Seeking the formula for parenting

Blogger Content: September 2006 - April 2010

Flexible Links

My Blogging Inspiration
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Flexible Affiliations


Parent Bloggers Network
- Crazy/Hip Blog-Mamas+
(Random Site)
A Member of Bust's Girl Wide Web
Parenting Blogs - Blog Top Sites
blog search directory
Search For Blogs, Submit Blogs, The Ultimate Blog Directory

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting Goes Undercover III

Once again Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting received the opportunity to go undercover. By that I mean that my older son (OS) had an appointment with a pediatric dentist. Since the last time I took OS was quite an ordeal for me (although I was told he did well which may me wonder what the kids who didn't do well were doing) combined with the fact that this time I was told they would be a smidge more aggressive with the cleaning, I decided that the dentist appointment would be the perfect father son bonding experience. (My husband did not appear enthusiastic, but I was looking for compliance not contentment.) Of course I couldn't miss an opportunity to extract...I mean obtain information of course...for myself and my blog.

I had my husband ask the dentist the following question: "Should our 5 month old who's solely bottle fed be using an orthodontic nipple?" The answer was "No, but if you see him start to suck his thumb, go out and get an orthodontic pacifier."

Wait a minute, what's the deal with that? Apparently when the term orthodontic is applied to bottle nipples, it means that the bottle nipple is shaped like the mother's nipple, while when applied to pacifiers, the term orthodontic means that the pacifier will help to promote good oral development. If OS were breastfed, I would be trying to minimize the chance for nipple confusion and might be very interested in an orthodontic bottle nipple. Since I do not breastfeed, this concern is not applicable to me. On the other hand, good oral development is relevent no matter how a baby eats.

If you should look at the Playtex website, you will see that orthodontic pacifiers such as Playtex Ortho-Pro are described as pacifiers that allow plenty of room for the teeth to come in as well as for the tongue to rest comfortably. The pacifiers that are described as most like the mom's nipples have names like MostLikeMomPacifier. However if you look at the Playtex Orthodontic nipple for example, it does say that it promotes oral development but it is also described as being similar to the mother's nipple. Likewise Gerber's orthodontic nipple is the NUK which is described as being most similar to the mother's nipple. The NUK pacifier is described as being orthodontic, but the pacifier that is described as being like the mom's nipple is the Gentle Flex.

The description of orthodontic nipples isn't really surprising. After all, since breastfeeding is natural, it would make sense that mother nature would provide the perfect orthodontic nipple. I just wanted to know if an orthodontic nipple was important for a non-breastfeed baby. Obviously you should run this by your own pediatrician or dentist if you're concerned.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Orthodontic can mean different things for bottles nipples and pacifiers; make sure you read the packaging or better yet ask your pediatrician.

Labels: , , ,

posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:11 PM   0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Home
 

My Profile

Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
See my complete profile

Flexible Media Appearances

The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Fox TV, August 3, 2007

Flexible Feeds

More Flexible Parenting

Grasshopper New Media Parents
Just Cause
Birth Days

Flexible Categories

Previous Posts

Archives

For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

Powered by Blogger
© Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting


Creative Commons License
Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting by Alex Elliot is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Template Design based on one produced by isnaini dot com