-versa). It is a good quality product; well made.
"Someone from my breastfeeding group complained that the clear part becomes cloudy but if you clean properly in spout it remains clear.
"The reason I say that the Medela Calma is good for those who are not breastfeeding is because the way the mechanism works the baby controls how much milk they get. I was using a mam bottle before this one, which was good but nowhere as near as good as this one. The mam bottle like every other bottle I know gives out a constant flow of milk, which means the milk dribbles down the baby's mouth a lot and the baby cannot pause. When I started using this teat there was a very noticeable difference in the amount of milk dripping down his face. He also seemed to need less time being burped at the end. I guess that's because the flow of milk was better as gulping milk down is one of the causes of wind. Also, because the baby regulates the flow of milk you don't need to buy a different teat for different ages so no need for slow, medium and fast flow teats.
"Another benefit of this teat is that if you knock the bottle over milk doesn't spill out (except maybe one drop that was left from the baby's last suck). I think this Medela Calma teat is well worth the money."