Advice on Bottles!

Dr. Brown's are the only bottles used in my family. My sister and I raised 4 babies with them and no spitting up and no gas. I would use them again if I had another baby.

B

I like the advent bottles because they causer less gas and because the nipples are shaped like mothers nipples. Congratulations.

Please stay away from plastic bottles , they contain a toxic called bpa that is very harmfull. I started with avent and as soon as i read the article on bpa i wasted no time and switched to glass bottles. I use born free brand and they are great. They don't produce colic, bacteria and it's a very easy system.they also make them in a non toxic plastic that are less heavy to carry.i got them at babies r us.
Conrats on your baby, it's a blessing.

I had a lot of success with the Playtex Premium Nurser that used the drop in bags. Playtex also sells a pumping kit, compatable with most pumps that allows you to pump right into the drop in liner and comes with caps that screw on. You just pop them into the bottle, screw on the nipple and feed!

Manufacturers have us convinced that we should have special bottles and spend a ton of cash on baby bottles. Not true. Unless the baby has some major gas problems, inexpensive Gerber bottles are the best! I've had 5 babies, including triplets, each who are very different. I wish I could go back and spend less cash for all the other bottles I tried and would have just used more of the cheap Gerber bottles. Sure, babies will prefer one bottle over another if given the option, but why give them the option to be choosy? Go the cheap route.

Hi J.:
I have a four-year-old sister (relative child parents adopted, my parents are in their 60th's) who give my parents problems to bottle feed and would bring up her formula. I purchased her bottle from target (Vent flow bottle (keeps air out.)) This was the only bottle my parents needed and you do not have to worry about (the top and bottom covers can be use on either end you do not have to worry.) Just wash as usual and slow boil bottle and nipples after scrubbing (let cool and store or re-place with formula and refrigerate for next use) then all you will have to do is warm the formula. Hope this helps.

My advice is "don't stock up."

Your baby might have a preference for a particular type of bottle/nipple, so you don't want to have invested a bunch in bottles your baby will not take.

I breastfed all of my kids, but since I worked full time and pumped, they got bottles. I used silicon nipples with all of the kids--Gerber's orthopedic shape. With the first two I used Playtex nursers with drop in liners. With the next two I used the Playtex Vent-Air bottles (because I froze my milk in ice cube trays, I always needed a bottle with a wide mouth to drop the cubes through--in the case of the Vent-Air bottles, the cubes were put in through the bottom of the bottle). We tried using Avent bottles for a while, but my hubby complained that they always leaked. Turned out he was tightening them TOO tight. LOL!

Just FYI...unless your hubby will be taking care of the baby while you are at work (which is how it works in my house), I've heard that the average length of time for dads to give bottles to babies is until they are 2 months old. Some moms wean to bottles out of a notion that dad will be helping with feedings--and find out that this doesn't last very long. Your hubby can bond with baby in lots of ways *other* than feeding.

J.-
I was the same way, wanting to stock up on everything but then my son was born and he decided to hate everything that i purchased! I would probably get one brand but then wait to see what your baby is going to like. We used the Playtex VentAire Bottles. My son had trouble with gas and these are what his doctor recommended and they worked great for us. I stocked up on the Avent bottles and he hated them. It all depends on what your baby is going to like. There are so many different choices out there. I was so nervous thinking I was going to make the wrong decisions in everything from diapers,food,cribs to bottles. He is a happy 17 month old now and I wish I did not make a mountain over a mole-hill because in the long run they will take anything and be happy for it!
Good luck and keep us posted!
K.

Hi J.!
I was in your shoes a year ago! Which ones help with gas? What nipple will the baby like? And on, and on. Even though my daughter (born last August) would take any bottle nipple, she will only take a certain pacifier! My pediatrician basically told me that "there is no such thing as nipple confusion."

We tried the avent bottle, playtex drop-in system, the playtex vent-aire system, and even generic dollar-store bottles. She was fine with whatever we gave her. My tid-bit of advice is: just have a couple on hand to try if you need to. Hopefully breastfeeding will go so well that you won't have to worry about it until later when introducing a bottle to have your hubby help. I will suggest a lactation consultant to help you work out the kinks of nursing. By the time I got some help, I was so frustrated, I was ready to through in the towel.
Congratulations and remember: one-day-at-a-time
A. F.

Playtex Nursers! I highly reccomend these bottles. I have 3 girls with the oldest being 4 years old and the youngest 2 1/2 months. I used Nursers for the oldest and regular Evenflo plastic bottles for the second. I went back to the Nursers for my last baby. I love the large round nipple which seems more like a breast and with the collapsable liner, there is virtually no gas/spit up. Now, you understand every baby is different and some breast fed babies wont have anything to do with bottles, period. But, I think you will like the Nursers if your baby is willing to take a bottle. I, personally, wouldnt use any other kind. Oh! and another plus is you dont have to worry about the new dangers of certin plastic bottles ie: Avent, Vent Air and Dr Browns. The liners for the Nursers are NOT made of the "dangerous" plasic.
Good Luck!

All of my children had their favorite bottle, except my daughter who hated all of them! (They were all breastfed too.) Each baby is different. Don't buy a lot of anything until you know what the baby likes.
The best way to avoid nipple confusion is to hold off on intorducing a bottle or pacifier until the baby is 6 weeks old (4 weeks if you have to go back to work early or something). Some babies never have a problem with any, others have a problem with all of them. By 4-6 weeks, nursing should be established well enough that the baby shouldn't have a problem.
Congratulations!!!

I can't really recommend bottles, I used playtex with both of my kiddos but recently there have been concerns about toxic chemicals in baby and children's products.
Here's an article that highlights this:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/84533
and also an article about glass bottles making a comeback
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23617301/

Congrats on your upcoming little one!!!!

I am a first time Mom...have a 4-month old beautiful boy! I actually pump exclusively (we tried breastfeeding but it just wasnt working, so I just pump.) Anyways, the bottles that my son uses are the Playtex Vent Aire...they are wonderful!!! The only downfall to them is that if the plastic disk at the bottom is not on properly, the bottle will leak. However, if it's on the correct way then there are no problems. Once I started using these bottles, he had less gas and less spit up. I would recommend these bottles. Also, the nipple on them was small enough that I don't think there would be breast-confusion. Good luck with your pregnancy and with choosing a bottle!

Dr. Brown's hand down! We used them as new parents and would use them again with our next. They are a little time consuming to clean, but well worth it. We had no problems with gas, colic, or spitting up. Our daughter never showed signs of confusion. I breastfeed her and gave her supplemental formula. Best wishes to you and your baby.

Dr. Browns all the way! Pain to clean 6pcs, but they let the least amount of air in.....

I used the avent bottles with both of my daughters now age 4 years and 6 months. There are different nipples for different stages and you can even turn them into a sippy cup later with a handle and a different lid.

I never experienced the nipple confusion issue - just try this: You - the breastfeeding mom never gives a bottle.

Let your husband or someone else handle the bottle feedings. This way your baby will always associate you with the breast.

I would also let your husband give a bottle every now and then, even if you're at home in another room. That way when you do want to leave your baby for a few hours or a day or two she'll be used to taking a bottle.

Plus it gives Dad a little baby bonding time too.

The bottle itself doesn't matter. That's your preference (what you would prefer to hold in your hand). Though I do recommend reading the article about the dangers of heating certain types of plastics. Born Free makes products out of the safe plastic. The part that is really important is the nipple. That is what the baby will be particular about. I think all babies are unique in what they prefer. It took us a lot of trial and error to find a nipple my son liked. He prefers latex (brown) nipples that are fast flowing. He's mostly breastfed & I think this nipple was closest in feeling to human skin (or perhaps he prefered the taste). I have a friend whose baby is also mostly breastfed & she loved the first nipple she tried...a silicone (clear) one. You may just have to try a few.

I agree with one of the previous posters...playtex nursers. I liked the silicone nipples because you can throw them in the dishwasher easier than the rubber ones. Whatever you do, DON'T stock up! You'll go broke trying to find what your baby likes...they are all different.

Hi J.!
Congrats!!! I have 4 children ages: 17, 3, 2 yr. old twins...I used Playtex Nursers for ALL of them...they ARE AWESOME, you can release the air from the bag inside the bottle and no nipple confusion with the natural latch nipples they have now. I pumped, especially with the twins, and I could actually store, freeze/refrigerate, and feed with the same bag, I just put that bag right in the bottles. I think Gerber makes ziploc top storage bags for these bottles. If I missed anything just let me know...I hope this helped some.

I breast feed my daughter but on the times when I needed to pump so someone else could feed her, I only used Dr. Browns bottles. They are a little more expensive and a little more to clean but since I only used them a couple of times a week it was OK. My sister however loved the platex nurser with the bags.

Since you'll get lots of responses, I'm sure, I'll just say that my husband and I have been happy with our AVENT bottles for our twin girls. They still get gassy and need burped, but are more economical than the bottles with liners (PLAYTEX, I think, which a friend of mine swears by). Anyway,good luck!
K.

Hi! We used Avent with our son and they worked very well. He had no problems. We plan on using them again with our 2nd. Congratulations & best of luck!

I used advent bottles early on but I've also heard great things about playtex nursers as well as breastflow bottles.

Also make sure that you get the slow flow or stage one nipples depending on the brand and stick with those. The faster flow nipples don't make the baby work as hard so that can create a problem when the baby switches back to breast and has to work for the milk.

Playtex VentAire Bottles are what i used for my twins now 4 years old but that was after trying about 4 difernt ones and that was becouse they did not want certine ones the baby will deside what they like so get a few one/two packs of a few diferent brands etc

Hi, I have a 4 month old son and I've found that the playtex ventaire bottles work pretty well. I didnt start to give him bottles of breastmilk until he was a month old, and he has no problems with switching back in forth between nursing and bottles.