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    How to Choose the Best Baby Bottle?

    2018-11-22 16:25:47

    How do you choose the right bottle for baby? How do you know which nipple type or materials are best? Taking a step by step approach is the best way to find the right bottle. Avoid being swayed or overwhelmed by friendly recommendations or bottles given to you as hand me downs. While both of these are a great place to start, it doesn't mean they will be the option that meets your goals or baby's needs.
    First, Choose Materials
    Given that this is baby's first real exposure to potential chemicals in the world and their source of nutrition will be sitting in this bottle potentially for hours, it makes sense to give priority and thought to the material of the container body. We prefer glass baby bottles with silicone running a close second and plastic bringing up the rear. The glass material used in the bottles we looked at is thermal and shock resistant and eco-healthy without any risk of potential chemicals leaching into the contents. We like that glass is easy to clean, heat, and healthy for babies.


    Second, Choose Nipple Style
    Once you've narrowed down your body material, the next big question is what type of nipple will best suit your baby. In general, the thought is the more breast like nipples work well for little ones transitioning from the breast to a bottle and likely back to the breast to avoid confusion. There is some truth to this belief and for babies that struggled to obtain a good latch to being with it can be a big deal to find the right nipple that allows for a similar latch, so they don't lose their latching capabilities.
    Third, To Vent or not to Vent
    After choosing body materials and nipple styles, you've probably landed on one or even two options and don't need any other performance metrics or attributes to help break a tie. Sometimes, if you've hit upon a couple of choices, it might benefit you and baby to buy one of each to see which your baby prefers before committing. However, if by some fluke you've made it this far and have several options to pick from you might want to consider what kind of vent or valve system the bottle has. We think simple is better given that the more complicated options are hard to clean, are often made of plastic, or could lead to leaking if installed or assembled incorrectly. In our tests, we didn't see any significant reduction in symptoms of air ingestion for any of the products. So while we feel most options probably do improve babies feeding experience, they seem to be about the same, and even the simplest dual vent located in the nipple appears to work well.
    Conclusion
    The world of baby bottles is convoluted and with advances in design technology the market has become even more confusing that it once was. From plastic to glass, and even disposable liners, there is something for everyone and some things you might want to avoid.