bottle, bottle or bottle

As most of you know, I have started NG on a bottle as of about 2 weeks ago or so. Yes, I know what is best for baby is best overall. Yes, I am still devastated that she won't breastfeed and still cries hysterically when confronted with the boobs. Yes, I do keep trying on occasion and just yesterday, she latched on 4-5 times between screams and sucked furiously for a few seconds each time. But she is getting her nourishment by bottle and mostly pumped breastmilk during the day when my supply is good.

So this whole bottle thing - it has both G. and me confused. There is no such thing as a simple, ordinary bottle with a nice, breast-like nipple. Or is there? Here is a rundown of what we have and the pros, cons and questions.

Dr. Brown's
I bought the 4 oz narrow bottle - they didn't have the wider bottle available but I think they carry one which must have a more breast-like nipple.

PROS: Supposed to reduce gas.
CONS: The contraption inside is too much of a hassle to clean properly. The nipple base is smaller than my areola so I didn't want her getting used to a tiny fake booby. Used this once and it is in the cupboard.

?: Has anyone tried the wider version? Likes/dislikes? Is it more breast-like?

Playtex Drop Ins
According to a friend's midwife, this is the best one for women with trouble breastfeeding who hope to get baby back to the breast.

PROS: Supposed to reduce gas. Easier to clean because of the disposable drop ins.
CONS: Expensive to keep buying drop ins. OK, confession, we keep washing and reusing them several times before tossing. Also, just figured out that the slide on the side is to push up the air before baby starts eating - and if she is screaming for her meal, this just pisses her off more. And G. hates the contraption. He wants simpler. I'm used to it already so this is the one I use, and G. uses it by default.

?: Anyone love/hate this bottle? Let me know what you think.

Playtex Ventair
Thought this looked like a simpler bottle so I bought a three pack of the smaller size (6 oz) to surprise G. Turns out it isn't as simple as it looks.

PROS: Supposed to reduce gas. Easy enough to clean.
CONS: We warm the bottle in hot water from the tap in a Tupperware bowl but for this bottle, you have to remove the nipple to warm it or else it leaks out the bottom. Also, you cannot place it upright, resting on the bottom like a normal bottle or it starts leaking. It seems that you have to keep it tipped at all times once the nipple is on - upside down with the cap on it. Currently relegated to the cupboard but may revisit.

?: What is it with this bottle? Am I doing something wrong?

Who knew buying a baby bottle was like buying a car? So many options, features, and contraptions, not to mention the designer versions with a variety of colors and patterns to match your home decor. Yikes!

Comments

[stephanie]

With the vent-aire bottles, they shouldn't leak when you have them sitting upright. Do you have the flexible bottom part curved in the right direction? the nice thing about those is the nipple never "flattens out." The playtex ones are the ones I use, I like them because they take up less storage space and I use the "natra-latch" nipples (that might not be the exact name of the nipple, but its something like that) which are supposed to support breastfeeding by being very slow and also by the shape. I breastfeed and give an occasional bottle and I have many nipples but only three playtex bottles. I dont feel the need to clean and sterilize that part like I do the nipples.

[elizabeth]

I use the playtex nursers with the natural latch nipple. I only used the silicone nipples because the latex ones smelled funny. It was easy for my son to transition from breast to bottle because these nipples allowed him to "latch on" to them the same way he did my breast. After about 2 days I never bothered to push out the air. The liners collapse on their own as my son drinks. He hasn't ever had a problem with gas. Beware of reusing the dropins too many times... they begin to leak after time and are no longer sterile. I know it's expensive to keep buying them, but as NG starts to space out her feedings the cost gets less and less.

[Susan]

We used the Ventaire bottles with my son and they never leaked no matter the position unless I didn't have the little bottom disk turned the right direction or snapped in snugly all the way around. It was tricky the first few times. I would check the position on the little disk if I were you. I remember milk just rolling out the bottom a few times and I turned it upside down, took off the bottom, only to find that the disk wasn't down on one side and was basically floating. Once I fixed that, everything was fine.

[Jennifer]

I haven't used those, but I use advent and like them a lot. I just had to laugh at the last paragraph b/c I used to stand in Target staring at all the bottle options for AGES until I gave up and left with nothing! LOL

[Steph]

We HATED Ventaire! And LOVED Dr. Browns. Yes, there are several parts to each bottle, but when we were confronted with a truly colicky baby, we were desperate. Once I made the switch, I could never switch back. We tried a couple of times to switch to a more convienant bottle, but the little air bubbles that formed when the baby was sucking drove me insane! No air bubbles with Dr. Browns. Good Luck!

[plucky punk]

I've been using Avent bottles with no complaints. The bottle itself is simple, no extra doodads, the nipple is designed to vent gas (if its working, you hear a little *weeeee* noise when they're eating) and the nipple itself is wide enough to be breast-like. Abbie does the latch-on face with the flanged lips when she's eating from them.

And as they're wider they're much easier to clean.

You can even get a converter kit so your medela flanges screw right on to the avent bottles and you can pump into them. And they work as breastmilk containers if you put in the little sealing disc instead of the nipple. And they can go in the freezer.

I've read a lot of online reviews that say they leak, but that's because if you screw the lid on too tight is smooshes the vent in the nipple so that it's constantly open. I've never had this problem.

[may]

i used the playtex drop ins and the advent (the ones that came with the isis manual pump). both worked great for me, i especially liked the drop ins because i had the special storage tops for keeping breastmilk in the fridge or freezer.

[DD]

We didn't like the Brown bottles either. Too many parts, and they really didn't reduce air enough to justify the price.

My tip for reducing the bubbles in the bottle, which I swear on!?

Mylicon. We would just add one drop to each bottle and all the bubbles would *poof* disappear. I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't think it was wonderful.

I loved my Avent bottles. They also convert to sippy cups which in the long run saves money, too. All three of my daughters used these bottles. They are WONDERFUL!!

[yasmara]

We used the dr brown's and loved them. The wide mouthed ones were definitely a better match for me in terms of breast/nipple size. When we were up in Anchorage at xmas (I grew up there and my parents still live there), I don't remember seeing them in many stores (Fred Meyer, etc.). Maybe order online?

They are somewhat of a pain to clean, but they come w/the brush you need and it really didn't take much more time than other ones. It was worth it because my refluxy son was really sensitive and when we used other brands he spit up a lot more.

I think it really depends on the baby as well as your own personal preferences - we did the same thing you are and tried out a bunch of different kinds before settling on the wide-mouthed dr brown's. In the end, I think amongst my friends with babies we all used a different type of bottle.

Same goes w/diapers - one baby might have leaks with one brand while another fits perfectly into them or another is cloth-only. Unfortunately, the only way to figure it out is to experiment!

[christina]

hey, delurking to suggest this http://www.adiri.com. My friend used these bottles and her baby absolutely loved them! Good luck!!!

[Panda]

I dont know if you guys get Pur bottles, but they are wide-neck slow-flow teats and are the ones most like a real nipple that I've found. I hate the narrow little teats, and so does the Spud.

[Deirdrei]

We used Avent bottles as they have the wide nipples that are closer in size to the breast. When I tried the other more narrow kinds it seemed like she was trying to suck in the top of the bottle too!

[Kim]

I used the medela bottles that came with the pump. Ended up buying more. Easy to clean, easy to use, baby loved them. Got the medela steamer bags for sterlizing in the microwave and REALLY LOVE THOSE for any bottles, pump parts, pacifiers, anything plastic you want sterlized.
One caveat - after 3 or 4 months, he only wanted to eat from the bottles, but I think that might have been as much my being gone at work 11 hours a day starting at 12 weeks old as the bottles. Plus the bottles were just easier for him to drink from.

[Jessica S.]

We use Medela bottles with a Haberman nipple, which we got from the NICU. It works fine for us, but I'm not sure it recommend it. For one, it's not cheap. One nipple is $12.50. It doesn't score points for simplicity, either. I doubt G. will like it.

Side note: I recommend investing in a bottle warmer. They don't seem like they'd work any better than tap water, but the one we bought (Wal-Mart brand "Parents' Choice," $15) is so much faster than tap water.

[Patti]

Hi...I've been a lurker for a bit...my daughter was also born on June 20th. I've had a couple of breastfeeding issues which led me to using a nipple shield as well and I'm currently trying to wean her from that to the breast. Anyways I thought I'd share with you the bottle that has worked the best for us. The hospital gave us a sample and we find she has to work for the milk just as much as she would on my breast:

http://www.thefirstyears.com/products/product.asp?pValue=1131

Hopefully you find something that works...wishing you the best of luck.

Patti :)

[Patti]

hmmm the link I posted looks like it works but just in case it doesn't I guess I should mention that the bottle is a First Years Breastflow bottle.

[Account Deleted]

We're using the Playtex Nurser's for A, with the silicone NaturaLatch Slow Flow. I've got flat nipples with a shield, and OAL (overactive letdown), so she's adjusted to the silicone nipple -- wouldn't touch the latex. We also tried the Medela bottles (she hated the ortho nipple), Avent (too fiddly to get it screwed shut exactly), and tried the Second Nature nipple, but it was too hard for her palate.

I would suggest getting the 4 oz Playtex Nursers. They don't have the fiddly push thing -- you can reach with your fingers and I push it (gently) flat it to the side of the bottle so DH can see about how much she eaten so he can burp her regularly.

Ti save time, when I diy=ubke pump, I pump one side right into the liner. The pump onverter is includedHTH!

[Account Deleted]

Oops, sorry, i'm typing one-handed. :)

The pump converter comes with the Drop Ins storage kit (~$10). I don't re-use the liners for pumped milk, but I do wash and reuse them for freezing -- Playtex recommends double liners for freezing.

And if you decide to freeze a stash of milk, definitely invest in the Lansinoh bags. The double zip-lock makes it so you can freeze them flat. The stupid Medela CSF bags are a waste of $ and time -- they take forever to defrost.

[Rebecca]

I know lots of parents like the Avent bottles, but we hate them! the newborn, extra soft bottle flowed so fast that my Son ended up with milk just pouring out of his mouth. We haven't tried any other bottles yet because he's been breastfeeding like a champ, but next time we will try the First Years Breastflow bottle. We too have a sample from somewhere :)

[Tanya]

We used the Dr. Browns/Avent/BreastFlow and Platex drop-ins....loved the Dr. Browns wide...had no nipple confusion issues at all...however, husband and I did tire of washing them...so we decided to go back to the Drop-ins because after figuring out how much extra we were running the dishwasher and the extra time spent cleaning the tube....we decided we weren't saving a thing and our time was better spent with eachother or the baby than scrubbing the bottles...