If you’re a new parent, you’re probably facing a lot of purchasing decisions for the first time. Picking the right baby bottle might not seem like the most urgent task, but if you make the right choice your life will be easier and your infant will be happier – which is what it’s all about, right?
How to choose the right baby bottle
Baby bottles almost all have the same basic components: a hard main bottle section and a teat, with a screw-ring to connect the two together. But every model has its own particular shape and characteristics, and the manufacturers tout them with a variety of bold claims about their baby-feeding credentials.
What size bottle should I buy?
All bottles are made of hard plastic, so the child can’t squeeze it and force too much milk out. The main variation you’ll find here is size. Newborn bottles have a capacity of around 150ml, going up to around 250ml for larger babies. Some sets will come with a number of either size. All of them will have measurements up the side to help you get the right amount of water in.
Does the type of teat make any difference?
Almost all teats are made from some form of silicon, although many manufacturers use words like “silk” to suggest how gentle they are to the baby’s lips. The shape varies considerably between brands and models of bottle: for newborns you may see a wide, flat teat, rather like a thumb. Then there’s the more common bulbous shape, with a bulb that widens out to the bottle. This should not be straight but curved, so that milk sits in the bulb ready to enter the “nipple”, and prevents the child sucking in air (which can lead to trapped wind and colic – see below). Most teats have strengthening structures built in, to prevent them from collapsing when the baby sucks. Valves meanwhile allow air into the bottle, so the baby can suck up milk continuously without forming a vacuum in the bottle: these might be built into the teat itself, or into the ring that attaches it to the bottle.
What about colic?
Many bottle manufacturers claim that their designs can help reduce the incidence of colic – a not-fully-understood condition which causes babies to cry for hours on end. The discomfort could be down to trapped wind, indigestion, physical difficulties in feeding or a gut insensitivity to certain proteins and sugars found in breast milk or formula. A valve that allows the pressure to remain constant inside the bottle makes it easier for the baby to feed; having a soft nipple section helps too, because the baby will suck it high into their soft palette and then stroke it with their tongue to draw the milk in. The bulb in the teat behind the nipple acts as a reservoir for the milk, preventing the baby sucking in air and thus helping to avoid trapped wind.
The best baby bottles to buy from £12
1. Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Complete Feeding Set: The perfect all-in-one package
£75, Buy Now from Amazon
If you want to have everything ready and waiting for day one of your baby’s life, this comprehensive set will fit the (admittedly rather expensive) bill. A generous set of eight bottles means you’ll never find yourself without a clean one. The steriliser takes five bottles at a time, and the warmer will heat a bottle in four minutes – although remember that if you’re using formula, you still have to put boiling water in with the powder to sterilise it. If you’re using breast milk, you can just warm it and give to your baby. The warmer can also be kept conveniently in the bedroom for midnight feeds, so you don’t need to hang around in the kitchen.
Key details – Bottles: 4 x 260ml, 4 x 150ml; Teats: 8 x slow-flow, 2 x medium-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: Yes; Microwave-safe?: Yes
2. Philips AVENT Natural Newborn Starter Set: Best starter set
£20, Buy Now from Amazon
This simple but well-designed set will serve you right through the bottle-feeding stages of your baby’s development. The bottles have an anti-colic valve on either side of the teats, with “petals” around the teats which are actually reinforcing sections to prevent the teat collapsing when your baby sucks hard. The supplied brush has a wide section for cleaning the insides of the bottles and a thin bit to scrub inside the teats. It also comes with a dummy, which you can never have too many of. With two slow-flow and two medium-flow teats, you’re covered for at least the first 18 months – at which point many children are ready to switch to trainer cups, so this set may well be all you ever need.
Key details – Bottles: 2 x 260ml, 2 x 125ml; Teats: 2 x slow-flow, 2 x medium-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: Yes; Microwave-safe?: Yes
3. Philips AVENT Classic+ Feeding Bottle Pack: Best-value all-rounder
£12, Buy Now from Amazon
This classic bottle design was invented 30 years ago and has remained a bestseller ever since – which is probably the best recommendation you can get. It has an integrated anti-colic valve and the bottles and teats are compatible with other bottles, teats, feeding handles and breast pumps from the Phillips range. You don’t get a brush with this set, but any bottle-cleaner will do the job, although we’d recommend buying one for this use only.
Key details – Bottles: 3 x 125ml; Teats: 3 x slow-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: Yes; Microwave-safe?: Yes
4. MAM Newborn Feeding Set: Best for travelling
£21, Buy Now from Amazon
If you don’t mind “boy” and “girl” themed bottles, this is a great product. The bottles work very well, with soft teats and an innovative anti-colic design valve, which is unusually located on the base, allowing air to ease into the bottle as your baby sucks milk out of it. Another great feature is that you don’t need a standalone or microwave steriliser for MAM products: just wash them (using the brush provided), put a bit of water in the detachable base, sit the bottle on top with the cap on and pop in the microwave. It works very well, saving valuable space in a crowded kitchen and keeping luggage to a minimum when you go travelling. There’s a dummy thrown in for luck as well.
Key details – Bottles: 2 x 260ml, 2 x 160ml; Teats: 4 x slow-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: No; Microwave-safe?: Yes
5. Lansinoh mOmma Feeding Bottle with NaturalWave Teat: Best for combi-feeding
£12, Buy Now from Amazon
This pack of two bottles comes with medium-flow teats suitable for babies aged 3-6 months, but you can buy similar packs with slow-flow or fast-flow teats as requred. Whichever you get, the teat has been designed to closely mimic the way a baby draws milk from the nipple, so it supports combi-feeding without encouraging babies to develop rough habits that can be painful for the mother. It also features Lanisoh’s Air Ventilation System, a very simple valve that prevents babies sucking in too much air – a common cause of colic.
Key details – Bottles: 2 x 240ml; Teats: 2 x medium-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: Yes, but hand-wash recommended; Microwave-safe?: Yes
6. Dr Brown's Options Wide Neck Starter Kit: Best for colic
£18, Buy Now from Amazon
These bottles feature a distinctive green internal vent, which is designed to deliver an even, easy stream of milk and minimise the risk of colic; it’s called the Options range because you can simply remove the vent once your baby is past the colicky age, which rarely extends beyond six months. Almost all bottle brands incorporate a valve of some sort, but third-party research suggests that Dr Brown’s bottles may be more effective than others at alleviating colic, and feedback from parents on Amazon backs up the claim. On the down side, disassembling and washing is more fiddly than with other bottles – but it’s better than the nightmare of colic.
Key details – Bottles: 2 x 150ml, 1 x 270ml; Teats: 3 x slow-flow, 2 x medium-flow, 2 x fast-flow; Dishwasher-safe?: Yes, but hand-wash recommended; Microwave-safe?: Yes
