Medela Calma

TERRIBLE - leaky, fast flow, no temp test – My baby started struggling with colic at around 3.5/4 weeks old and so I went on the market for anything that would help and came across these bottles. I found them completely unhelpful and rather than ease my stress and my babies colic, they made everything worse. The biggest problem I have with the product is that my baby was getting so much… Read more

milk that it was leaking all over her and she was choking on it. This happened no matter what position we held the bottle in, upright, straight, angled or almost upside down. The flow is just ridiculous and yes I understand that the baby controls it but the whole purpose of an anti colic bottle should be a controlled flow that helps the baby drink with ease. Furthermore, if you want to check the temperature of the bottle its near impossible. You have to hold it upside down and squeeze it as hard as you can and sometimes it wont be an accurate estimate as the bottle gets droplets of milk stuck in the teat when you tip it upside down and they are cooler then the actual content of the bottle. Finally, there is no easy way to make up this bottle. There are several pieces to assemble it, you have to fiddle with it so much and adjust it to the perfect tightness or the whole mechanism doesnt work. As all mums know the last thing you want to do is make a hungry baby wait an obscene amount of time for their food. I cant stress enough how much you should not purchase this product, its so expensive and such a waste and provided no relief for my baby. I recently purchased the Minbie bottles and have been using teat Extra Slow and it has been a god send, no dripping, no leaking, easy to temp test, easy to assemble and exactly like a nipple. My baby is now 5 weeks old and her colic has settled so much, she has barely any gas and is really enjoying her feeds and I am so much less stressed as I can make a bottle in so much less time.

Less gas and vomiting – I don't often write reviews however felt compelled to after reading some of the other reviews online. We attempted the calma teat with our newborn when she was 1 to 2 weeks old. She initially struggled quite a bit with it so we gave up and resorted to the standard bottle teats. With these she was drinking quite fast, even with the newborn flow… Read more

teats, and ended up vomiting a lot after her bottle feeds and had quite a lot of gas and stomach upset.

Once she was 7 - 8 weeks we revisited the calma teat. She initially did not want to take it, however after starting her feed with breast I was able to sneak the calma teat in and she was then drinking from it with no trouble at all. She is much less gassy and vomits much less after using the calma and I believe is much happier as a result.

This , for me, overrides the hassle of the extra parts and the inability to test the temperature of the milk via the teat.

I'm sure it is not for every baby, it seems no one baby product ever is, but I am definitely glad we tried it again.

Clever design, we love it – We use this bottle once daily for our baby and have not had any issues since we started at about 5 weeks old (now 20 weeks). I love that she controls the flow of the milk and has to suckle the same way she does on the breast, and that she'll continue using the same teat as she grows for this reason. After reading the reviews I was a bit worried… Read more ·  1

about the complexity of the bottle but its SO simple - yes its more than 1 piece but they just slot together in 3 seconds. You just take it apart again to clean - again 3 seconds. One read of the instructions and you'll be set. Also no issues with leaks at all. Very satisfied!

Amazing teat! – Better than tommee tippee! Though baby drinks from both, there is less spillage and baby takes to it easily. I regret not buying more. Would highly recommend this product to anyone Show details

Very happy – The only treat baby will take, smooth transitions between bottle and breastfeeds. Replicates my milk flow. At first it looks a little strange, but I highly recommend this bottle for EBF babies. I did not experience any leaks. Ty! Show details ·  1

The bottles are great except the calma teat – The calma teat started leaking after two weeks of use. I started doing some research on this issue and found out they have the same problem as mine. I'm so disappointed with this product. I won't recommend using the Calma teat. Show details

A waste of $25 – Wish I’d opened packet before purchasing - just looking at this contraption baffles me as to how this would work. Teat is un-nipple like with a huge whole at the end. Very long neat which barely fit into baby’s mouth. Did not work for us at all.

Easy to assemble and disassemble for cleaning. 4 month old exclusively breastfed refused every other test/bottle and brand combination. Tried this one as a why not and the baby took to it instantly then just as easily back on the booby. Amazing wish I had this for my first born Show details

Not sure if using it correctly – Bottle is amazing, Calma teat itself is easy to clean. But recently we have noticed the flow seems to be very fast and there doesn't seem to be a way to reduce it. Would be good to know what we are doing wrong. Show details

This teat is amazing! – We struggled with latch the first 2 weeks of bubs life so she needed to have some of my milk through a bottle but I still wanted to give us the best chance of being able to breastfeed. My daughter took to them really well! Not only were we still able to establish a good latch and are now 14 months strong into breastfeeding, but this meant she can… Read more ·  1

have a bottle with dad in the mornings and I could nap! She has since started daycare and we used them for that, she has bottle at daycare and seamlessly goes to breast at home which has been such a relief. While these are on the pricier end to begin with, think about the fact that you don't need to buy new teats as your child ages constantly. We've been using the same ones for a year now with no issues and no sign of wear at all (I check them every single use to ensure nothing has broken down over time or gone a bit yucky). There's three pieces to a teat, even in my sleep-deprived-putting-remote-in-the-fridge state I was still able to assemble them for her in the middle of the night. Super easy to clean as well. I tell everyone about these and will continue to do so.

Great product – I am surprised to see such a mixed review on this product. I introduced my newborn to this teat at 2 weeks old as I had been having trouble BF. She worked it out relatively quickly. She paused when she realised she had to work for the milk but then got on with it. She is less gassy and can take a break whilst feeding rather than chugging to keep… Read more ·  1

up with the std teat flow. Only cons are: it comes in 3 parts Instead of 2 ( not a deal breaker) and is more expensive (especially when exclusive expressing for feeds).

We love it and have been using for 12 months now – When bubs was a newborn I had to supplement and thought this teat would be great to use. To get him used to the teat, I put my little finger in his mouth and started him sucking and then slipped the teat in. He very quickly got the idea that he had to suck to get milk. Easy to clean and no issue putting together (one handed at times). Show details

Baby loves it and easy to sterilise – This bottle was recommended to use by our private hospital as it mimicks breast feeding. Once our baby got used to it she wouldn’t take any other brand bottle! The advantages are that the flow is slower so it stops her from drinking too fast, parts are easy to assemble and sterilise. Some of the reviews here say nothing comes out but you need to ensure you don’t screw the test parts on too tight.  Show reply

excellent love it so much – calma teats is the best my newborn bub love it so much even he is on formula he suck it pretty good and doesn't have any problem. from day 1 I introduce it to him … ddnt have any problem. I highly recommend this and some of my friends they use it too  Show reply

Somewhat complicated, but effective – Our 2 week old baby took a few days to get used to the calma teat to drink expressed breast milk, but once he got the hang of it, it was great. A bit complicated to take apart for cleaning/sterilising and then put back together. Overall happy with the product.  Show reply

Good experience with three babies – I used the breastfeeding bottles and teats with my twins and found it easier to go from boob to bottle in their feds. Currently my newborn I’d 6 weeks old and it helped him a lot to transition to breastfeeding, when going through a period of breast refusal in the first week. Now he’s fully breastfeeding again and occasionally a bottle. I love the… Read more

electric pump, and would recommend Medela in the future. No problems with leaks, just make sure the tears are on properly before starting the feed.

Baby loves it. No issues. READ CALMA INFO BEFORE GIVING BAD REVIEWS – CALMA SYSTEM IS FOR BREAST MILK ONLY (ITS NOT DESIGNED FOR FORMULA, READ CALMA INFO SHEET). My baby loves it... It works fine and we had no issues so far. We started Calma from he was one week old using expressed milk only. I can't understand how some people find this product difficult to assemble, seriously are you people born with two left… Read more

hands?!?

We are using Avent Natural bottles and teats if we sometimes need to top up with formula on the go and Madela Calma for expressed milk only. Baby loves them both and we have no issues switching from Avent Natural to Calma to Breast. Good luck.

Perfect for the spewy wind baby – My 6 week old drank her first bottle without throwing up because of this bottle! God send! Also, if you squeeze the bottle milk comes out so you can check the temp, and my little one didn’t take to it right away either. I had to squeeze it and when a bit of milk flowed out and hit her lips that was all she needed to latch right on! Only thing I… Read more

don’t like is the lack of cover for when I want to take it out with us or keep it sterile for longer after cleaning, unless I haven’t done my research properly and there are covers for them.

Works great for our newborn – The bottle came with the freestyle breast pump and it’s the only one we use. We have been using it from 2 weeks old to cover one night feed. Our son eats like someone will steal his meal so it’s great that it makes him work for it and the Calma reduces the air he swallows leading to less gas. Which is a big win, especially for night feeds.

Putting it together is a sick joke – Try testing this temp with a separate teat then having to attempt to assemble it for a feed for a very hungry newborn. It’s like a sick joke where I’m left breast feeding on my low supply staring in desperate longing at this bottle filler with milk ready to go and no capacity to assemble it with one hand while trying to attend to a very upset Bub. Love it when you have time to check temp and assemble it but in desperate need it’s crap.

Deserves 0 stars, useless product – This came with my medela swing pump. My baby could not get any milk out of it and was very frustrates/ unsettled as a result. It is also annoying to clean and assemble the different parts. This product should not be on the market, or offered with the pump at all.

Worked for one baby, not for the other – I can understand the range of reviews on this. These came with my swing pump and I could not use the for my first baby, he was hopeless. couldn't latch to anything except a tommee tippee. He found sucking very hard. My second baby just loves them. I find I have to burp him much less than with other bottles and he eats just the right amount without… Read more

becoming over full and throwing up. So hit and miss. Buy one and try it. If it works, it will work great, if it doens't work, it will be hopeless. totally depends on the child.

Not a need to struggle so very much!!! – I am a grandmother who breastfed both daughters, and at three months old alternated and gave them breast milk using anatomically designed bottles with just minor issues. Later in life, while babysitting and trying to bottlefeed my granddaughter, I noticed these bottles’ design did not have anything logical that I could associate to a mother’s… Read more

breast. It was pretty difficult-not to say impossible- to feed the baby. I am sorry, but there is no sense to have a baby struggling so much to be fed. It is like underestimating a baby’s intelligence to be capable of alternating to a different “nipple” while trying to introduce some sort of an engineering physical roadblock to get their food. It really sucked...it didn’t suck.

Glad I tried it before reading the reviews. Works great! – The Calma came with our Medela swing pack. At two weeks of age we used it to introduce our boy to bottled breast milk and it worked seamlessly. Mum gave him an entree on the breast so he wasn't too frantic then left the room for dad to burp then bottle feed until he was sated. The next day he got a full bottle feed while mum slept in. We haven't… Read more

looked back. He's since been switching comfortably back and forth between boob and bottle.

Anyway, you can see that he can control the flow like when he's on the breast, nor does he seem any gassier. If anything, it seems a little easier to burp him after a bottle feed - possibly because the process is more time efficient and so the air is sitting higher/easier to expel.

We've also not had any issues with choking that have been mentioned in other reviews. We make a point though of sitting our bubba up quite high, resting his head on bicep/armpit. Perhaps feeding lying down can cause those issues?

Only reason I didn't give 5 stars is you can't test the milk temperature, but that's no deal-breaker for us. You can get a sense of it through the bottle and our little one doesn't seem too fussed about the temp (and it is never going to be too hot simply thawing in warm water).

Anyway, I wrote this review because I stumbled across these reviews while looking to buy a couple more and was surprised that so many of the reviews didn't tally with my experience.

Not long lasting – I purchased the medela electric pump (great product) and the calma bottles came in the pack. The bottles are slim line and easy to store. The teats however are a big disappointment. While the top three pieces act similar to a breast and make baby work for the milk, the teats themselves are poor quality and tear. The medela range has all sorts of… Read more

replacement bits you can buy except the calma teats. You have to buy the whole complete bottle (4 pieces) so you end up with numerous bottles and one by one the teats go in the bin. For the price this product is not long lasting.

Failure for newborns – Calma teat/bottle came with Medela swing pump I purchased. Pump itself is wonderful, bottle not so much. I was excited as per marketing thought this would allow easy transition between breastfeeding and bottle, allowing my husband to partake in feeding and have some bonding with our first born, now 4weeks old. Firstly can't temperature check like… Read more

typical bottles/tests. Teat is long and hard, with strawlike hollow opening and despite numerous attempts my newborn flat out would not take to it, and became extremely distressed in the process, with Baby and therefore myself ending up in tears. I may hold on to it and try when Bub is older but opinion is it's useless and impractical for newborns despite the claims.

Good product – Pros: immitates breast and it's not easy to suck from, so actually baby won't having problems such as refusing breast because bottle was easier to feed from. Sometimes baby can get lazy tho, so will have to go back to Avent bottle. Cons: tipping the end bit in the milk, make sure you close the bottle properly. Check it before giving to the baby. On multiple occasions Calma wasn't attached properly, so some of the milk ended up on the floor.

Fantastic bottle – This bottle is fantastic. My baby was very fussy when it came to taking a bottle. The medela Calma was the only bottle we had any success with, and I tried ALOT of different bottles. Easy to check the milk temperature and does have more assembly steps then most bottles, but is very easy to assemble. I highly recommend trying.

Excellent and unique – This teat was recommended to me by lactation consultant as I was having trouble breastfeeding due to latch issues. It replicates closely the breastfeeding motion and now that I am breastfeeding it enables easy transition between this and bottle feeding. It is expensive than most other teats but worth the money!

Great product! No complaints from me or my baby – I've brought 5 of thewe calma teats just because they work so well. I've had no issues transitioning from breast to the teats or vise versa. You can also check the temperature of the hot milk coming out by gently squeezing the bottle. I've done it countless times! And as for the baby not being able to draw milk out of teat , that's untrue. My baby… Read more

has no issues drinking the entire bottle from these teats and she rarely has wind. I like that the teats can actually stop my baby from over drinking as well.

The only reason I give 4 stars is because of the ridiculous price they ask for them but other than that , they work well.

Terrible product! – I got this with swing pack which is terrible! Firstly, no way to test the temperature before feeding! Then, there is no way for a baby to get milk by sucking. I tried, I could not suck any water out from this terrible thing. This thing should be out of market. It should only deserve 0 star! Waste money!

Rubbish – No idea how dummy the design is to come up with this product. They probably never try that on 'real' before releasing it to the market. Firstly, you can't test the temperature of the milk, as the milk needs to go through a space that's cold enough that the milk could become cold before dropping to the skin to test. Secondly, it's very hard to assemble, and you have a very large chance to drop some milk on your carpet!