How to Choose a Baby Bottle Nipple: Material, Neck Size, and Flow

Choose a baby-bottle nipple by neck first, then material, then flow. AppleBear Baby’s catalog nipple is AB-001: a transparent liquid-silicone (LSR) nipple with a breast-feel shape, standard mouth, packed in a single box. A standard-mouth nipple does not fit a wide-neck bottle. A flow change is a nipple spec, not a new bottle mold. Start with the neck The neck is the thread that locks the nipple collar onto the bottle. Two families do not share that thread. Standard mouth (sometimes called standard neck or narrow neck). This is the thread on AB-001 and on standard-mouth bottles such as the 8005C gift-set line and the 60ml glass newborn bottles. Wide mouth (wide neck). A wider opening, easier to fill and clean. Wide-neck PP such as model 812 does not take a standard-mouth nipple. If the RFQ says only “silicone nipple,” the quote can ship the wrong collar. Write standard or wide on the same line as the bottle model. Buyers who already have bottles in market should send one sample collar, not only a photo of the teat. Material: liquid silicone, not the bottle body AB-001 is molded in liquid silicone rubber (LSR). LSR is a food-contact silicone, clear, and free of BPA. It is the nipple on the teat, not the plastic or glass of the bottle. Bottle bodies at this factory are food-grade PP or borosilicate glass. That choice is a separate line on the RFQ. See which body material to specify. A silicone nipple on a PP bottle is normal. A silicone bottle body is a different tool and is not this nipple. We do not quote natural-rubber latex nipples on this SKU. If a tender requires latex, say so before sampling — AB-001 will not be relabeled as latex. Shape and flow Shape is how the teat sits in the mouth. AB-001 is a breast-feel shape: a rounded slope meant to feel closer to feeding at the breast than a long narrow teat. Shape is fixed by the nipple mold. A new shape is a new nipple tool, not a print change. Flow is how fast milk leaves the hole. Buyers usually specify slow, mediu