Which brand bottles do you use?

[blessedatlast]

Ok I want to know there are so many different brands of bottles, is there really a difference? My breast pump is a medela but that doesn't mean if I do end up using bottles I have to use medela does it? Can I just express into medela bottle provided then pour into bottle of choice?

I have a tommee tippee steriliser that was given to me but it fits all wide neck bottles, so if I do end up using bottles I was going to just use Tommee Tippee. They are BPA free, but there is all this anti colic stuff and I have heard avent brand is best.

SO... What do you use? Have you always used the 1 brand and do you REALLY think there is a difference between brands or is the anti colic thing a marketing ploy?

[Arimeh]

I used what the kids would take. DS would take anything, so we started with Avent then they would all leak and gave us the shiats so we switched to pigeon (sp?) cos my sister used those with her kids.

Then DD1 wouldn't take anything but the pigeon ones.

Then DD2 came along and we used the pigeon ones, however to replace the teats it meant a huge drive over the other side of town to the only chemist that sold them - so we switched to the NUK bottles and she took them fine.

Sometimes it depends on what the bub will take so if you were going to use them, might be an idea to have one or two different types available - just in case

[ladybirdflies]

depends on what you are making a choice based on. If you want the safest bottle for your baby go for a glass bottle. Happy Baby, Nuk, Green to grow, there are wide neck ones too Chicco, Pigeon and a few more. THey can all have covers added to them to make them drop proof. Glass is better at regulating the temp and are the only safe bottle to drink from long and short term. They are not glass like our glasses that we drink from, but a glass that is used in science labs so more durable then regular glass. I have a glass sippy cup(which we take everywhere) for my toddler and have used only glass or crockery for all of my kids and there really has not been an issue with breakage. Anyway, I really have a passion about what we serve up to our kids and how safe is it really. Yeah they have taken out BPA after a huge amount of public pressure but there is still no such hing as safe plastic when you are heating it for food use.
Goodluck!

[Aussiegirl777]

It's funny how many bottles we have tried with just one little baby boy. I wonder if there is anyone who has actually purchased a brand of bottle and used it without drama.

First I wanted to only use glass bottles. When DS arrived he didn't like the flow from the teet and there was no other teet to substitute so we went straight to the shops and bought Tommee Tipee. He liked those for a while but then he got reflux and we wondered if the Tommee Tippee bottle was flowing too fast, we were on a level 1 teet so there was no-where else to go. We went out again and bought NUK bottles. DS liked those too but the reflux got worse and we changed formulas and it wouldn't flow through the teet properly. So it was back to the store and we bought the next size up Tommee Tippee teets and back to using those bottles and everything worked well. In the meantime I sourced some really expensive glass bottles from France at Wholesale price and bought 4 of them. DS hates them so they never get used. All of this has been experimented with over his 4 months of life on this earth and it's quite funny because we never thought bottles could be so complicated. Mind you that was because I was always going to breast feed but that didn't work out either!!! LOL!!! So now that we have his reflux under control and know how to use the formula properly we find that he alternates between Tommee Tippee and NUK and loves them both.

[blessedatlast]

Well, it seems some bubba's are fussy!

Mrs Nerd Burger - I can't read your name without cracking up! I will look into getting a couple of different types, and I'll see whats readily available at my local shops so I don't have to travel cross country to replace if need be.

Ladybirdflies - I thought they only used glass bottles years ago.. I can't even recall seeing any! I'll look into it though definitely. Do you sterilise them the same? Are they heavier than plastic (just thinking for lugging around if I had to)

Aussiegirl777 - I intend to exclusively BF too, but may end up expressing at some point..

Thanks for your replies ladies.. I guess it's a little research, a little trial and error

[~StarBright~]

We used avent and she took to them no problems. I found they do leak if I havent done them up properly or if I forget to put the little ring thingy in them- but other than that we have had no worries at all!

[~clover~]

I'm with MNB. I had the cheaper ones for the girls, then before DS I was given Avent. He didn't like them.

Tried those & the Closer to Nature ones with DD... nup.

The easiest ones they found were the cheapies. They are/were boob babies. DS never took to the bottle really, but DD has a bottle of water all the time & she's fine with those.

[LuluHB]

My advice would be to only buy one, and make sure your bub likes it before stocking up. DD2 flat out refused bottles for months and for medical reasons, had to be on formula so we had a huge struggle. I tried literally every brand you can buy, including special needs bottles from the children's hospital. After a very, very long struggle she ended up taking the nuk bottles - one of the cheapest there is!

With DD1 we used avent and TT Closer to nature. She wasn't fussy - she just wanted to fill her tummy!!

[emc2]

Ok I want to know there are so many different brands of bottles, is there really a difference? My breast pump is a medela but that doesn't mean if I do end up using bottles I have to use medela does it? Can I just express into medela bottle provided then pour into bottle of choice?

Pigeon are compatible with Medela

I got 2nd hand Pigeon on ebay

one finger typing as feeding now

[blessedatlast]

LuluHB - I'll only be buying 2 bottles to start because I really hope I don't need them.

EMC2 - That's really good to know I can use pigeon with my pump

Thanks again ladies

[emc2]

just get standard bottle

pigeon breastmilk storage bottles are cheap as chips

buy separate teats read size carefully

[~me~]

I only FF my DS1, his favourites were the Avent and Dr Browns. I loved the Dr Browns!! The MW were fascinated with Dr Browns when I used them in hospital as they had never seen these before.
When I tried DS2 on a bottle he hated anything and everything and eventually went straight to a sippy cup like the Nuby ones(he was BF and then onto bottle early due to early weaning).
Most bottles have the different teats with flow differences depending on age, that helped me and DS1 alot with the Avent and Dr Browns.

[Aligater]

Dont use glass bottles for breast milk but I loved the pigeon bottles

[BOC]

I wonder if there is anyone who has actually purchased a brand of bottle and used it without drama.

Yup we did! Happy Baby/Dymples brand. DS took them straight away and would not touch any other brands/types from then on.

blessedatlast, while I am no expert I will only pass on to you the advice I had drummed into me by the LC at my hospital. I don't know if it's true or not nor do I want to start a debate or anything, I am purely passing on a POV.

We were told to use the cheapest tall, thin bottles we could find and not to use the wide necks at all. She specifically mentioned Avent & Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature as the brands to avoid. The studies she had seen showed that

(a) Whilst the TT CTN mimics the shape of the breast, once it is in the child's mouth it does not, as apparently the nipple becomes elongated (more like the longer thinner teats) upon suckling so therefore it is not as they say Closer To Nature

(b) She also said that some recent studies had shown a link between wider neck bottles such as Avent etc and speech and jaw development issues.

As I said, don't shoot the messenger, I am only passing on what was said to me, I have no idea how accurate her studies were but you may be able to Google for more info. I have also come across people who have been told the exact opposite.

Wish you luck finding suitable bottles but more than that, I wish you an easy & smooth breastfeeding journey so that you won't even need them!

[blessedatlast]

Interesting BOC.. I hope I don't need them either!

[Taurean]

I wonder if there is anyone who has actually purchased a brand of bottle and used it without drama.

Yep, we did! We used Avent from around 2.5-3 weeks of age and had no dramas at all. We had loads of feeding and weight gain issues so DD was taking EBM top ups from that point. Not an issue whatsoever.

We've recently changed to Tommee Tippee bottles though as I wanted to get all BPA free bottles and they were loads cheaper than Avent ..... and very cute with brightly colured animals on them, lol. DD LOVES them (purely for the animals!) and had no issues with the change at all despite the bottles and teats, in particular, being very different. Clearly I have a bottle addict on my hands

[emc2]

I got the wide neck ones second hand, and I was still just comp feeding at the time so thought the wide neck were better - we had been using standard up until then.

As a formula user now, I have to say it is much easier to use - for me putting the water and formula into the bottle, and easier to clean them too.

[sas85]

IMO - the Avent one is the absolutely the best as far as wind bubbles and not sucking the teat together for air release I found, so I can totally see why it would be 'anti-colic'. But it really depends on what your baby prefers, their sucking style, and if you're combining BF and bottle feeding can impact on choice too.

I used Avent and Tommee Tippee closer to nature, I did try others but these were the only two that worked for us. With DD1 she preferred the Avent as she did not care to come up for air or let go of the teat ever and it was the only one that didn't create a big gas bubble, or get her so frustrated with the whole 'releasing so the teat could fill with milk thing'. With DD2 however, she hated the Avent as it was too hard and 'bottle' like and she would only take the tommee tippee as it was softer, not as long and hard, and more boob like (that is until she refused to take a bottle at all in later months).