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This is another post that I wish I could send back in time to my first-time pregnant self. That way I'd be more prepared before the baby arrived, instead of wading through piles of products, discovering what personally worked and didn't work for us. If you disagree or have anything to add, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
I did not know that all bottles and nipples weren't universally interchangeable. They are pretty much ALL different, except I think the old school standard nipple size is what Medela uses and Dr. Brown. The pre-mixed formula bottles use the standard nipples.
Here is what I personally found to be true for us:
Avent Classic
Pros: Came with my favorite pump.
Cons: Leaks, required an additional attachment to prevent this.
Avent Natural
Pros: Excellent!
We had no issues with leaking.
Attach to my favorite pump.
They're really easy on the eye. We have a couple with little monkeys on them.
I think these tinted ones would work well to prevent those unsightly unremovable orange stains that sometimes happen when you run your baby bottles in the dishwasher at the same time as something that has tomato sauce on it.
Cons: None. Well, a question maybe. I'm not sure if these were designed for storing frozen pumped milk in. (I know they're "safe" for that, no baby bottles have BPA anymore).
They do come with some sort of plug thingy to put in place of the nipple to prevent spills while traveling, but I am curious if the milk would get freezer burn or something if these plugs were not designed for freezing.
Avent Storage Cups
Pros: Great value. Stackable. Connects to Avent pumps and nipples with adapter.
Cons: The worst thing about these (and I've noticed some other baby bottles, too) is that the measurement markings are in WHITE. Now good luck reading white measurements on a white milk background! I ended up filling in the notches with a black sharpie so I could tell how much was in there.
The cups are a little flimsy and therefor it's hard to tell if the caps are properly screwed on. For that reason, sometimes they end up spilling the milk when transporting. I had one that I filled a bit too close to the top and it popped open as the milk froze and expanded and leaked a little when defrosting.
Nuk
Pros: So cute! And orthodontic?*
Cons: For me, since I don't have a NUK pump and it doesn't connect to the Medela or Avent pumps I have, that makes it a bit annoying that you have to pour your milk from one to the other and make MORE dirty dishes. Plus you waste some and risk spilling that liquid gold.
In the beginning we couldn't figure out if the little hole goes up or down, so that frustrated us (and babysitters we forgot to inform) and lead to leaks.
I did some research and it seems there isn't even a NUK adapter that you could attach to any other brand of pumps. So you could only use this with NUK pump.
We stopped using these after a few months. Really quite disappointing since I'd hoped my babies could have the orthodontic bottles, but maybe it's not that big of a deal, since they don't have a bottle in their mouths very often (have you heard of baby bottle mouth?).
This is another post that I wish I could send back in time to my first-time pregnant self. That way I'd be more prepared before the baby arrived, instead of wading through piles of products, discovering what personally worked and didn't work for us. If you disagree or have anything to add, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
I did not know that all bottles and nipples weren't universally interchangeable. They are pretty much ALL different, except I think the old school standard nipple size is what Medela uses and Dr. Brown. The pre-mixed formula bottles use the standard nipples.
Here is what I personally found to be true for us:
Medela
Pros: "Standard" bottle size, fits my Medela hand pump and Medela Pump in Style electric pump.
I like the flat yellow travel / storage caps.
Cons: None.
Side note: We didn't use, but Dr. Browns are also "standard" size. I decided not to go for these because they had too many complicated parts to assemble for washing.
Pros: "Standard" bottle size, fits my Medela hand pump and Medela Pump in Style electric pump.
I like the flat yellow travel / storage caps.
Cons: None.
Side note: We didn't use, but Dr. Browns are also "standard" size. I decided not to go for these because they had too many complicated parts to assemble for washing.
Avent Classic
Pros: Came with my favorite pump.
Cons: Leaks, required an additional attachment to prevent this.
Avent Natural
Pros: Excellent!
We had no issues with leaking.
Attach to my favorite pump.
They're really easy on the eye. We have a couple with little monkeys on them.
I think these tinted ones would work well to prevent those unsightly unremovable orange stains that sometimes happen when you run your baby bottles in the dishwasher at the same time as something that has tomato sauce on it.
They do come with some sort of plug thingy to put in place of the nipple to prevent spills while traveling, but I am curious if the milk would get freezer burn or something if these plugs were not designed for freezing.
Avent Storage Cups
Pros: Great value. Stackable. Connects to Avent pumps and nipples with adapter.
Cons: The worst thing about these (and I've noticed some other baby bottles, too) is that the measurement markings are in WHITE. Now good luck reading white measurements on a white milk background! I ended up filling in the notches with a black sharpie so I could tell how much was in there.
The cups are a little flimsy and therefor it's hard to tell if the caps are properly screwed on. For that reason, sometimes they end up spilling the milk when transporting. I had one that I filled a bit too close to the top and it popped open as the milk froze and expanded and leaked a little when defrosting.
Nuk
Pros: So cute! And orthodontic?*
Cons: For me, since I don't have a NUK pump and it doesn't connect to the Medela or Avent pumps I have, that makes it a bit annoying that you have to pour your milk from one to the other and make MORE dirty dishes. Plus you waste some and risk spilling that liquid gold.
In the beginning we couldn't figure out if the little hole goes up or down, so that frustrated us (and babysitters we forgot to inform) and lead to leaks.
I did some research and it seems there isn't even a NUK adapter that you could attach to any other brand of pumps. So you could only use this with NUK pump.
We stopped using these after a few months. Really quite disappointing since I'd hoped my babies could have the orthodontic bottles, but maybe it's not that big of a deal, since they don't have a bottle in their mouths very often (have you heard of baby bottle mouth?).
Tommy Tippy
Pro: This design is "muy caliente"!
Cons: The Tommy Tippy marketing schpiel is "Closest to nature"* and I indeed bought it so my baby would be less prone to nipple confusion (which she did get in the beginning anyway).
Does not connect to any pump that I know of, so again, it's a bit annoying that you have to pour your milk from one to the other and make MORE dirty dishes.
*Supposedly the close to nature and orthodontic ones are marketing bologna. I wish we had read this, including the I instructions on how to bottle feed before my baby was born.
http://thebreastfeedingmother.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-trouble-with-calma-and-quest-for.html?m=1
CONCLUSION: I wish baby bottles were all universal! Naturally, since my personal favorite pump is the Avent one (see the blog post about pumps), I liked the Natural Avent bottles and we didn't have any problems with the bottles leaking or the babies rejecting them.
Not every breastfed baby "goes for" the same brand of bottles, so I think unfortunately you DO have to buy a few brands and try them out. However, it would be ideal if one could buy just one brand of bottle that goes just with the brand of pump you have!
Not every breastfed baby "goes for" the same brand of bottles, so I think unfortunately you DO have to buy a few brands and try them out. However, it would be ideal if one could buy just one brand of bottle that goes just with the brand of pump you have!
I liked the Avent ones too, the bottles were nice and I had the hand-pump, worked good, I liked the silicone mold. But electric is the way to go if you want to get some serious milk stocked up :)
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