17: How to Choose a Baby Bottle

Today, we're going to cover four bottle aspects to consider when making a choice ahead of time (bottle material, nipple shape, flow rate, and venting system).  You're going to put them in order of priority to you, and then you'll have narrowed down your choices to a much more reasonable list to choose from and significantly reduce your decision fatigue on the whole matter.

 When a mom comes to see me because there are some feeding concerns and her baby takes a bottle, I always ask her, “What bottle are you using and what flow rate is the nipple?”.  It came as a surprise to me over my years working as a speech-language pathologist to learn how often babies are drinking from rotating bottle types. This also means that liquid is coming out of them at all different speeds at random feedings.

One mom I remember brought them all with her. I think she had like six different bottles and multiple nipples for each bottle. And honestly, there was a lot of confusion about What she had been using and when the problem was arising since they had been switching around a lot.

Now this mom ended up with a ton of different bottles because things weren't going well and she was really trying to find the answer. But this is actually pretty common in general for the typical newborn because moms get various bottle sizes and types gifted to them at baby showers. And even pumps come with their own little bottles sometimes.

Even if you are determined to find the “right bottle” beforehand, you're probably being marketed to about the million different kinds you can get, which can make it really confusing and difficult to choose just one. For example, orthodontic nipple shapes. (Oh my gosh, such a clever marketing label for the generation of people who, many of us had braces.) And then there's others the age that each bottle nipple is made for (like 0-3 months, 6 months plus, etc.). Oh, and let's not forget the “natural” and “breast shaped” artificial nipples, anti gas systems, and non toxic promises to consider.

Honestly, it can be a lot and if you haven't already noticed, you, dear soon to be mother, are aggressively marketed to. So, let's narrow down and simplify some of these promises so that you can make a choice and get on with your very busy week. And don't worry if for any reason what you choose doesn't end up being the perfect fit or you need to adjust something for your baby, you can do this later. Because the upside to all of this marketing and consumerism we live with is that almost anything you need is available to you pretty quickly. 

Today, we're going to cover four aspects to consider.  We're going to think about bottle material, nipple shapes, flow rates, and venting systems. You're going to put them in order of priority for you, and then you're going to have narrowed down your choice so much that it will be a reasonable list to choose from, and significantly is going to reduce your decision fatigue on the whole matter.

So first, let's talk about bottle material. If you have already been Googling “non toxic” everything, use all glass Tupperware, avoid microwaves, etc. Then this may be your first step to consider. Because as soon as you decide on a glass or stainless steel bottle, your options are significantly reduced. Which is great, because now we're getting somewhere.

Alternatively, you may prefer a lightweight, non breakable plastic option. And that's okay too, but you still have a lot of options. So let's move on to the next factor to consider, which is bottle size. Now, this doesn't narrow it down too much, but I think it's important to consider.  When it comes to the size of the bottle, I almost always recommend the smaller, you know, 4 to 5 ounce bottles, at least for a while. Most babies never truly tolerate huge bottles well in one sitting anyway, but of course this is totally up to you and your feeding plan long term. 

Next let's talk about nipple shape.  Oh my gosh, the artificial nipple market is so vast. I'd like to chime in here with some advice.  I recommend a medium to long, regular, cylinder shaped nipple. And here's why. In my profession, it's considered supportive of tongue cupping, which is a good thing.  All of those other shapes: orthodontic, sort of flattened, or over bulbous ones (like the ones that look like they have like a little ball at the end) make a lot of empty promises.

And personally, I only recommend them if there is a specific feeding concern that they help to compensate for. There are also a ton of so-called “breast shaped” artificial nipples. And frankly, none of them are the breast.

Babies use the muscles in their mouth in a different way with the bottle versus the breast. Bottle feeding tends to activate more interior oral musculature, whereas breastfeeding shows higher activation in the masseter or jaw muscle.  Interestingly, breastfeeding and adult cup drinking have similar muscle activation.

Okay, back to bottle nipples, though. They are not breasts, and now that we know that, these promises are kind of eh-not guaranteed, we can tune out the marketing when making our choice.  Personally, I also like a narrow shaped nipple base. That's where the nipple flares out to the edges that meet the bottle collar.  The reason why? I find babies are more likely to have flanged rather than tucked in lips on a more narrow nipple base.

So, I like a narrow and simply shaped nipple.  An easy example of what that looks like is the Dr. Brown's narrow nipples, just for shape reference.  I also prefer multi use nipples over single use. However, anytime a nipple gets gummy, or stretched out, torn, or looks funky at all, it's time to replace it.

Okay, let's move on to the next nipple consideration. A really important factor for nipples is the hole size, or the rate of the milk flow that comes out of it. This is actually really important, and I see a lot of feeding concerns that are resolved simply by slowing down the flow rate.  So here, I do recommend using the slowest option within the system you choose. 

Unfortunately, these milk flow rates are not standardized. So, a 0-3 months or a “newborn” labeled nipple in one brand or type of bottle is not necessarily the same in another. This is a bit tricky, so typically I say try going slower in the specific bottle system you already have before switching around the type or brand. And if you want the long version of this topic, then check out episode 1. 

Okay, so far we've considered our bottle materials, bottle size, nipple shape, and flow rate.  The last thing to consider is, do you need a venting system or not?  Different bottles have different venting systems, but they are basically meant to allow air to enter the bottle as milk is being removed so that negative pressure in the bottle doesn't grow and make it difficult for your baby to get the milk out. 

What happens if you don't have one?  You simply need to make sure that the bottle nipple does not collapse and that your baby isn't working to get milk that isn't coming out.  This can be easily done by breaking the oral seal on the nipple, which is naturally done when your baby becomes unlatched for birth breaks or rest breaks, for example. So, whatever you prefer here is fine. You mainly just want to avoid your baby working hard for nothing.

Some bottle systems promise to reduce the amount of air that your baby takes in and honestly I don't know how well they work or don't work and where the line of function ends and marketing begins on this one. 

Likely, if you've chosen your bottle size, material. nipple shape and flow rate, you've already narrowed things down enough to make a pleasant decision.  I'll give you a real example of these, but just know that your outcome may be different than mine and it should be based on your preferences.

So for me, I chose a four ounce bottle. I knew based on my feeding plan, I wouldn't need many, if any large bottles and definitely not for a while.  I wanted glass bottles. So that narrowed down my options quite a bit.  I also wanted the bottles to be relatively easy to find in a store near me or online with quick delivery. So there's only a few options that meet these criteria so far. 

I chose my preferred nipple shape, narrow and cylindrical,  and the flow rate had to be slow. So I chose the Dr. Brown's Glass 4oz bottle with a level 1 nipple. knowing I could order a Transition nipple to slow it down further if need be.  Now, I'm very familiar with these types and brand of bottles from my work. I also know there are a lot of extra parts to clean, but it checked off most of my preferences.

Going down the list in whichever order you choose to prioritize of: bottle material, bottle size, nipple shape, flow rate, and venting system (for yourself one at a time) can really help you narrow down what you're looking for when you go into the sea of options to decide. 

And if you need to speak further with me on this matter in a more one on one situation regarding your unique feeding plan, then please reach out. Simple shoot me an email at Barbara@FeedingByJanuary.com.

I really hope that this episode gives you the tools to choose an appropriate bottle for you and your baby, and saves you some time when figuring it out, because I know you've got a lot of other things to do!

So share this with another mom if you think she would find it helpful. And thank you so much for tuning in. I'll be back next week with another episode.