bottle confusion

[crl]

I'm spinning my wheels trying to figure out the bottle thing. I've searched the forum and read bunches of thread, but I still can't quite figure out where to start.

We're hoping to adopt domestically and that can happen with little warning and could be next month or two years or whenever. I'm trying to get the very basics to have on-hand just in case. I understand that some kids will only take certain bottles and there's no way to know ahead of time. (My son was adopted from China and wouldn't take the brand we had chosen and we ended up with Evenflo because they were the most like his bottles in China had been.) But I've got to find a starting point. . . .

I'm not going to be breast-feeding (hormones give me migraines so I'm not going to atttempt adoptive breast-feeding). So nipple confusion and compatibility with pumps are not important.

I'd like to start with glass bottles but have the option to switch to BPA free plastic as baby gets older. I'd prefer the bottles to be somewhat easy to find so I'm not totally stuck ordering them online. I'd prefer fewer pieces to deal with. And, of course, I'd prefer to spend less money. All of that makes me think I should try Evenflo.

But I keep reading about gas and venting and it doesn't sound like Evenflo is a good choice for those concerns? And people seem to prefer wide-neck bottles? Is it easier to mix formula in those or are those just better for reasons related to pumping or something else?

Anyone want to weigh in?

Thanks!
Catherine

[MontrealMum]

I believe that Born Free come with a venting system. They also come in both glass and plastic, and are wide mouth. I have not used that particular brand though I did check them out quite thoroughly when the whole BPA thing hit the news; at that time they were not available locally and cost too much $$ to ship. I do know that some people complain that there are more parts to clean than some other brands.

If you are set on switching between glass to BPA-free plastic with similar bottle types/nipples you could also go from Evenflo glass to Medela plastic. No frills with either of those, but their parts are interchangeable. It's what I used only because I was pumping w/a Medela pump.

I am not so up on newer bottles, and I'm in Canada, but I *believe* that Avent makes both glass and plastic options. You might want to check that out too.

You can get most of the above at BRU, and/or Target. For awhile Born Free were harder to get, but I think they're more widely available now.

Some people like Playtex or Dr. Brown's but I've never used or even looked at either so I can't really say much.

good luck with your adoption :)

[crl]

Thanks! I think part of my problem is that I can't figure out how to prioritize the things I want. How important is a venting system? How important is the wide neck? Those seem to be the two downsides to Evenflo. . .

I also found this brand on Amazon, which seems to address the vent system issue (though I don't know how well it works) and is comparatively inexpensive. I doubt I'd find it locally since I've never heard of it, but at least I could order it from Amazon. . . .

http://www.amazon.com/Momo-Baby-3-Pack-Bottles-Thermal/dp/B001L5HQ8C/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1246834397&sr=1-12

Catherine

[MontrealMum]

Honestly, I'm not sure how important the venting system is. I think it really depends on the baby - just what you wanted to hear!

We started w/the old Avents - the ones with BPA, because I thought the whole venting thing would be important. When DS was about 2 mos the whole scare hit the news and I switched ASAP. Which is why we went for the Evenflo/Medela combo. It was what I could get quickly; and we weren't mixing formula, but giving a bottle of pumped milk from time to time while I was at school part time so the wide-mouth, narrow-mouth thing wasn't an issue. Anyways, when we switched from the Avents which had a venting system, to the Evenflo, which didn't we didn't notice a change at all in DS, who was still fairly small. I think this is just because we were super lucky in getting a baby that virutally never spit up. I think if you have a spitter, though, or worse, a baby with reflux, the venting thing is going to be more important.

I think the ones you linked to on Amazon look interesting. Maybe buy a couple and see if baby has spitting issues or not, and then buy other brands depending on that?

We have some similar larger ones that are by Green to Grow which we used during our transition to cow's milk. They are also BPA free, come in two different and have wide-mouths. I don't think they have a glass version. The Gerber gentleflow is a pretty good, and much cheaper, knockoff of the Avents. They do have the same issue of getting the ring tightened just so though.

My one friend who has exclusively formula fed used Playtex nursers and they seemed to work well for them.

HTH! It's a pretty confusing thing to wade through.

[jren]

Congrats on your (hopefully soon) upcoming adoption! We have two children we adopted via domestic infant adoption. If you're going to be travelling out of state, the playtex with plastic liners (BPA-free) are great for that purpose. You can just buy a few bottles, and refill them with the liners and everything is easy to wash by hand if you end up staying in a hotel room.

At first, the baby will probably not have a preference. They'll start in the hospital nursery on non-vented ready-to-use formula bottles. Some of those have latex nipples, so not even like what you'll most likely end up with at home.

DS did great on the playtex liners at first, but after a few weeks he started having problems. Couldn't feed from them anymore and through trial and error, we ended up with Dr. Browns. Not my first choice, but what worked for him. We just bought one bottle of different kinds to try until we found one that would work. He has acid reflux plus a very weak latch (I didn't even think this could be a problem for bottle-fed babies!)

So... Guess I'm saying just buy a few of one type of the 4 oz. bottles, whatever you think you might want to use, and then wait and see. Once you've decided which bottles you're going to stick with, just buy the 8 or 9 oz. sizes. That way, you're not really wasting money on the initial bottle purchase since you'll be moving to 9 oz. pretty soon anyway.

Hopefully, you'll get a lot of free bottles from the hospital. We got cases with DD 5 years ago, but nothing with DS and had to stop by CVS on the way from picking him up to buy formula to feed him on the 1 1/2 hour drive to where we were staying! We couldn't buy in advance b/c they didn't tell us what he was used to taking until we arrived.

[jren]

OH, and on the wide-neck preference, our Dr. Browns are standard - not wide-neck - size. I don't know that it makes a huge diff. But, we can only use ready-to-feed formula (due to allergies) so it's not hard to pour it into the bottle. I can see where the powder might be a bit messier, though, with the smaller opening.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

What I like about the Playtex with the drop-in liners is that you can "burp" the bottle to get all the air out of it so baby doesn't take in any air. I assume that is the purpose of all the fancy vented bottles, but Playtex are much cheaper.

For breastfeeding, a wide bottle (nipple) is more like latching on to a breast, so that is why wide mouth are better for breastfed babies.

When we picked up our baby at age six months she was using a regular bottle with a regular silicone nipple. We were given two bottles from her foster mother in Taiwan, and we bought two more so we could save those original bottles for sentimental reasons. It didn't take long to transition her to the Playtex wide mouth, which I wanted to use on the plane home since they are easier to clean.

I find them easier to use in general because when you pack to go out for the day you just take one bottle and several liners. The nipple can be washed anywhere, or just take a few nipples with you.

[sadie427]

We also adopted domestically at birth and bottlefeed exclusively. We use the cheap gerber bpa free bottles at home and the playtex dropins when out and about. We like both although you have to adjust the gerber ones sometimes so they don't leak. We mix about a days worth of formula and prefill bottles which we keep in the fridge. We also use the dishwasher to clean/sterilize, so needed quite a few bottles. We have not had issues with gas. I would try a few of the cheapest bottles first (gerber or evenflo) - if they work for your baby no reason to use anything fancier.

We also like the playtex dropins for mixing one bottle at a time when out of the house. A powdered formula dispenser is handy for that. As the PP said, it means you have less to clean when you're out and about, although you do need to bring enough liners with you. The gerber bottles are a bit harder to mix in directly because of the narrower neck. but it's still possible to do it. The playtex dropins would be fine for use all the time, too, if you are going to mix one bottle at a time.

IMO you don't need bottles in advance, if you pick up your baby at the hospital should send you home with a bunch of two ounce bottles of rtf, which you can also buy extras of while traveling. Even if you don't pick up the baby right from the hospital, might consider using prefilled bottles for the trip. The gerber and evenflow nipples and rings fit on the 2 oz bottles. Probably the easiest way to keep things clean/sterile if you're in a hotel. I didn't use those otherwise, because I hate all that waste, but I think it's worth it to not worry about water safety and sterilizing (although if you are using reusable nipples and rings you can sterilize in a microwave w/ steam sterilizer bottles).

I'm not sure of the benefits of glass--seems like you would not want to travel w/ glass because of the weight. They are also more expensive than the cheaper BPA free bottles.

Feel free to pm if you have more questions about what to buy in advance.

[larig]

I loved my plastic born free bottles. I recommend them very highly, and I think the venting system really helped with the gas. I tried other bottles (cheaper) once, and DS was miserable. I had about 13 or so bottles (2 small and rest 9 oz). As others said, don't bother with the small ones.

[crl]

Thank you all for the advice and the good wishes!
Catherine