Bottles & sterilisers

[Elly1801]

Hi there,

Am looking at getting stocks in and there's SO much choice! Can anyone recommend a good make of bottles, a steriliser and any other related equipment? Are there any extras I should think about when getting all this stuff organised?

Elly

Hi Elly, We use the AVent range and they are great! THey are the priciest on the market but apparently they are the most 'breast nipple' like and are the ones least likely to give your little one colic - which apparently is common with bottle feeding. We also bought the Avent microwave steam steriliser which is also great. My system is to always fill and boil the kettle first thing in the morning to give the water time to cool down. In the meantime, I wash all the bottles etc and sterlise them. Then once the boiled water is cool enough, I fill all the sterilised bottles and put them in the fridge ready to be used. They will keep in the fridge for 24 hours. I also keep a bottle of boiled cooled water in the fridge for emergencies or for adding boiling hot water to for cleaning DS's face so that it's not freezing cold. When it comes to using the bottles for feeding, I'll add boiling water to the bottle (eg, if I'm giving a 4oz feed I'll have 3oz of cold water in the bottle from the fridge and add 1oz of freshly boiled water then add the formula). This is quicker than leaving a bottle to warm in a jug of boiling water and is safer than using the microwave to heat it up - but I'd always check the temp on wrist before hand just to be safe!). It does all become a bit of a faff, esp as you're doing the same thing everyday, but hey, that's motherhood for you! . HTH

Avent bottles and Avent steam steriliser - I found them fine and lasted through 3 babies. SOoooo glad to have put them all away now though!

Remember to get a bottle brush.

I use Tommee Tippee bottles and sterilisers only because got them as present and any other bottles I've bought just always stuck to same make and never had any problems. Dont know if there is much of a difference between them all.

I have bottle warmer from boots (although think avent do one too??) It is great especially if nightfeeding there is no need to run and boil kettle etc.

If bottle feeding from start remind dh/dp to have a bottle or two sterilised and made up for you coming home - my friend forgot and had to deal with crying baby whilst just home and waiting for stuff to sterilise!

i got an avent set (from mothercare) for £100, sounds a lot but you get (this is approx as it was a long time ago) 6 small bottles with size 1 teats, a steam steriliser with bottle brush, a breast pump with attatchment bottle, a bottle warmer, an anyway up cup think thats it, maybe have a look on the mothercare web site! hope that helps!

oh and it was all brilliant by the way, its all been packaged back up and is in the loft ready for the next one!

found it, its on mothercare.com and is with feeding and bottles, its an avent essentials kit and has:

Exclusive to Mothercare AND great value - SAVE £25 on the RRP of these products when bought separately

Avent Express electric steam steriliser
Avent Express bottle and baby food warmer
Avent Isis Breast pump with 2 x 125ml bottles
6 x 260ml Avent baby bottles
Pack of two night-time baby soothers 0-3 months
Avent mother must-have gift set: 30 ml moisturising light oil; 50ml indulgent body cream; 50ml leg and foot reviver; 100ml relaxing bath and shower essence
Avent baby must-have gift set: 100ml body and hair wash; 100ml moisturising cleanser; 30ml magic cream; 50ml massage gel; 30ml liquid talc

i really liked avent for bottles and we also had the microwave steriliser. i am buying avent bottles and teats again for our new baby.

Are you planning to bottlefeed exclusively? Do you have a preference as to a steam/microwave/cold water steriliser? Will you ever want to use your steriliser away from home? I was always planning to breastfeed but because dd had problems latching on she was bottlefed expressed milk until she was 7.5 weeks old. I had a Tommee Tippee breast pump, microwave steriliser and bottles and they were great. The teats were wide ones, so much more similar to breast shape, which was important as we were trying to get dd to breastfeed, but the best reason for buying this make for me was the steriliser. I wanted a microwave one for speed, so that I could quickly do the breast pump and dummies. The advantage of the TT (and Boots' own) though was that it also works as a cold water steriliser because it is a 'bowl with lid' design, rather than the tray and dome lid design that Avent (and Mothercare own) use. When I ended up sterilising all her bottles as well I used it as a cold water steriliser as it was much less hassle to just make up the solution once a day and drop in the bottles as they needed doing again - I also got away with the 3 bottles which came free with the pump and steriliser and didn't need to buy any more. Now I just use it as a microwave steriliser for dummies and the occasional bottle, but we went away to visit friends without a microwave and used it there as a cold water steriliser. I'd definitely recommend it.
The other thing I would say is that if you do choose to buy a breast pump, you might want to make sure that it is compatible with any others you get included with the price of your steriliser.
Hope that helps.
Jen

i used tommee tippee bottles, microwave steriliser (can also be used with cold water) and breast pump... really pleased with all of them

i've just brought tommee tippee from tescos - 4 bottles for £4.99, the pump for £11.00 and steralizer for £20 (all half price) am hoping they're good. the bottles look nice and have the nipple teats - DH has worked out how to use it all already so it can't be that hard! he he

boots have the same deal on now.

I have an Avent steam steriliser and bottle warmer that I'm shortly to put on Ebay - if you are interested, let me know as I'm not after a fortune for them (in fact, in all honesty unless you are planning to express with the exception of bottles these are the only two things you will really need from the Avent box set.

And if you are confident in your ability to microwave properly and safely, you won't even need a bottle warmer. There, I said it. So shoot me

But definitely don't forget the bottle brush (and don't buy the Mothercare own as they are shockingly bad quality!)

When dd was born I used a bottle warmer for first week as bottles were kept in fridge, then someone reccomended one of those 3 compartment formula pots from Mothercare. Now I make up all the bottles with just water and leave them out on worktop (don't need to be kept cold as not milk), just add pre measured dose of powder and a quick shake. Saved a lot of hassle when we were doing night feeds (no running down stairs to get the stuff then warm it up) and when we are out and about as no cooling or heating required. Babies don't have a preference for warm milk unless you give them the option! Bottle warmer now collecting dust in cupboard. We have Avent bottles and steriliser - v good.

If you are going to combine bottle & breast feeding, I recommend the NUK range. Even if you're not considering BF still recommend them. These can be bought easily from Superdrug & Asda & are reasonably priced.

With the NUK bottles, when the baby feeds they do so in a similar way to breast feeding, which helps with their ears. less risk of ear infections. I guess it works in the same way as swallowing on a plane.

Excellent idea from JennyWren ref expressing for the first few weeks

I used the avent steam steriliser and it was easy to use and put together. I did start using the avent bottles but dd didnt get on with the avent teats - too solid I think (no matter what flow we used the milk always spilled out the sides of her mouth). Ended up using tommee tippee Nuby teats (have dimples on them to mimic a nipple) on the avent bottles and problem was solved.

Ive just bought an Avent starter kit from Babies R Us for 49.99...had an electric steriliser + breast pump and some bottles, just not the creams described below. At the time they also had an offer where if you spent £60 on feeding stuff you got £10 off so i just bought some other Avent stuff to take it over £60 so effectively got those extras free too.

agree with mojomummy re Nuk bottles. had HUGE problems trying to get my dd to accept bottles after breast-feeding for 7 months and she eventually accepted Nuk teats. they seem to be the closest shape to nipples.
used Avent Steam Steriliser but admittedly not for very long!

I exclusively breastfeed but have to give my DS bottles with expressed milk for his colief medicine. I have tommee tippee steriliser & bottles. bought it when it was half price at tesco so £20 rather than £40. Not had any problems.

Would highly recommend Lindam microwave steriliser bags as well. £4.50 for 3 (think boots sell them). You get 1 bottle in them and can use each bag 20 times. great for emergencies (when you need one bottle quickly!), travel, keeping at grannys etc.

Avent electric steriliser > good...

... but we found the Avent bottles supplied with this sucked. V. poor vent system IMHO.

We moved to B-Free bottles (similar to the Dr Brown's ones, but the B-Free are better IMO) whic are very well vented so baby doesn't have a big vaccum to contend with.

4 - 6 small and 4-6 large will max out the steriliser and should be enough.

We bought a medela battery-powered (tranny supplied) breast pump. V. noisy. Really needs to be plugged in for decent strong suck. If I was buying all over again, I'd suggest looking at the medela lactaline dual pump. Not sure if it sounds any different, but it should express faster if you do both sides at once.

hub2dee, that's an interesting site - I thought the b'free where just the Dr Browns redesigned ?

My DD still has nuk bottle with her bedtime story, although I have a Dr Browns lurking somewhere ( she would never drink from it) I might buy the latex teats & see how she gets on - thanks !

DD took to the MAM ultivent bottles after some persuasion by the nursery nurses as she was previously exclusively bf and still won't take a bottle from me or dh. I went for MAM over the NUK as I read somewhere to try to find a bottle whose teat is most like your own nipple. I think for this reason she did better with getting milk out of the MAM ones over the NUK.

Both MAM and NUK are have v. good low colic system like the Dr Browns/B Free. I went for MAM is it has less fussy parts than BFree.

One of the nursery nurses who cares for dd uses BFree with her own lo and she likes them a lot. She rates the MAM Ultivent highly too, judging from what she sees with my dd.

I also tried the avent bottles as I was given an avent steriliser. Think the avent bottles are rubbish in comparison. Heard the same from several women who were bottle feeders in the baby group I attended.

Agree with hub2dee re Avent bottles - vent system no good and they tend to leak.

Tommee Tippee microwave steriliser is brill (we have the old MAWS one which is exactly the same - they have just re-branded it). We bought this one because you can use it as a cold water steriliser as well, which you can't with the Avent one. Tommee Tippee bottles are nice but not as good as the MAWS ones were. I wash them in the dishwasher and sometimes find they don't come out clean because of the hourglass shape.

We like the NUK bottles as they seem to do a very good job of reducing air in the milk using a very simple slit in the teat, but without the large number of components (ie. longer cleaning time !) of the Dr. Brown's / B-Free.

Mojomummy / all... Yes, I think the B-Free are just re-designed Dr. Browns, but they are sometimes sold interchangeably and I prefer the B-Frees.

I have posted a somewhat anal discourse on the difference between Dr. Browns and B-Free here

Thanks v much for all the tips, guys. It's all new (!!) and tried and tested advice is invaluable!!