11 Best Baby Bottles for your Little One in 2024

Guide to Pick the Best Baby Bottle

Why Do You Need a Baby Bottle?

You need baby bottles if you feed your baby on formula. You also require baby bottles when you need another way to feed your child with breast milk or formula, especially when you have to return to work within a year after delivery. Even if you plan to breastfeed your child for the whole two years, you will find yourself appreciating when other members of the family can feed the child a bottle of pumped breast milk. It will surely give you a few moments to relax and breathe.

When Do You Need a Baby Bottle?

You can start using baby bottles from the first day. However, you may want to wait to introduce a bottle until the baby gets the hang of nursing, which usually takes about four weeks. American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you should feed the child on breast milk until the baby is at least one year old. This is also the best time to switch to using baby bottles with switching over to feeding cow’s milk from breastfeeding or formula feeding. Between one and two years, you can also introduce sippy cups or straw to your child before switching to regular cups.

Various Types of Baby Bottles

Baby bottles usually come in two types of materials:

• Plastic: Hard plastic, mostly polypropylene, is typically used in bottles. Polypropylene is virtually unbreakable and lightweight, but it wears out fast. After numerous health concerns about plastic bottles were brought to light, they are now required to be free of chemicals like BPA, BPS, PVC, lead, and phthalate. 

• Glass Baby Bottles: It is heavy and can shatter easily but sturdy and long-lasting. It is also more expensive than plastic.

Most of the bottle brands manufacture bottles in two sizes:

• Large Bottles: These are usually 8-ounce bottles, which are ideal for the bigger kids who need more nutrients intake. Some brands make 9-ounce bottles as well.

• Small Bottles: These bottles are around 4 ounces, which is perfect for infants.

You can pick a few each smaller and larger bottles, or only the big ones and fill them halfway for newborns. Typically, newborns eat as little as one ounce in two servings in a day. Whereas, a six months old baby drinks six to eight ounces of milk in one feeding.

Keep in mind that it is hard to predict what type of bottle your baby prefers, so you will have to use trial and error techniques to find the right ones. We suggest that you buy a sample box first and see which one your baby loves the most.

Various Features to Consider While Buying a Baby Bottle

The right bottle is necessary to have a hassle-free and relaxing baby feeding experience, whereas the wrong ones make it a disaster. There are several things that you have to keep in mind when you go shopping for your baby’s bottle. The bottle you pick can have a positive or negative impact on your child’s feeding experience. You will be able to pick the right bottle for your baby if you consider the following things in the baby bottle.

The Bottle Size

The bottles that are small and slimmer are easy to hold for your baby and yourself. Choose the capacity of the bottle according to your child’s needs. Low capacity bottles are ideal for newborn babies, but as your baby grows, you find yourself refilling them again and again. Therefore, you will have to get a new bottle with more fluid capacity when your child’s intake increases. Or, if you want to make a more economical choice, buy a bigger bottle in the first place and change only the nipple as your baby grows up.

Avoid Toxic Materials

Baby bottles are usually made from plastic. The low-quality plastic bottles contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is a harmful substance that can cause a number of health issues such as cancer. Make sure that you always get a BPA free plastic bottle. In addition to that, avoid any of the following substances in the bottle material as well.

• BPS
• Lead
• PVC
• Phthalate

Remember to read the label before buying the bottle to make sure that your baby doesn’t get any of these harmful toxins in his/her food.

Specific Designs

Baby bottles can be helpful in dealing with many health conditions as well. For example:

• To Reduce Gas and Colic: There are anti-colic bottles that have anti-colic vents that prevent the air from penetrating into the nipple. This keeps your child from air ingestion while drinking milk, preventing gas or colic conditions.

• To Prevent Acid Reflux: Some bottles control the flow of milk to help your child with the spit-up problem. These anti-reflux bottles have slow flow nipples that restrict the overflow and prevent air bubbles from entering the baby’s mouth. This significantly reduces gas and reflux problems in your child.

• To Prevent Ear Infections: If your child suffers from recurring ear infections, it could be the position he lies during feeding. Make sure that your baby lays upright while being bottle-fed. Or, you can get an angled bottle for your baby that provides comfortable feeding. The angled bottles prevent liquid build-up in the ears that cause ear infections.

The Nipple

There are various bottle nipple types with different nipple sizes and shapes to control the flow rate. Selecting the right nipple flow rate, size, and shape according to your child’s age is important. Here is a basic guideline for you to select the right nipple shape and size for your baby:

• Newborn up to 3 Months: Newborn babies need the slowest flow rate in nipples to avoid choking and overeating.

• From 3 to 12 Months: Babies who fall in this age category should be given slow or medium flow nipples.

• From 12 to 18 Months: You can give your toddler nipples with fast flows to speed up feeding when they are old enough and don’t have the risk of choking.

Why Should You Always Use the Correct Nipple?

Choosing the right nipple can help you avoid various risks and conditions. For Example:

• Nipple Confusion: if you are not feeding your child with a bottle because you are worried about nipple confusion, then you may want to select a nipple that is similar to yours. This reduces the risk of self-weaning and nipple rejection.

• Delayed Speech: When the baby is feeding on his/her mom’s breast, he/she develops mouth and tongue muscles that help the child to have correct speech abilities. Development of these muscles may get hindered if the nipple you are giving your child is too easy to suck on.

• Overeating: If the flow rate of the nipple is too high for the baby, he/she might end up overfed, which, in turn, leads to reflux and gas spit.

• Choking: If the flow rate of the nipple is too much for the baby, he/she can choke. This is the reason why you should choose a slow flow nipple for younger babies. 

Keep one thing in mind while choosing a nipple that different nipple brands use different terms and naming conventions. If you find any confusion, follow the guidelines given on each brand.

Guide to Buy a Right Bottle for Certain Conditions

Choosing the right bottle for your baby is fairly simple as long as you do a bit of research. Buy the bottles that are made of high-quality material. Also, ensure that it is the right size and has the right nipple type for your baby. These are the only things you should be careful about buying for a bottle for a healthy baby. However, it is more complicated when you are looking for a bottle for a baby with some medical problem. Read on if you want to learn about how one should pick a bottle for babies with certain medical problems.

Colic and Gas

They are the worst nightmares of every parent. A child can have colic when he/she is about two weeks of age, and it can last up to three months. According to a study, about 25% of babies have suffered from colic at some point. If you see any of the following symptoms, you should know that it is time to see a pediatrician: 

• The baby pulling his/her legs up to the chest or passing gas
• The cries inconsolably for up to three hours everyday which gets worse in the evening

There are some better ways to deal with colic than just waiting it out. Consider using the following methods to ease the pain for your baby:

• Use bottles that keep your baby from swallowing air bubbles
• Hold your child hugged close to your body. You can use baby carriers for that purpose.
• Apply gentle warmth to the baby’s stomach.
• Massage the baby’s tummy in circulatory motion.
• Probiotics can be used to manage the pH levels inside the intestines.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

It is mostly found in babies under one year of age. It usually peaks around the third or four-month. In this condition, the babies spit up milk. Pediatricians normally prescribe mild anti-acid medicine for the baby. Also, small changes in the feeding position can help prevent or ease this situation. Follow the following tips to deal with GERD in your child:

• Hold the baby in an upright position before and after feedings
• Slightly elevate the cot or use an anti-reflux cushion to keep the baby upright while sleeping.
• Use anti-reflux bottles and nipples to prevent reflux.
• Breastfeeding moms should exclude food items like garlic, spices, and onions from their diet.

Sterilization of the Baby Bottle

Baby bottles should be properly cleaned after every use to clean the remaining milk and remove the bacteria. Different bottles have different cleaning methods, so you have to check the packaging to find out the right method. However, most of the bottles can be cleaned by the following methods:

• Rinse the nipple and bottle, inside and outside, with warm soapy water.
• Remove any dry milk with a nipple and bottle brush.
• Wash the nipple and bottle again with clean water.
• Let the nipple and bottle air dry.

To kill the harmful germs and bacteria, you have to further sterilize it. You should give your child a sterilized bottle up till his/her toddler years and even after that to avoid any risk. You can sterilize bottles in the following way.

• Disinfectant solutions: These chemical solutions are diluted with water. Soak the bottles in the chemical solution for about 30 minutes after regular cleaning. Avoid rinsing the bottles and nipples after taking them out of the solution as the bacteria in the tap water can build upon it again.

• Heating: Bottles can be disinfected by applying extreme heat. You can put the bottle and nipple boiling water for up to 5 minutes to kill harmful bacteria. Bottles and nipples can also be sterilized in the microwave using steam bottle sterilizers.

• Steam Bottle Sterilizers: Different steam sterilizers have different ways to sterilize the bottles, so make sure that you read the instructions properly while using them.
• Dishwashers: The heat and steam in the dishwasher can sterilize the baby bottles as well. Always put the bottles and nipples on the top rack and avoid putting any other thing in the dishwasher while sterilizing the bottles.