I have yet to do review posts on anything, since it requires a lot of research and time to put together information. That’s time I don’t really have, but I will share my experience on using a variety of different types of baby bottles, since I’ve got seven years under my belt of pass and fail with baby bottles. (*insert wink emoticon here*)
Here are five types of bottles that I have used:
1. Playtex VentAire Advanced Bottle
My son used these when he was born back in 2009. At the time, it seemed like every mom had colicy, gasy babies. So every mom was using these bottles. Apollo was a gasy baby. It seemed like he was always eating after the first few months, so we had to make sure we invested in bottles that was going to help with the bubbles, and reduce gasyness.
Cost: Walmart $16.99 / Babies R Us – Gift Set $23.17
Cleaning & Convenience: When you have a baby that constantly feeds, you cannot wash bottles enough. This bottle had 6 parts. So if you’re not sleeping through the night, and you’re exhausted, that 3 a.m. washing bottle time is not exactly fun. It’s like zombies trying to get through a door without opening the door. My husband stood by the sink, half awake several times, ready to just scream BREASTFEED instead. After washing 6 bottles x 6 parts which is 36 parts in the sink and then waiting for it to sanitize, you’re better off buying ready milk in those disposable plastic bottles. Especially, if you’re feeding your baby warm milk. That means, heating the milk in the microwave, after washing all those parts, and sanitizing them. WHO IN THE WORLD HAS 2 hours, when you’ve got a screaming, crying baby?
Gasy and Colicky Fix: It did help with the colic aspect and my son was no longer gasy. So it did its job.
2. Evenflo Classic Glass Bottle + Vented Bottles
Apollo had to use these after the Playtex VentAire bottles, because we got sick of having to wash all the parts. I mean, like my husband says, just like Coke, it taste better in a glass bottle. I don’t know how formula taste in a glass bottle and a plastic one, at that, but I would assume, like most drinks, it taste a lot nicer from a glass.
Cost: Babies R Us $11.99 (3 pk, 8 oz size)
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning these bottles were fairly easy. It was four parts, and no crazy crevices to tediously wash. The only negative I found was, when sanitizing them, it was a pain. You sanitize it with boiled water, that means you had to wait to cool them before touching it, unless you had super gloves. Then, you had the actual milk warming process, it wasn’t recommended to heat up the bottle, so warming the milk separately was the thing, and then having to cool down the milk was another. It was too long of a wait. Being out, it was hard to serve the baby warm milk. This meant, you had to have a thermos of warm water at the right temperature before leaving the house. So that led us back to the Playtex VentAire.
3. Gerbers First Essentials Clear Bottles
When Artemis, our second child was born. We wanted some easy to clean bottles, where we can use and go right out of the hospital. We had figured we’d use a different type of bottle after a month or so, since these Gerber First Essential bottles were tiny, plastic and small nipples, it was easy and go kinda bottles.
Cost: Walmart $5.96 (3 pk)
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning it was easy, it’s got your typical four parts, the only negative aspect was, you can’t really sanitize it well since it’s cheap and plastic material. The nipples wore out so quickly. It leaked at the bottom of the nipple if you close it too tight. I’ve had Arty look like she just downed 3oz of milk in 2 mins, little did I know, the bib soaked it all up. While the cleaning was easy, and not really too complicated, the convenience turned into a nuisance.
4. Playtex Nurser with Drop-Ins Liners
We switched to these for Arty, after we got fed up of the wasted milk.
Cost: Walmart & Babies R Us $19.99
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning these bad boys are pretty easy, because it uses liners, you really are just cleaning the cap, nipple and twist cap thoroughly, and quickly washing with soap the body part. I actually bought a microwave-sanitizer for this, so it’s quick. The only extra aspect is buying the inserts every month. The convenience is great! You don’t have to constantly clean the bottles itself. But you do have to change the inserts often, to make sure the milk isn’t gross from several usage and old residue.
Cost: Walmart $9.97 (4 oz.) $11.97 (8 oz)
5. Philips Avent Classic Bottles
With Cassi, I have decided to switch a totally new brand. With Arty just a year old, I didn’t want to have to mix up their bottles and the nipples. It would make it difficult to keep everything sanitary, with the same kind of bottles. So, the other day I picked up these bad boy. The box set I bought is currently on sale at Babies R us. It came with three of these 4 oz size bottles, and two 8 oz bottles. It also came with a pacifier, a brush, and a milk dispenser for when you’re on the road.
Cost: Babies R us $55
Cleaning & Convenience: Cleaning this bottle is pretty straight forward, it’s like cleaning the Gerber First Essential bottles. Good thing I got the sanitizer with it. Two minutes in the microwave, and bam ready bottles again. Convinient? Yeah, so far it’s good. No complains. Aside from Cassi trying to get used to the nipples.
I,Mommy 