How to Choose Breastfeeding Bottle? Top 10 Best Bottles for Breastfeeding

Since the delivery of the baby, parents are trying to surround them with care and attention, creating ideal conditions for their growth and development. The choice of quality products for a newborn baby is really important. This obviously applies to breastfeeding bottles and bottles for artificial feeding. Thus, bottles for feeding newborns are used by absolutely all parents, regardless of the way they are feeding their babies.

Breastfeeding bottles can be useful in cases where the mother needs to leave home for some time. She pumps her breast milk out, and then the baby’s dad or grandmother can feed the baby without problems. If a child is on formula, then a few bottles are a must-have. These bottles are also necessary for giving children water to drink. So, as the issue of breastfeeding bottles is so important, parents always wonder how to choose the right bottle? What should you look at while choosing breastfeeding bottles or bottles for artificial feeding?

Criteria for Choosing a Breastfeeding Bottle

When choosing breastfeeding bottles, first of all, you need to pay attention to the quality of manufacturing of this product. To protect the child from poor-quality goods, it is recommended to buy bottles and accessories for them in pharmacies or children’s specialized stores. There must be a certificate of quality on such goods.

Before buying a particular model, you need to consider several points:

  • Size / Volume
  • Form
  • Material
  • Manufacturer
Breasetfeeding-Bottles

Size

In the first months of life, children drink no more than 90 ml of milk and 50 ml of water at a time. Therefore, for the first time, you can buy small bottles for feeding – from 80 to 150 ml. They are compact and do not cause trouble while using. Some mothers also believe that it is better to choose wide models rather than narrow ones since they are more convenient to hold when feeding and easier to wash and handle.

Form

Many parents disagree about what form a baby bottle should be. Some believe that the most optimal is the so-called “anti-colic” which has a curved shape. Others believe that you need to buy bottles of a standard cylindrical shape. The main point that young parents should take into account when choosing a form is simplicity and convenience in washing. The main thing is that breastfeeding bottles can be washed quickly.

Material

The material from which breastfeeding bottles are made is of no less importance. The most common material is plastic.

Advantages of plastic bottles:

  • Lightness
  • Fast processing
  • A variety of models

Disadvantages:

  • Plastic can release harmful for the body substances while boiling
  • Plastic bottles must be changed frequently
  • With prolonged use, micro cracks can appear in the plastic

There is also a more reliable material for breastfeeding bottles – glass. However, glass bottles are not so common on the shelves of children’s supermarkets. Nevertheless, they are quite popular due to their long-lasting use and the ability to sterilize them for a long time without fear for the health of the baby. Their only disadvantage is that they are quite heavy and can be broken if you are not careful.

Having orientated in the size, shape, and material of breastfeeding bottles, it is important not to forget about the manufacturer. Parents prefer to buy bottles of certified and recognizable brands.

Top 10 Best Bottles for Breastfeeding

Philips AVENT Natural Glass Bottle

Philips-AVENT-Natural-Glass-Bottle

Premium quality, anti-colic, heat and thermal resistant, natural shape breastfeeding bottle. Philips Avent Natural Glass bottle is easy to use and clean.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

MAM Anti-Colic Bottle

Mam Anti-Colic Bottle is made of plastic/silicone. It is easy to use, fill, and clean. The bottle’s nipple feels natural for the babies. So, there are no problems for them to switch from the breast to the bottle and vice versa.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

Medela Calma

The bottle is only available in one size and one nipple shape. The baby can control the milk flow as in breastfeeding, as the milk flows only when the baby creates a vacuum. The bottle is made without BPA.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

Brown’s BPA-Free Natural Flow Wide Neck Bottle

The bottle was created by a physician. It is BPA, PVC, lead, and phthalate-free. The internal vent system creates a positive-pressure milk flow similar to breastfeeding. Along with the bottle, you will get 1 Level-One silicone nipple, 1 two-piece patented internal vent system, 1 cleaning brush, and instructions.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

Comotomo Baby Bottle

Comotomo Baby Bottle

The bottle has a natural shape, soft, silicone nipples which are perfect for breastfeeding. The Wide neck of the bottle provides easy cleaning. Comotomo Baby Bottles are made from safe for the babies material and BPA free.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Bottles

The bottle has a graduation scale in ounces and milliliters. The wide neck of the bottle makes cleaning easier. Tommee Tippee Bottles have hygiene cap seals which are very useful while traveling. Closer to Nature Bottles provide an easy switch between the breast and the bottle.

Buy this bottle on Amazon

The First Years Breastflow Starter Set

The set is perfect for breast milk, and for formula. The child can control the flow of feeding. The set is absolutely safe and BPA-free. The bottle helps reduce colic and gas symptoms.

Buy this set on Amazon

Mimijumi Get Going Bottle Kit

2 Very Hungry Bottles and 2 Not So Hungry Bottles. The kit includes a protection hygienic cap and leak-proof snaps. Nipple design prevents colic. The kit is easy to use and clean. BPA free.

Buy this kit on Amazon

Playtex Baby Ventaire Anti Colic Baby Bottle

Playtex-Baby-Ventaire-Anti-Colic-Baby-Bottle

The set includes 5 bottles. Anti-colic and anti-gas effect. Made of plastic. The design promotes upright feeding, which is recommended by pediatricians. Helps prevent ear infections. BPA free.

Buy this set on Amazon

Yoomi Feeding System

Portable feeding system which is perfect for on-the-go. Warms milk without batteries. The system has naturally shaped nipples and 6 anti-colic vents. BPA free.

Buy this system on Amazon

Nipples for Breastfeeding Bottles: What to Look at?

In many respects, the way a newborn drinks milk or water from a bottle depends on the correct choice of the nipple. Most breastfeeding bottles are produced with nipples that are suitable in size and other parameters. Nevertheless, in some cases, children are sensitive to these or those nipples. Some babies normally perceive the standard silicone nipples, while others take only soft latex. In this case, moms need to observe what kind of nipple their babies prefer the most.

When choosing a nipple, it is important to choose the correct size of the opening, on which the flow of milk depends. Specialists in the pharmacy or children’s stores will help you choose the most optimal nipples for breastfeeding bottles, depending on the age and individual preferences of the child.

Additional Recommendations

When buying breastfeeding bottles, do not forget to purchase brushes for washing them. Thoroughly wash the bottles from the remnants of breast milk or formula after each feeding of the child.

When processing, you may use a small amount of dishwashing detergent.

Wash out hard-to-reach places more carefully. These are the bottom and neck of the bottle. The remains of milk can stay there. This is a favorable environment for the development of pathogens that can provoke intestinal disorders.

The brush for washing breastfeeding bottles should be used exclusively for this purpose.

Before each use, breastfeeding bottles should be boiled for 5-10 minutes or sterilized in a sterilizer.

Do not forget to change the baby’s bottles, nipples, cleaning brushes in time.

Thus, when choosing a bottle for feeding a newborn, it is necessary to approach this issue with all responsibility and seriousness. The right choice of breastfeeding bottles affects the lack of problems with feeding the baby.

How to Bring Feeding from the Bottle Closer to Breastfeeding?

Hold the baby so that they are sitting in a semi-vertical or vertical position. (When you are bottle-feeding in the prone position, bottle caries and ear infections develop more often). By the way, it is very important to hold the baby in your arms not only during feeding, so that they don’t ask to eat only for the purpose to stay in your arms.

Touch baby’s lips several times with the nipple of the bottle, prompting them to open the mouth wide. Do not put the nipple of the bottle in the baby’s mouth. Let them open their mouth and take the nipple themselves – that’s how the baby gently takes the breast.

Help the baby grab the nipple of the bottle deep enough. Their lips should not close at the end of the nipple but at the base of it. If the baby starts choking, then you need a bottle with a shorter nipple. If the child’s lips are retracted, twist them with your finger. (The position of the lips when sucking on the bottle should be close to the position of breastfeeding).

During feeding, keep the bottle almost horizontally so that the flow of milk is not too fast. Breast milk does not flow so fast.

Pay Attention to the Following:

Pause every few minutes when the milk flow stops. It is convenient to simply lower the base of the bottle down. The milk pours from the nipple and the baby feels that nothing else flows. This will help them to have patience and wait in the future between the “tides” of milk in the breast. You can even take a bottle from the mouth for a while, placing it on the child’s lower lip.

Continue feeding by holding the bottle under a slight slope. Repeat as many times as necessary. Approximately in the middle of the feeding, change the position of the child and the position of your hands. If before you fed the baby on the right, holding the bottle in your left hand, now continue to the left, holding the bottle in your right hand. Do not give preference to the same pose, so that later the nursing mom doesn’t have difficulties while breastfeeding.

When the baby stops eating, finish feeding, even if there is still milk left. Do not teach the child to larger portions so as not to cause his displeasure during breastfeeding.

After feeding, hold the baby for some time until they posset.