Why does my baby drink too fast and then vomit?

We already had the slowest bottle

That was our frustration, more or less word for word. We had the slowest teat available, on NUK Perfect Match, and she was still drinking far too quickly and making herself sick.

So the teat wasn't the problem. The way we were feeding her was.

Hold a bottle upright and milk flows whether she's sucking or not. She then has to keep swallowing to keep up, which means she can't pause to breathe properly and takes in air along the way.

Holding the bottle closer to horizontal — just tilted enough that the teat stays full — puts her back in charge. She has to actively draw the milk, which is much closer to how breastfeeding works.

We asked whether a horizontal bottle would make her swallow more air, which is the obvious worry. It does not, as long as the teat stays full of milk rather than half air. That is the bit to watch. Some newer bottles also have vents designed to reduce swallowed air.

Stopping on purpose

The advice that sounded strangest was to interrupt her — to actually stop feeding her mid-feed, let her have a break, and then start again.

Every ten to fifteen sucks, tip the bottle down or gently break the seal for a few seconds. She breathes, catches up and has a chance to notice she is full. It sometimes worked beautifully. Other times she treated the pause as the end of the meal and refused to restart. Papa quickly learned that paced feeding helped, but it was not a magic trick every time.

A baby draining a bottle in four minutes hasn't had time to register any of that, which is exactly how you end up with an overfed, uncomfortable baby and a lot of laundry.

The rest of the setup

Sit her more upright rather than reclined. Flat on her back with a bottle is the worst version of all of this.

Let her come off when she wants to, then offer again. If she's done, she's done.

And never widen a teat hole. People do it to speed things up and it turns a controlled flow into an uncontrolled one, which is genuinely unsafe.