Since our son has a cleft palate, it’s best that he doesn’t use a baby bottle that comes with a regular bottle nipple. He needs a specialized feeder bottle to help him drink his milk without problems such as the Special Needs Feeder (made by Medela) formerly known as Haberman Feeder. This special needs feeder is not only for babies with cleft lip/palate but also for babies that has problems sucking milk on their own.
Special Needs Feeder has a bottle nipple or teat that allows me to control the flow of liquid going into his mouth. It has three settings: low, medium and high. All I need to do is turn the bottle to the proper flow rate. For instance, if I notice that he is drinking too slow, I would turn the bottle on the low setting to prevent him from choking. Or if he is really thirsty, I would turn it to either medium or high flow. On his end, he just needs to squeeze or bite the bottle nipple in his mouth and the right amount of milk will flow out.
After doing research on how to feed our baby, I found this good online store (babytalkstore.com) that not only sells the complete feeder but also sells replacement parts for the feeder. Since I can use any standard bottle container, I mainly ordered parts for the bottle nipple and just one container that is 150ml. In the mail today, I received some parts that goes with the bottle nipple such as the valve disc and valve membrane. In few days, I should receive the teat (nipple) and collar (part that connects to the bottle container).
Even after our son has surgery on his cleft palate, I will continue to have him drink his milk using the Special Needs Feeder to prevent any damage on his repaired palate.