Product spotlight: bottles

runwmusic

Questions /advice? 

runwmusic

With ds I was so sure we would use. Dr. Brown, because all of my friends did, that I bought the full kit. Different size bottles, different nipple flows, a warmer, bottle brush etc. Well ds didn't care for them! We ended up getting boom nursh which he loved. So my experience says don't buy a massive amount of bottles until you know what will work for you!

Dr. Brown are a pain to clean and have a ton of parts but are way easier to warm up in a bottle warmer because of their shape. Boon nursh are wide so its hard to use a bottle warmer (the one they sell has awful reviews). Nursh are also super insulated so it just takes a long time to warm up. That being said, we loved them. The bottle has a silicone insert which collapses as baby drinks. No air bubbles get mixed into the milk, so less gas and colic! They are super easy to clean as well. 

I would recommend getting large sized bottles. Yes, you don't need all of the size to start, but you will eventually. Storing a bunch of 4oz bottles after a month of use just isn't fun. 

Nipples come in different sizes which constrict the flow of milk. You want a slow flow to start until baby is used to drinking. You technically never need to size up, but most people (I did) will go up to save time when feeding. With Boon nursh this meant I needed to buy the size 1 nipples separate because they only came on the 4 Oz bottles. Ds was drinking 6 Oz pretty early on so I bought the 8oz bottles which came with size 2 nipples. 

ReneeJ2011

We used the kiinde system and LOVED it and plan to use it again.  DS only took 4-4.5 oz at the most until we started to wean from breast feeding, then he would take 6-8 oz at nap and bedtime only and 4-4.5 the rest of the time.  We used the slow flow till about 6 months old then switched to the medium flow and never went any faster than that.  I love that the only thing you have to wash is the nipple, no actual bottle washing, the bags are easy to warm in a cup or their warmer and the collapse as baby drinks so they don't get any extra air to cause gas issues.  

chaos-and-coffee

I would honestly save all the random bottles that come on freebie kits and test those before buying a ton. DS hated the boon nursh that @runwmusic had and loved dr brown! Every baby is different. He liked the medela ones that came with my pump, hated playtex and tommie tippee. We switched to formula after a month, filled up bottles with room temp water at the beginning of the day, and poured in formula as needed, so we never used a bottle warmer. Daycare did though. 

We eventually sized up to the next nipple but it took a while, I tried once and DS kept choking, but it was taking him so long to drink a bottle so every couple weeks I would try again and eventually he got it. 

kyrwyn

Most of my friends had to go through many styles to find their kid's one true bottle love. My DS1 took a wide mouth Doctor Brown's on the very first try and we were done. He also didn't care at all about fridge cold vs room temp vs warmed. 

We had no problem cleaning bottles once we switched to running the dishwasher every night with a sterilize cycle. I got one of the green and white boon clutches for all the nipples, stems, etc and it was life changing. Very rarely I had to clean a stem by hand... But less than once a week. 

DS1 was also on a sensitive stomach formula and we found that it took a long time to fully saturate and then let the bubbles settle. We'd make groups of 3-4 bottles at a time and keep them in the fridge until we needed them. Using the flat travel caps meant we could mix as vigorously as we wanted and warm them without worries about leaking, and even the large volume bottles would fit on our top fridge shelf. 

hanshotfirst77

For DS I used Avent bottles and they worked great for us. It just happened to be what my sister used and she helped me build my registry but DS loved them so it worked out. I started with the 4oz bottles and then moved to 9oz. It's been over 5 years though so they are all gone. But I plan to start with them again and hope that baby sister likes them too. 

runwmusic

Sorry for another post but I completely forgot about the Dr brown formula pitcher! It seems silly, but we found it worth it. You mix the days total Oz of water and formula, and stir in the pitcher, then fill all the days bottles. Shaking causes bubbles and ds got super fussy tummy from that. The pitcher causes no bubbles and it's nice to just have the days formula ready to go. 

brose1117

We used Medela with both of my boys and plan to do so again this time. Just the ones that came with the pump. Neither got a lot of bottles as i mostly breast fed, but both took to the bottle fine when i pumped. 

I’ve heard from a lot of ppl that their babies were particular about their bottle/nipple. So i guess my advice would be not to buy a ton of one kind. I think my advice (if anyone wants it 😂)  would be to maybe get a couple, if babe uses it well, purchase more at that point. 

hayhay2501

DD was one of those babies who REFUSED to take a bottle for months. After the first few weeks I exclusively BF her but I wanted her to take a bottle so I could get a break (and for when I went back to work!). We had to try seven brands and eventually got her to take MAM bottles. They claim that 97% of babies will take it and it was def the case for us

FigTreeMama

We happened to try MAM first and my DD did not complain, so I guess we just got lucky! Though come to think of it, maybe first there was something that came with the Spectra pump? I can’t really remember. We had gotten samples of a few brands of bottles, 1-2 of each brand, but once we settled on MAM we went all in. Hoping we can use them all again, we stored them all. 

I read somewhere that it is a good idea to buy new nipples for a new baby, does anyone have advice on that? Is it important/ necessary and how can you tell if the old ones are ok? 

bluehydrangea17

@FigTreeMama We are going to get new nipples for our Avent bottles. But the reason for that is because we had switched to the faster flow and that won’t work for the new baby. Do you still have the slow flow or did you switch? 

brose1117

@FigTreeMama i never thought about switching the nipples. I didn’t from our first to second and i don’t have any intention of switching this time either. We didn’t keep our fast and slow flow nipples separate (but i didn’t last time either), but i just try to suck through them to see if there is a big difference when picking one out the first time. It really wasn’t an issue at all with our second. 

chaos-and-coffee

I am not planning on getting new ones because ours are less than 2 years old. 

kyrwyn

I am also not planning on wholesale getting new ones. We kept all the sizes separate, so I'll wash and sterilize them and check for any discoloration or indications of the material being compromised and then replace based on what I discard.

FigTreeMama

Thanks y’all, that’s helpful. They’re all about two years old and the different flow type is actually labeled on the nipple so no confusion there. Sounds like maybe this is really not necessary unless I see some issue with any of them (discoloration, cracking, etc.) when I pull them out of storage. I appreciate the advice! 

kimber308

I totally agree with the above commenter that the Medela bottles are the way to go. We used them with my second child and it was so much easier. It's a very simple bottle with a nipple, easy to clean and not too large for transporting. I like that it's the same bottles I pump into. There's no extra pieces in there to slow things down or remove air bubbles, so you've got to have an easy feeder for a baby. I breastfeed, so we didn't use bottles at home. However, my daycare provider used one Medela bottle, and I brought in a large jar of milk for her each day. Using only one bottle made cleaning so much easier! She cleaned and kept that one bottle at daycare, and I never had to deal with bottles, except for pumping. It was great!

kerco925

I feel like I am totally ancient on the bottle topic.  DD did really well with the Born Free bottles, but they were the biggest pain to clean.