What Bottle is Best for My Baby?

Your baby will let you know which bottle works for them, but it's always a good idea to offer them a selection of bottles to choose from that you also like.

I started doing research on all types of baby supplies when I was just 14 weeks pregnant with my daughter. I was insane! Reading up on every baby product in existence because my every day life. What is the best diaper cream? What is the best diaper brand? Do I need a stroller? Is this carseat safe enough? How much clothing of every size from newborn to 12 months does she need?

You know what I didn't think much about? Bottles. I only needed a few anyways. I was going to be breastfeeding super mom! Forget formula!

Turns out it didn't happen that way. I absolutely hated breastfeeding, I had low supply, my baby didn't want to latch, I was having incredible pain from her bad latch, and my daughter happened to have a lip tie that made it hard to breastfeed anyways.

Next thing I know....I need bottles! Let's run to the store and just pick out the first bottle our eyes land on! I know nothing about bottles as that's the one thing I spent no time looking up.

I ended up getting my baby girl attached to the WORST bottle ever....and now she won't take any other bottle. So I want to help inform other parents to be (or even second or third time moms) of our journey through a dozen (literally!) different baby bottles and how I felt about them....despite the fact that my baby girl didn't take any of them. Here are five of the different bottles we tried and how I felt about them.

Medula

Don't even go there....

So to start with, my daughter ended up getting attached to Medula bottles. I'm pumping exclusively so these are the bottles that fit onto the pump. At first it was easy to just take the milk and give her it right in the same bottles I used for pumping. Soon I found that I absolutely hated these bottles. The nipple gets sucked in, they don't allow air out so baby takes in a lot of air which causes fussiness and gas, and they definitely aren't the most attractive looking bottles I've ever seen.

These bottles aren't especially expensive though, so I guess that's a plus at least. For size, five oz bottles it's only like $15 at Walmart. For the eight oz ones you can get three of those for about $6.

Overall I would NOT recommend these to friends or family that are expecting babies. If you're lucky your baby would deny them anyways. We're still using these even after trying five other bottles. My baby just refuses all other bottles after having these. On the positive side, at least the nipple is smaller which helps since my daughter has a very tiny pallet.

Tommee Tippee

Closer to nature is what they say....

Right now Tommee Tippee bottles are very trendy. All my friends think they're adorable (sorry, I just don't see it) and they say these are great for breastfeeding moms.

In the "Mom's Picks" for 2014 on Baby Center, this brand came in first for "appearance" and second in the "ease of use" category. For us they ranked highest in the "most impossible to use" category in all honesty. The nipple was too wide for my daughter, but like I said she has a tiny pallet.

These bottles tend to be a bit more expensive and you can plan on paying between $8 and $10 for just one of these bottles. For me they weren't as easy as the Medula bottles to clean either.

Mom's on Baby Center say they had no problem with nipple confusion while breastfeeding and using these bottles though.

Overall I wouldn't recommend these bottles. However, I have friends that would. I think this is one that you should try out if you really want a "trendy" bottle, however the trend wasn't important to me.

Dr. Brown's

They don't help colic....

My daughter happened to have horrible colic, so we went ahead and tried every anti-colic bottle that Google recommended to us. Apparently Google has never had a baby with colic though because these didn't help at all....and they tended to make her mad because she hated the nipple. Of course as you can see this was a trend with my baby though.

These bottles aren't as expensive as Tommee Tippee bottles, but they aren't as cheap as Medula.

The big thing with these are they are practically impossible to clean.

Overall I wouldn't recommend these bottles for the main reason that they are very hard to clean.

Playtex

Vent Aire VS Drop Ins

Playtex has Drop Ins and Vent Aire as their two main bottle types. The drops in are irritating, impossible to use, and aggravated me so much trying to get the stupid drop in into the bottle. This is where my friends agree. They also hated the Drop Ins.

Then you have the Vent Aire. I actually really like these! I know...after reading about all the bottles I hate, it's probably shocking to see that there is something out there that I was actually pleased with. Sadly, my baby wasn't as thrilled with them. We still use these from time to time when my daughter agrees to take them. I love the anti-colic bottom and my daughter practically took in no air at all with these. We had to use the "Natural" nipple instead of the many others that fit these bottles.

Neither are horribly expensive, but remember with the drop ins that you'll have to pay for the inserts, and that can indeed cost a lot over time if this is the only bottle your baby will happen to take.

I wouldn't recommend the drops ins at all. However, I would definitely recommend Vent Aire bottles! I think they have a great appearance and I love how easy they are to use. Cleaning can be a bit rough but not nearly as hard as the Dr. Brown or Tommee Tippee bottles.

Avent

Popular and functional

Avent is last on our list. Even though our daughter doesn't like these, I really took a liking to them. They aren't the most expensive bottles money will buy so that's always a plus.

The nipple is definitely different from all the other bottles we used. My daughter would take it but get rather frustrated. These bottles are very easy to clean!

I would definitely recommend Avent to friends expecting babies. Give them a shot!