Much better than the original hard rubber nipples that came with my screw top bottles years ago as well as the new pull on nipple tops for the new style bottles. The only thing I don't like about them is that my bottle babies started out on the Pritchard style nipples that screw onto soda bottles and I had a very hard time switching them over to the bigger, firmer nipples. I'll start any bottle lambs next time on these to begin with.