Building Your Registry - Bottles

If you're looking to bottle feed there is a plethora of different styles and options of bottles being marketed towards new parents, often with gimmicks such as 'anti-colic' or 'best for breastfed babies'. Most of these claims are merely claims, but there are a things to consider when picking a bottle, the first and perhaps most important is nipple shape, the second is flow rate, and the third is the material the bottle is made from.

Nipple Shape

The shape of the nipple affects how your baby latches onto it, and thus how they transfer milk from the bottle to their bellies. Latch is often talked about when feeding directly at the breast, but it is equally important in bottle feeding too. A poor latch can result in your baby swallowing too much air, not transferring milk efficiently, and tiring too quickly during the feed. The ideal nipple shape mimics the shape the breast takes in baby's mouth, though this does not mean the nipple needs to look exactly like a human nipple or breast. The best way to judge the shape of a nipple is via the triangle test, where you place two fingers at the tip of the nipple and lay them along the sides of it towards the ring of the bottle where it attaches. The best fit nipples are going to sit flush along your fingers, the more space between the nipple and your finger, the harder it may be for your baby to latch well to it.

Flow Rate

The flow rate of a bottle is how fast milk comes out of the nipple when a baby sucks. Almost all bottle brands have different 'levels' of nipple that go from slow to fast as your baby develops, but some brands are made faster than others, from the Phillips Avent Natural Response (which are technically a 'no-flow' and I don't recommend because of this and the nipple shape) to Dr. Brown's level 4. If your baby is primarily breast fed, you want a slower flow nipple to mimic how the baby must work for milk at the breast, so that they don't develop a preference for the bottle. On the other hand, a primarily formula fed baby may take a faster flow nipple, because they are eating more volume than a breastfed baby. However, be cautious of marketing pushing faster flow nipples based on babies age rather than their feeding abilities or habits. General guidelines encourage you to use the slowest flow your baby is efficiently eating on. If feeds are taking a reasonable amount of time, there's no need to size up.

Bottle Material

Glass or plastic are the most common, but there is also an emergence of silicone bottles now coming to market. Plastic bottles have the advantage of being cheaper and more widely available, but some parents worry about microplastics trasnferring into the milk. Technically, all plastic bottle parts should be replaced every 6 months. The upside of glass is that they last for a long time and tend to be less prone to leaking than plastic or silicone, but on the flip side they are heavy, which makes them hard for on the go and hard for babies to hold themselves. And while silicone may seem like the happy medium between the two, it can eventually take on the taste of soap after many washes and, if your baby is an especially handsy eater, be squeezed so the milk flow rate becomes much faster. Weigh these advantages and disadvantages to your family and lifestyle when choosing a bottle.

My Recommendations

Evenflo Balance+ Wide Neck

Pros - Great nipple shape and glass bottle option

Cons - Hard to source in Canada (though sometime available at Walmart)

Nuk Perfect Match - Slow Flow

Pros - Great nipple shape, slower flow than the Evenflo for breastfed babies

Cons - The silicone of the nipple can be too soft for some babies and will collapse in their mouths

Dr. Browns Natural Flow - Narrow

Pros - Highly available, glass option, and ideal nipple shape

Cons - Level 1 nipple is much too fast for a newborn or breastfed baby, even their slowest flow, the premie nipple, is too fast for some

What to Buy & When

It's best not to buy too many bottles before your baby is born, even if you are planning to primarily bottle feed. Different bottles work best for different babies, so you don't want to buy a bunch of Dr. Brown's for your baby to not take them well. My suggestion is to buy a few bottles of a few different brands to determine what works best for your baby, then invest in a full set.

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