Product Spotlight 01/26: Bottles

wanderlustsoul · January 2021

Today we are concluding our 3-week Baby Feeding Products sequence. We started off with breast pumps and accessories, then discussed formula, and today's topic will apply to both pumping and formula-feeding mamas: bottles.

For something so basic, there are a million types out there! Please help with any guidance you can!

Suggestions for particular brands? Particular shape or set-ups like inserts or nipple attachment thingies? Advice on nipple flow? Do you use different types as our babies grow older? Is there a difference in bottles for formula vs. bottles for breastmilk? Are different kinds of bottle recommended to manage any conditions in our babies like reflux or nipple confusion? And what kind of accessories do we need for cleaning and/or sanitizing and/or storing bottles? Any tips on cleaning?

A common piece of advice is to stock up on just a couple of bottles from various brands in case your babies strongly prefer one over another (rather than spending a fortune on a full cupboard of one particular brand), but what should those brands be and what to look for? What's an appropriate starting-point for FTM to prepare while pregnant? Is this something you can normally find used or second-hand? Please share!

Prior and Upcoming Product Spotlights

wanderlustsoul · January 2021

I am probably not the best one for advice as my son never took a bottle. But I did lots of research as a FTM and ended up purchasing comotomo and the boon nursh bottles. I quite liked them. Maybe this baby will like it. That's all I got. I think he had 2 bottles in his entire life unfortunately.

sgrn18 · January 2021

For DS we used the dr browns bottles after a lot of trial and error. We tried the regular avent and the anti colic ones, nuk, and ended up using dr browns. I didn’t like the dr browns ones because of all the parts.

For this one we got 6 diff sample bottles from registry gift bags and we’ll see what he likes best. I’d really like to have success at breastfeeding so I don’t have to pump as much but I understand that may not happen if I have a preemie.

laurad75 · January 2021

We used Dr. Browns but I'm hoping to find an alternative this time around because washing all the parts was so annoying.

legallykate · January 2021

+1 to comotomo, I liked that they didn't have that many parts for cleaning. When she was really little, we also just used the Medela bottles I pumped into with the first level one time use nipples (which you can buy in bulk).

tilournextadventure · January 2021

We used Mam with DS. Thankfully when Babies R Us was still around they gave us 9 free bottles at one event. So we were set for the first few months and then we bought the larger size Mam bottles as he grew and needed more. I liked that there are not many parts to the bottle but the bottoms have to be on tight to not leak.

ramzlau · January 2021

Okay so I have a lot on this one.

A lot of the registry packets that you get for creating a registry will have a free bottle in it (Avent, etc) so that is a good way to get different types to try.

I bought the Dr Browns for DD since they are supposed to help a lot with colic but the million pieces are a pain to clean, and then at 14 weeks she decided she didn’t like them. Comotomo ended up being the only one she would take, and we tried a lot of different ones.

If you plan on bottle feeding, start giving one bottle a day by 4 weeks and don’t stop. Somewhere there is a theory that the suckling instinct ends at 6 weeks or so, and they are more aware of the act of eating. We took a few week break around 9 weeks because of a cold or something and wasn’t really consistent before that, and then she refused the bottle. I had to go back to work at 14 weeks with her refusing the bottle. She didn’t eat my first day at the office, then only started taking a little the second day. By day 3 she was back on schedule, but it was a nightmare week.

I was also really confused about what flow to get for the nipples. Someone told me to start with slow flow and see how it goes, we never needed anything more than that. We started with 4oz bottles, but needed the 8oz not too long after I went back to work because by that point I was pumping and bagging more than 4oz at a time or she was drinking more than 4oz.

One question I have for STM(+) is, are you buying new bottles for this go round? My comos have turned yellow, so I don’t know how I feel about using them. Google says buy new bottles after 6 months, these have been in storage for 2 years after being used for 6+ months.

_orchid_ · January 2021

@ramzlau we'll buy new bottles this time. I honestly can't remember what we did last time. I think I put the ones from last time in storage, but they'll be 4.5 years old so no go. Thanks for the tips about bottle feeding! I'm hoping to stay home longer this round and last night was panicking about bottle strikes when I go back 😂 ds1 was only bottle fed and ds2 ate everything/anything that was offered to him ever.
@AKuzReve fx for better luck for you this time!! My bff's kids were like your son and I know it was stressful for her.

Yes to slow flow nipples if you're breastfeeding. We used the Medela bottles bc I could pump right into them. I would just get 4oz ones until you know what you/baby like, and then get the bigger bottles when/if you need them.

legallykate · January 2021

@ramzlau 6 months? Gah. We just stopped using our Comotomos like a year-ish ago so I was planning on reusing them, but I guess I will pull them out of storage and check them out.

marebear15 · January 2021

@ramzlau - I reused bottles but bought new nipples. And then my 2nd baby never took a bottle. I'm trying to decide if it's even worth it this time to buy new anything.

ramzlau · January 2021

I was totally planning on just buying new nipples and reusing. It was just that they yellowed that worried me. My Dr Brown seem to be in good shape still. So maybe I will hang onto those for just nipple replacement. Gah!

angelz429 · January 2021

We use Avent.

They don’t leak and they transition to sippy cup with bottle nipple and was the only reason my daughter transitioned off the bottle.

wanderlustsoul · January 2021

@ramzlau, im planning to reuse. Also the pacifiers. They literally got no use at all so I’ll just clean them really well? 😬🤷🏽‍♀️

MelissaMay82 · January 2021

I used glass bottles for DD. We had a ton of Lifefactory 4oz, Dr. Browns 5oz, and Joovy Boob 5oz. These all came with a size 1 nipple. When DD got a little older and was drinking bigger bottles I got Lifefactory 8oz and Joovy Boob 8oz with size 2 nipples.

I put all the bottle parts in the dishwasher. I bought 2 dishwasher baskets (Boon and munchkin) for all the nipples (and other small parts). I also have the baby brezza one-step bottle sterilizer and dryer. It was great if the dishwasher was full and I just needed to wash a few bottles to get me through until I could run a load of bottles. It was also great for pump parts.

I kept a lot of my bottles and will just reuse them, ill have to got through the baby stuff to see what I need for bottles. I’ll probably get new nipples though.

For FTMs get a variety of bottles to try. We tried a bunch and the 3 mentioned above ended up being DD’s favorites.

Edited because I posted in mid-sentence.

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