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As soon as you deliver yourwho both received quite a bit of pumped milk, I did more research and landed on the Philips Avent bottles with the anti-colic inserts (these are my best overall pick, more on that, below).
Ultimately, though, the best baby bottle is one that your kid happily takes, but there are still qualities that separate the good from the great. A great baby bottle is one that you can wash in the dishwasher. Newborns eat 8 to 12 times every 24 hours — that’s a lot of time elbow-deep in hot soapy water. All my picks below are dishwasher-safe. (For nipples and other small parts, I definitely recommend getting abest nursing pillows.
What we’re looking for
Material
Generally, bottles are made of plastic, silicone, or glass. There’s no perfect material: Glass is eco-conscious and dishwasher-safe, but heavy and breakable. (Even a strong, older baby may struggle to feed themselves with a glass bottle, and parental hands can definitely fatigue holding one.) Silicone bottles are a good choice for parents who worry about plastics but don’t want glass, though they can sometimes absorb food smells in the dishwasher. Plastic bottles are the most common — they’re lightweight and inexpensive — but some folks have concerns about the material breaking down, especially if you’re heating them. If you choose plastic, look for BPA-free.
Gas/Colic Prevention
Babies who drink from a bottle are more likely to deal with gas pains and spit-up than babies who are exclusively breastfed, simply because they take in more air. Some bottles use additional parts and pieces to reduce air intake. However, these extra parts are generally a pain to clean (they usually require a dedicated straw cleaner), so I’ve listed them as the come up.
Size
A newborn’s stomach is itty-bitty, so you don’t need a large bottle when you’re serving one to three ounces at each feed. Meanwhile, a 10-month-old’s stomach can hold two veggie burgers at a time (I’ve seen it), and they may want an eight-ounce bottle to wash it down. If your brand of choice makes bottles in multiple sizes, it’s nice to be able to “graduate” to a bigger one when your baby levels up.
Nipple Flow Range
Similarly, newborns don’t totally understand how to eat, and a fast flow of milk can leave them choking and gagging (and leave you having wasted a precious feed). Your bottle brand should make nipples with a range of “flow” rates — slow ones (usually called stage 1 or even 0) for newborns, up to faster ones that are called stage 3 or 4 for babies closer to age 1. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your baby at the slow-flow newborn nipple, of course, but it can be nice to speed up their feeds when they get a little older and can handle the faster flow.
Best baby bottle overall
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Material: BPA-free plastic Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via an insert
Size: Available in 4oz., 9oz., and 11oz. sizes Nipple Flow Range: Size 1 included, up to level 4 sold separately
When I was looking for a bottle for my kids, I wanted protection from gas and colic, but I wasn’t willing tobabies, on the whole, take in more air than their breastfed friends because, well, a bottle has air in it, and the human chest does not. This leads to more air in their bellies, and therefore gas and spit-up are more common. My goal was to minimize this side effect, and the Avent bottles did a great job of it. The insert is a single part that works to draw air away from the nipple itself, meaning the nipple is always full of milk, not air, even when horizontal. The insert lifts right out when you pop a nail under it, and since it’s only one part, it’s pretty easy to scrub clean with a traditional bottle brush.
That’s not the only thing I liked about these bottles, though: They were easy to hold thanks to a curve for your hand, came in multiple sizes for when my hungry baby needed more milk, and stacked neatly in diaper bags because of the flat top on the bottle caps. Amanda Glenn, a certified lactation counselor who runs the popular Instagram account @exclusive_pumping, polled her community of 107,000 followers and they agreed these are their favorites, too. “The bottles are compatible with Spectra breast pumps — being able to pump into the same bottles your baby takes saves a ton of time and effort,” says Glenn.
Best less-expensive baby bottle
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Material: BPA-free plastic Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via their internal vent system Size: Available in 2oz., 4oz., and 8oz. sizes
Nipple Flow Range: Size 1 included, up to level 4 sold separately
“I almost always recommend Dr. Brown’s,” says Mallory Whitmore, a.k.a. @breast pump, you can screw the bottles directly onto your flanges.
Best glass baby bottle
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Material: Glass Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via vents in the nipple itself Size: 4oz. or 8oz. Nipple Flow Range: Size 2 included, sizes 1–5 sold separately
Strategist writer Lauren Ro used and loved these bottles. “I love that they’re made of sturdy glass, and even though they’re definitely bulkier and heavier than plastic bottles, they feel more sanitary to me because I can clean them with really hot water,” she told me. “They also feel really nice in hand, and I especially love the natural-flow nipples that I used with them. And because of how thick the glass is, I found — not sure if it’s true! — that it insulated the milk better, keeping it warmer (or cooler) for longer. It also warmed up faster when I dunked it in hot water,” she says.
The nipples on the Philips Natural are also different from those on the anti-colic Avents: “It’s because the baby controls the flow of milk and it doesn’t leak,” says Glenn. “Plus, it’s durable, long-lasting, and easy to clean because there aren’t a ton of parts to wash.”
Best silicone baby bottle
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Material: Silicone Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via vents in the nipple itself Size: 8oz. Nipple Flow Range: Size 1 included, up to level 3 sold separately
My sister-in-law, a mom of four, chose these for when her kids used a bottle. “My favorite thing is that they’re silicone, so they’re dishwasher-safe without leaching plastics,” she told me. “Also, they’re easy for tiny hands to grip when they’re a little older, and they have a good wide nipple so you can go back and forth between breast- and bottle feeding without the kid caring,” she said. Catbird creative director Leigh Plessner also recommends these bottles — she says that “like a Champagne coupe, [it] is shaped awfully like a breast.” Another friend echoed that she chose them because they were “squishy” and “resembled a boob” but did caution that if you ever use European formulas with them, which use a one-to-one water-to-powder ratio, you may find yourself with an extremely full bottle, since these max out at an eight-ounce size.
Best baby bottle for combination-fed babies
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Materials: Natural rubber-latex nipples; borosilicate-glass bottles Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via the nipple
Size: 3.72oz. and 7.61oz. Nipple Flow Range: Slow flow included, medium flow sold separately
Laura Hunter, LPN, and Jennifer Walker, RN, BSN, the pediatric nurses who founded baby-care resource Moms on Call, swear by these bottles for babies who are having difficulty with their latch or suck technique. “We discovered Bibs bottles when Laura was working with a client who had tried every bottle available at their local store,” they say. “Most of these bottles featured wide-shaped nipples, and we were encountering significant feeding issues. After some searching, Hunter found the Bibs bottles with a latex regular-shaped nipple and they worked wonderfully.” The duo says the reason for this is the rubber-latex nipple — the nonslip material “allows the baby’s tongue to grip the nipple better, resulting in a more secure latch.” (Ensure your child does not have a latex allergy before using.) Additionally, they say, “the nipples are long enough to reach the roof of the baby’s mouth, which helps establish a proper suck/swaddle rhythm.”
Since the bottles are great for little ones who are working on their latches, a bonus is these are also great bottles for babies going back and forth between the breast and a bottle. A good latch also reduces air intake, which helps reduce gas, too. “Additionally, the nipples have a heart-shaped vent that needs to face up during feeding to ensure proper airflow and reduce gas,” says Hunter. Be warned: These bottles are glass, so they’re heavier and pricier than most others. (The company sells sleeves that help protect the bottle, but this adds to the hefty price tag.) “They also have a narrow neck, which can make adding formula messy, but there is a funnel available to make it easier to add formula,” says Walker.
Best hybrid baby bottle
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Material: Polyamide, plastic, and Invinci-Glass Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via vents in the nipple Size: Available in 5oz. and 9oz. sizes
Nipple Flow Range: Size 1 included, up to level 4 sold separately
These clever little bottles are a great compromise for parents who want glass bottles but not the weight: They have one superthin layer of glass. “It’s glass on the inside, so the milk will only touch glass, but plastic on the outside, so you don’t have to worry about the bottles breaking,” explains Glenn. “If avoiding plastic is important to you, this bottle is perfect.”
I also like that they come in a nine-ounce size — many bottles max out at eight ounces — and how easy the bottles are to clean. (Although they do note that for stubborn breast-milk residue, you may have to do a quickie hand-wash first with soap that can cut through it. Formula doesn’t stick quite as much.) They’re also comfortable and easy to hold since they’re so lightweight.
Best baby bottle for travel
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Material: Silicone Gas/Colic Prevention: Yes, via vents in the base
Size: 5oz. and 9oz. Nipple Flow Range: Medium flow included, fast and slow flow sold separately
Strategist senior editor Ailbhe Malone raved about these bottles, which are made to be sterilized in just three minutes in the microwave. “We traveled a lot when my daughter was young, and it was a relief to know that wherever we were, her bottles were easy to sterilize,” she says. Malone used both the five-ounce- and nine-ounce-size bottles and still uses the nine-ounce bottles for her toddler’s evening milk. She adds: “The lids were also incredibly secure, we brought filled bottles of milk through airport security, on planes, and on trains — we never once had a spillage.”
Best baby bottle for milk storage
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Material: BPA Free Plastic Gas/Colic Prevention: Available depending on which nipple you choose Size: 5oz. Nipple Flow Range: N/A
Anything that makes the pumping process easier is a godsend (trust me). Which is why Karrie Locher, mom of four, postpartum and neonatal nurse, certified lactation counselor, and the founder of Karing for Postpartum, uses these bottles for measuring and storing her breastmilk — she pumps directly into them, saving a crucial step. “They’re just easier for me to use since my milk is already in them many times,” she says. This kit is especially handy because it comes with six bottles — enough to store 30 ounces of breastmilk — but no nipples, so you can choose whichever one your baby responds to best. “They have an awesome ‘keep in the fridge’ storage system with bottles, lids, and a fridge container I’ve used for years now,” says Locher. “Being able to screw on a nipple and feed instead of transferring to yet another bottle is much easier.”
Best baby bottles with a straw
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Material: BPA-free plastic Gas/Colic Prevention: No
Size: 8oz. Nipple Flow Range: N/A
Many pediatricians will want your baby to switch from bottles to cups by age one, so it’s a good idea to have them start practicing with a straw cup around nine months so they can get the hang of it. My friend Amanda, a mom of two, said that while she used the Avent bottles for her kids, she found the straw/bottle hybrid cups Dr. Brown’s offers to be a great tool for helping her babies learn to drink from a straw. “The weight helped them learn the difference between drinking from a nipple and drinking from a straw while still being soft like they were used to,” she says. “Plus the familiar shape made it so I didn’t get screamed at for taking away their bottles!”
Our experts
• Judy Delaware, pediatric occupational therapist and one-half of the feeding resources account @a senior editor at the Strategist
• Lauren Ro, theformulamom
pillows for side sleepers, bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
