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Choosing the Best Baby Bottle
Choosing the best baby bottle is an important purchase. It may be tempting to buy any-old cheap bottle out
there, but the rewards may be late-nights and fussy feedings.
These baby bottle pictures and reviews
will help you pick which bottle is best for your baby.
Besides burping him on a regular basis, you can help lower his fussiness and tendency for spit-ups by varying
your diet, changing the formula, or using a different bottle.
All bottles are not created equal.
There is a difference, and your baby will prefer some over others. My oldest, Lauren, preferred the Avent bottles.
My youngest, Elena, Dr. Brown's. I chose both for different reasons.
Here are the strengths/weaknesses of each of brand-name bottles. As always, there is a section for you to share
your experience with mom's wanting to know where to stop.
Read below for pros and cons of the top three bottle designs (Dr. Browns, Avent, and Playtex).
Skip to the Headlines
Is the Best Baby Bottle Glass or Plastic?
With the findings of recent studies suggestions that plastic bottles can harm your baby, it's no wonder that more and more
mothers are turning back to the good 'ole glass bottle. Here's an article looking at the benefits of
going glass.
Dr. Brown's Natural Flow Baby Bottle
This bottle is currently the highest-rated bottle on the market. I used it with my second, Elena, and it was
wonderful. She was pretty fussy in the beginning, but this design did the trick and we had a much happier baby
after switching. Here is a best baby bottle review of Dr. Brown's Natural Flow Baby Bottle:
- Features a patented internal straw-like vent system that eliminates air bubbles via a vacuum
system to allow positive-pressure feeding with no air (like in breastfeeding).
- Indiana University of Nursing found using these bottles over a 2-week period reduced crying
and fussing in 36 colicky infants
- Easy to clean and top-rack dishwasher safe
- Winner of American Baby Best of the Year (AMBY) award for 2004,
and Gold Winner in the 2000 Medical Designs Excellence Awards (MDEA)
- Cons to Dr. Brown's Bottles: Multiple and small parts can make cleaning difficult and loosing parts more likely
Try Dr. Brown's Bottles If...
Your baby seems gassy and fussy after eating. It could be he is swallowing too much air.
If you're only formula feeding, I recommend trying the standard bottle kit.
If you are combo feeding or pumping breastmilk, try the
wide-neck bottles.
The specially-designed wider nipples will help baby make the transition from breast to bottle and back again easier.
Remember Your Nipple Upgrades!
If your infant seems increasingly frustrated after trying to drink from a bottle, you may have the wrong
size nipple. Newborns require a smaller nipple hole, to help slow down the milk flow.
As your baby
grows, he will want faster and faster milk flow so he doesn't have to suck so hard to get a good drink.
Double check your bottle nipple size and plan on upgrading every 3-5 months.
Avent Baby Bottle
The Avent baby bottle was the best baby bottle for my firstborn, Lauren. I was combo-feeding (breast and formula)
at the time and found that the switch from bottle to breast and back again was really
easy using these bottles.
The wider nipple is more conducive to older babies. Elena started on Dr. Brown's but slowly began to prefer Avent once she
reached her first birthday. The wider nipple base meant she got more with each suck.
- The soft, naturally shaped nipple encourages proper latch-on, making it easier for baby to switch between breast and bottle feeding.
- The nipple features a built-in valve that flexes with baby's natural feeding rhythm so baby can control the flow of milk, which can help reduce overeating and spit-up.
- A clinical study demonstrated that at two weeks of age, babies fed with the AVENT bottle showed a trend to less colic than babies fed with a conventional bottle.
- Makes transitioning to and from breastfeeding easier
- Has no small parts to clean or assemble, dishwasher safe
- Easily found in most stores
- Cons to the Avent Baby Bottle: The wide-nipple may be too big for some mouths, causing a lot of dribbling over
on baby's chin and soaking clothing. Plus, if you don't get the nipple screwed on exactly right it will leak ALL over.
Try Avent Baby Bottles If...
You need a quick bottle that has few parts to put together, or if your baby is older than 8 months and has a hard sucking
reflex (wants more with every suck).
Unlike Dr. Brown's, Avent comes in 4-ounce bottles (in the Newborn Starter Kit
 ),
9-ounce bottles
 for babies, and
11-ounce bottles
for those little tigers with especially voracious appetites.
Playtex VentAire Angle-Neck Bottles
The Playtex VentAire bottle is the leader in angle-neck design
- The angle shape causes milk to collect at the end, preventing the baby from swallowing air
- Has a flexible disc at the removable end of the bottle that keeps air out of the liquid
(as opposed to near the nipple like the bottles above)
- Design encourages semi-upright feeding, which is recommended by pediatricians to help prevent
ear infections
- Easy to clean, dishwasher safe
- Cons to the VentAire Baby Bottle: Can be awkward to fill, must hold sideways or use a special funnel
Try the VentAire Bottle If...
You have several small children running around already, and will need something he can hold that will lower gas-intake. This may
also may be the best baby bottle for you if your baby seems prone to ear infections.
They come in 6-ounce bottles
or 9-ounce bottles.
So, in summary, the best baby bottle is the bottle that fits your baby best. Use the reviews of myself and other
mothers to help guide you in making a good decision.
Elena seemed to do best
with Dr. Brown's bottles in the beginning, but gradually shifted to the Avent bottle as time went on. What was
the best baby bottle at 3 month, may not be the same at 9 months!
All the photos on this page can be found at www.flickr.com and
were used
according to licensing requirements.
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