Hellobee Boards

I personally feel like most of them are gimmicky. I pumped when I went back to work both times and pumped right into medela bottles and used them to feed as well. They just worked for both my girls without a problem and there was no nipple confusion or bottle confusion. My advice is to start simple and if your baby has a problem, like reflux or gas or won't take a certain bottle, then try a few other brands to see what works. My other tip is the less parts to clean the better. Believe me, you will be spending lots of time washing those suckers every night and you will curse all those dumb little parts that somehow claim to magically prevent fussiness.

Also, if you plan on sending your baby to daycare, just beware that some daycares do not allow glass bottles. Mine does not. So I would like glass in theory, I just see it as a trade off. Also, plastic is lighter and easier for baby to hold and obviously not breakable.

My only tip on bottle feeding is to introduce a bottle at some point around 6 weeks. It can be once a day (pumped milk or formula) or just once in a while, but just get baby used to it in advance of going back to work. Of course there are babies who have a preference for one over the other, but most babies seem to switch back and forth pretty easily.

Good luck!

@marionberry: there are glass Avent Natural bottles! I didn't see any in stores but I bought ours on Amazon.
They're a bit more expensive but not too bad, we just didn't get as many as we might have otherwise and dealt with washing them more often.

@FliegepilzHut: I strongly preferred glass to plastic because I don't like the idea of plastic being repeatedly heated and cooled. Our daycare was fine with glass so there was really no reason not to use them. I never had a single bottle break, even though I dropped a couple. They're made of a special type of glass that doesn't shatter even if it breaks. My DD would take pretty much any type of bottle but DH and I liked the Avent Natural ones because they're so much simpler than most of the options out there -- just bottle, collar, and nipple. No fiddly little extra bits. We did get one or two of a few different kinds to try initially, but switched to using the Avents exclusively once we knew DD liked them.

I definitely agree with starting a bottle early. We started giving her a few bottles a week when she was 3 weeks old and never had any nipple confusion or refusals either way (except a brief nursing strike around 4 months that lasted a little less than a week). This was our pediatrician's recommendation since she knew I'd be going back to work at 13 weeks, she said in her experience around 3 weeks is the optimal time to start bottles. Also, don't get lazy thinking the baby is fine with bottles and stop giving them, because that can lead to refusal when the time comes to go back to work! One thing that worked well for us was that I'd pump before I went to bed and leave the milk for DH, and he'd take the first wake-up. That way, DD got a bottle regularly and I got a bit more sleep!

We used Dr. Browns with dd1 and they were great for her. Dd2 flat out refused Dr. Browns and every other bottle we tried until one day I ran across Lanisoh momma bottle. She had no issues taking those because the nipples are shaped like the breast. Dd2 is 6 months now and those are the only bottles she will take.

We never used anything but the medela bottles I pumped into, with the slow flow nipples.

We've always liked the playtex drop in nursers. Slow flow until 5m we just changed to medium flow -- for reflux our GI specialist recommended thickening his feed and the slow flow became too slow.

We used the lansinoh momma bottles for both my kids. My first hated bottles and that was the least offensive one to her. Start early. I think nipple confusion is mostly untrue. We started at 1 week with my second and she takes a bottle very easily. We started at 5 weeks with my first and she vastly preferred breastfeeding. She wouldn't takw a bottle from weeks 6 to 16, until i went back to work and she was starving. She never got used to them and would only take them from my mom. Start early!!

We've been fine with the Dr Browns. We used a preemie nipple for a while with daycare before we introduced solids, since she drank so fast and then cried. Now at 8 months we're back to the size 1 nipple to make sure she finishes her bottles.

I heard so many recommendations for the Tommee Tippee bottles, but the way they are shaped there was always a quarter ounce of milk or so that got stuck in the curves - I hate wasting milk!

DS is 15 months and we are just now stopping bottles. We used Dr. Browns for Colic/Reflux. Never tried any other brand. They worked wonderfully and he has switched back and forth between breast and bottle since he was 2 weeks old. We got plastic since our daycare does not allow glass. I highly suggest introducing a bottle early. I personally believe nipple confusion is bunk. I also never changed him from the slow flow nipple since I kind of have slow flowing boobs so I felt like that helped with our success.

We started with Avent Natural then he went on a bottle strike. We tried EVERYTHING and after scouring the boards, the only one that worked was the Joovy Boob. They are fairly expensive, but he loves them and I'm a sucker.

We use plastic - daycare won't allow glass.

We introduced the bottle at 3 weeks - he never had problems going back and forth.

On friend recommendations, I registered for Tommy Tippee bottles, and I have already been gifted several Avent Naturals. I also registered for the Tommy Tippee Warmer, as it will work with ANY bottle you end up with (Dr. Browns, for example, is too narrow for the short, squat bottles made by other companies). All of my friend's babies liked either the Tommy Tippee or Avent Natural bottles best. Fingers crossed our baby will too!

I had a lot of problems getting my LO to take a bottle at first. We went through about four different types before settling on Lansinoh MOmma. I love them because they're easy to clean and LO has no issues with them either!

@FliegepilzHut: my friends just boil before first use, then clean and dry. I'm not a doctor, but I do have an ms in Microbiology, and I think that's fine! I plan to do the same. Don't know what other hb moms do, or what is doctor recommended!

@FliegepilzHut: five....

I've been using Comtomos since week 1 with my 2-month old and they're great. I've had no issues with bottle preference or nipple confusion so far. I just had to exchange their slow flow nipple with a medium flow one, though, since slow was way too slow for our baby. It took her 1 hr to finish a bottle and she would fall asleep. She now takes 10-15 minutes to finish with medium flow now. I also use Avent naturals that we were gifted and feel like their slowest flow is equivalent to Comotomo's medium. There's so much variation in the marketing that it's been trial and error for us to get something that works.