Glass Baby bottles, nipple confusion

lexandbruce

Hello! Would love your thoughts/advice on baby bottles. We want no plastic. So glass, silicone, metal are all options for the bottle/nipples. But I don't want plastic inside the bottle either, which I've heard happens with some glass bottles. We will be breast feeding and bottle feeding so I'm concerned about nippleconfusion and want to find a nipple/bottle shape that minimizes problems with switching back and forth. I've heard "wide neck bottles" are good for that. Any advice on brands to try or avoid? I know I'm being very specific/picky, so any insight would be super helpful.
Thanks!!

skoogirl

If you are using daycare, know that ours has a policy against glass bottles.  I also found that the nipples on the playtex drop-ins (plastic) were less nipple confusing for our son, but every baby is different.  Try what you have and see if it works.  You may need to switch later.

mrskumie

I know the issue many people have with plastic bottles (i'm not sure if this includes you) is the BPA in the plastic.  Many companies now have BPA-free plastic bottles.  I know that born free does, and it is prominently displayed on the packaging.  If this is the issue for you, check out the bottles you are considering and see if they have BPA free versions.

SlopesShredder

We only used glass bottles with DS. We tried out a few brands... He hated the Dr Browns one. I hated them because there were too many pieces to clean.

Lifefactory were nice, but expensive and didn't have wide neck.

The big Winner was Born Free wide neck! We will be using those for this LO too. Sometimes you can find them at tj maxx or Marshalls... I just found 3 packs of the 9oz for 7 bucks to add to the collection.

Not a fan of the stainless... I feel like you can't properly sterilize them.

blueandgray

I used glass Dr Browns bottles.  The many small parts never bothered me, I tossed them all in a Munchkin dishwasher bottle basket and they were cleaned just fine (my DW has a sterilize function on it).  I honestly can't remember when I first introdcued a bottle - maybe 6 weeks after EBF?  They had regular (not wide mouth) nipples on them and DD never had a problem with nipple confusion. 

We had to buy plastic Dr Browns for daycare when I went back to work at 12 weeks.  They were BPA free, and more convenient for bringing with me if we were out running errands or whatever.

NativeFloridian

FWIW, I'm pretty sure nipple confusion is a load of bull - I've yet to hear of a kid who wasn't able to switch back and forth because of nipple confusion.  A preference of boob to bottle is pretty common, just because boob is warm and smells like mom, I think, but can usually be overcome by introducing a bottle early on and switching regularly.  But I understand being concerned about it regardless.  That said, the widest-neck glass bottle I found were the Born Free bottles.  The bottles do have silicone inserts, but if they make you uncomfortable you can just take them out - they aren't necessary for the bottles to function.

A word of advice about the glass Born Free bottles, though (and pretty much any other glass bottle, we used a few different varieties): they WILL break when your child is old enough to start tossing things down.

hnewell

We used Born Free wide neck glass bottles for DS and will be using them again for LO. They are very easy to clean. Never had any problems with nipple confusion. We lost two to our tile floor, and that is the only issue we have ever had.

 You can often find good prices on Amazon.  GL 

lexandbruce

Thanks for the tips! I think I'm going to start out with born free.

UberBiz

NativeFloridian:

FWIW, I'm pretty sure nipple confusion is a load of bull - I've yet to hear of a kid who wasn't able to switch back and forth because of nipple confusion.  A preference of boob to bottle is pretty common, just because boob is warm and smells like mom, I think, but can usually be overcome by introducing a bottle early on and switching regularly.  But I understand being concerned about it regardless.  That said, the widest-neck glass bottle I found were the Born Free bottles.  The bottles do have silicone inserts, but if they make you uncomfortable you can just take them out - they aren't necessary for the bottles to function.

A word of advice about the glass Born Free bottles, though (and pretty much any other glass bottle, we used a few different varieties): they WILL break when your child is old enough to start tossing things down.

I'm glad someone else thinks this!

Also, I never thought of the kid throwing the bottles around and them breaking. Another reason to not feel the need to invest in glass bottles!

vindaloo

We used the Born Free wide-neck bottles too--no problems at all.  I primarily breastfed, but he probably got one bottle of breastmilk a day, and he took the bottle fine.  And in the 18 months my son used them, we only broke one--they're pretty sturdy.  Sometimes you can find silicone bottle sleeves too, those help a lot once baby is big enough to throw them around.

 

tmrchi

I registered for a few of each and figured I'd see which one baby likes.

As for the BPA thing, there are a lot more chemicals in plastic than just that. Phthalates being the other big one.  Plus BPB and BPS (which is replacing BPA) might be just as bad or not worse.