In the past year Dr. Browns produced and began selling a new specialty bottle designed for babies with feeding difficulties. It has quickly become the favorite if many families, namely those whose children were born with cleft lip and/or palate. Until the unveiling of the Dr. Browns specialty feeder most families purchased a very expensive feeder made by Medela - the Haberman. While a great option, the feeders and replacement nipples are outrageously expensive. The cheapest you can find replacement teets is on Amazon and they still run at least $30 for a set of three. For a baby who eats 6-10 times a day from these bottles, three teets might last a month if you are lucky. Most insurance companies will not cover them either despite being medically necessary.
Sadly, Dr. Browns does not make available the small little valve that converts a regular Dr. Brown bottle into a specialty feeder. These valves are very small and are easily lost or end up in the garbage disposal. I lost one to our disposal just this week. It is senseless that Dr. Browns cannot make these small plastic valves available individually. Parents of children born with defects that cause feeding difficulties, such as cleft lip and palate, face many challenges and costly surgeries to repair the lip and palate and make it possible to eat. Medela makes every single piece of their feeder available in packs for very little money. Sign our petition and tell Dr. Browns to meet the needs of babies everywhere by offering their specialty valves for individual purchase. Cleft lip and palate is the most common birth defect in babies today. There will always be a need for Dr. Browns bottles and valves.
