The use of an anti-colic bottle is often essential to relieve your baby from stomach discomfort and ease parents’ worries! However, many questions arise as soon as you start using one.
- How do colic symptoms appear in young children?
- When do they stop?
- Why use an anti-colic bottle from birth?
- Does the anti-colic bottle look like a regular bottle?
- Should its use be limited over time?
- Or on the contrary, can you keep giving it to your baby even after colic has subsided?
- …
Let’s discover all these answers together.
SUMMARY:
- Part 1: Colic
-
Part 2: The anti-colic bottle
- 1. What is the role of an anti-colic bottle?
- 2. Features of an Elhée anti-colic bottle
- 3. Should you stop using an anti-colic bottle once colic disappears?
- 4. How to warm your anti-colic bottle?
- 5. At what age should you stop giving your baby an anti-colic bottle for good?
- 6. And after? What should you do with your anti-colic bottle?
- Key points to remember
Part 1: Colic
1. How does colic manifest in infants?
Colic in infants appears in different ways, and it’s not easy to recognize them:
- Babies experiencing colic often have intense crying spells, which can happen at any time of day. These crying fits are often more frequent after the baby’s meals, late in the afternoon, or in the evening.
- During colic episodes, the baby’s face may become red, and they may clench their fists as a sign of discomfort.
- Colic can lead to a decrease in the infant’s appetite but without any associated weight loss (or only very briefly and episodically).
- Babies suffering from colic may have trouble falling asleep and may wake frequently at night.
- Your baby’s tummy may feel tight and hard to the touch during colic episodes.
- Colic leads to increased gas production, contributing to digestive discomfort.
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2. When do infant colic stop?
Most of the time, infant colic tends to calm down around 4 months old for most babies, much to their parents’ relief! This period often coincides with the introduction of new foods.
Some pediatricians sometimes recommend introducing more solid foods before six months of age to help reduce baby’s discomfort.
Note that infant colic are not dangerous. However, they can be quite spectacular and stressful. You can soothe your baby by gently rocking them in the evening before bedtime with their tummy on your forearm.
Hold your baby upright against your shoulder for 20 minutes after feeding—whether with formula (powdered milk) or breast milk—to help them burp.
Certain remedies like homeopathy can also help reduce infant colic.
3. Don’t confuse infant colic with other discomforts
Teething can sometimes be confusing: is your baby really suffering from colic? The symptoms of various issues can appear very similar:
- crying,
- tears,
- red cheeks,
- clenched fists,
- loss of appetite,
- night wakings,
- hard belly,
- loose stools,
- gas,
- etc.
If these symptoms leave you uncertain, it is better to check with your family doctor to make sure everything is fine and it’s just a phase to get through!
Note that gastric reflux can also cause discomfort in young children.
Overview of our anti-colic bottle range
Bottle 150 ml
Bottle 240 ml
Bottle 330 ml
Part 2: The anti-colic bottle
1. What is the role of an anti-colic bottle?
As its name suggests, the role of an anti-colic bottle is to fight against infant colic. It’s a common issue affecting 20 to 40% of babies, roughly 1 in 5.
Its design allows it to limit air intake and therefore reduce gas inside the baby’s stomach. Depending on the brand, your bottle may or may not have an anti-colic valve located at the base of the bottle.
Some bottles provide anti-colic benefits thanks to their special shapes: for example, angled or S-shaped bottles.
“A nearly spherical bottle like the one offered by Elhée can also significantly reduce airflow. Its generous shape, similar to the breast, makes it reassuring and easy to grip for little hands.”
2. Features of an Elhée anti-colic bottle
A healthy bottle for babies’ well-being!
The Elhée anti-colic bottle stands out thanks to meticulous design meant to ensure your child's well-being. Made from medical grade silicone, this bottle ensures maximum safety by being BPA free, thus providing healthy and risk-free feeding for babies.
It can be paired with a silicone nipple featuring a slow, medium, or fast flow, allowing this bottle to adapt to the evolving needs of each infant, letting you as parents regulate feeding speed according to your baby’s age and preferences.
A completely reliable anti-colic bottle, to boot!
Convenience is also at the heart of the Elhée bottle’s design!
Its clever safety system, marked by a specific notch, indicates when it’s fully tightened, preventing excessive over-tightening that could damage the threading in the long run. This feature ensures both the durability of the bottle and the total absence of leaks.
The silicone that makes up our BibRond is not only easy to clean, whether by hand with dishwashing liquid or in the dishwasher, but also maintains its integrity after refrigeration, with no alteration of the taste of its contents. In addition, heating it in the microwave does not release any plastic micro or nanoparticles.
3. Should you stop using an anti-colic bottle once colic disappears?
Once your baby is older and colic is a thing of the past, you might wonder: should I change to another bottle? 🤔
Or can I keep using my anti-colic bottle and continue giving it to my child?
Yes, as long as your bottle can hold enough milk for each feeding. A baby keeps drinking milk even after new foods are introduced. Until at least age one, your child will need to drink a growth milk bottle in the morning, as a snack, or even with every meal (recommended up to age 3).
Additionally, your baby is used to their bottle. It isn’t recommended to change their routine overnight.
New foods do not, at least at first, provide all the nutrition your child needs. The goal is, in reality, to introduce foods gradually and get your child used to new flavors.
Daily nutritional intake can certainly continue to be delivered using the anti-colic bottle. In fact, since this bottle is designed to limit air getting into your little one's stomach, your baby will feel more comfortable after each feeding. Digestion will be much improved.
Related content: Top 20 solutions to urgently adopt in addition to an anti-colic bottle 👶
4. How to warm your anti-colic bottle?
The bottle warmer is a must-have accessory for modern parents, letting you quickly warm up the milk in your anti-colic bottle without having to use a water bath.
Before choosing a bottle warmer, make sure it is compatible with your anti-colic bottle. The Elhée anti-colic bottle comes with adapter rings compatible with portable bottle warmers, which you can view HERE.
Note that regular sterilization of this equipment is no longer systematically recommended to maintain a hygienic environment.
5. At what age should you stop giving your baby an anti-colic bottle for good?
There’s no real rule!
Many agree that after your child turns one, the bottle is no longer essential for their development. Indeed, your baby has grown a lot! 😉 They can eat on their own with their fingers and can even bring a spoon to their mouth like a big kid.
Even if your help is still needed to finish their meals…
But should you completely take away bottles then?
This everyday item, like a comforter or pacifier, soothes your child and lets them revisit the same moments of comfort they were used to as a baby. A warm, soft, pleasant-to-touch bottle is not just a feeding tool. It represents an entire world for your child and encourages sensory development.
Keeping it available for your child, even as they get older, lets them make their own choices and prevents you from suddenly taking away an object they're emotionally attached to. Sudden removal can actually be traumatic.
Don’t worry, your child will be weaned sooner or later and will drink from a cup or bowl too, eager to imitate their big brother, sister, or parents!
6. What should you do with your anti-colic bottle next?
When your baby is ready and no longer wants to drink from a bottle, you can:
- Either keep it for a future baby,
- Or donate it to a mom you know or to your local maternal and child health clinic,
- Or recycle it by sending it to the organization TerraCycle!
Whatever you decide, don’t throw it in the trash or in nature... Even though medical grade silicone is an “inert” material (= which emits no environmental toxicity), it doesn’t belong in landfills or in the ocean.
🍼 And after the bottle, it’s time for the training cup!
Key points to remember about your anti-colic bottle
- Your anti-colic bottle is, at first, designed to reduce your baby’s stomach discomfort. Stomach aches caused by air can be very painful. As your baby grows, colic slowly disappears, but that doesn’t mean your anti-colic bottle is no longer useful!
- You can keep giving it to your baby even after their first birthday, and help them get used to it gradually.
- Elhée’s innovative BibRond bottles are soft, flexible, and mimic the shape of the breast. Don’t hesitate to give your baby the bottle, even empty, to play with. There’s no risk of breakage!
- Totally unbreakable and free of pathogens such as plastic microparticles or lead, this medical grade silicone bottle is completely safe for your baby’s health and development.
