While we do recommend you stock up on certain things before your baby arrives, bottles isn’t one of them. That’s because even though some bottles are marketed as magical feeding unicorns, your baby will be the one to decide their own bottle.
Hence, start out with just a few (maybe even two different types). In this case , you will be spending more on bottles that does not suits your baby.
- Bottle material
Plastic
The pros of using a plastic material will be that they are light weight and will not break when dropped on the floor.
While for the cons of using the plastics, they will deteriorate over the time and will need to be replaced after some time. Signs of deteriorate including of scratches, leaks, cracks, and bad odor.
While new plastic baby bottles are generally considered safe, it’s worth noting that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently came out with a statement on food-additives that raises questions about mixing plastic and food (including infant formula and pumped human milk).
Silicone
Bottles that are made of silicone are BPA-free, flexible and also lightweight. Not only that it does not break if dropped, it might even bounce too.
Glass
Glass bottles are naturally BPA-free and durable, but heavy and breakable. Some glass bottles come with silicone sleeves to protect from breakage.
Stainless steel
Stainless steel bottles are BPA-free, lightweight, and durable. But you’ll pay for it, literally speaking; they’re the priciest on the shelf. Another thing to keep in mind is that unlike other bottle materials, you can’t see how much liquid is in them from the outside.
Disposable plastic liners
o It will be convenient, but also costly as it can only be used for once. To use, you fill them, pop in a dedicated bottle, and toss at the end of the feeding.
- Bottle shape
In general, the bottles come in the below different shapes
Standard
For the standard bottle, it is tall and straight, and it will also be easy to clean and fill.
Angled
The bottle can be bent at the neck, so the milk collects at the bottom. This can prevent the baby from swallowing air.
Wide
It is designed to hold wide, short bottle nipples that mimic a breast.
- Bottle size
Bottles generally come in small (around 4 ounces) and large (around 8 ounces) sizes.
Small sizes are convenient during the newborn days when babies drink about 2-3 ounces per feed. But babies grow out of small bottles quickly, so you can save money by skipping them and using large bottles.
- Bottle nipple material
Generally, bottle nipples are made of latex or silicone.
Latex is softer and more flexible but wears out more quickly and some babies are allergic to it. Silicone is firmer than latex, but more durable. Do keep an eye on your bottle nipples and replace them if they show signs of wear and tear such as thinning, or becoming sticky, discolored, cracks or torn. Another sign it’s time for a new nipple is if the milk starts flowing faster than it was before.
- Bottle nipple shapes
Most nipples shapes fall into one of three categories:
Narrow and longer (traditional)
Wide and shorter (designed to be breast-like)
Flat on one side (designed to mimic sucking on a human breast and/or be a better fit for baby’s mouth)
- Bottle nipple levels
Nipple levels correspond with how quickly milk flows out. As your baby grows and can handle faster milk flow, you can progress through higher levels.
- Bottles extras
Venting – Some bottles and/or nipples are “vented,” or designed to prevent babies from swallowing air. This, in turn, may reduce gassiness and fussiness. A potential downside to vented bottles is that they may involve extra parts, which means extra things to wash and assemble.
Breast Pump Bottles – If you plan to pump and bottle-feed breast milk, you may find a breast pump with bottles that do double duty: They fit onto the pump to catch your milk and also come with nipple tops for later feeding.
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