Baby bottle recommendations please? Overwhelmed!

[Zena88]

Hi all, I’ve done what feels like endless research on baby bottles and thought I was set on mam ones, my baby is due in a couple of months. However some reviews say they are faffy to put together and leak/same with Dr Brown’s which are a ‘better’ brand.
I’m planning on buying the tommee tippee electric steriliser which I think will hold any bottle, do you have any recommendations? I’ve heard mixed reviews with tommee tippee bottles but am thinking I might just buy them for an ease! Thank you x

My first didn't take to the TT bottles, however the MAM bottles are fab and are self sterilising

I use MAM bottles and they are really easy I find. They can be sterilised in the microwave so need for a separate steriliser (the dummies are the same as well).
We started off with Nuk bottles and used a tommee tippee steam steriliser but it got really grimy/rusty looking quickly so switched to MAM and they are so much better.

@Zena88 blog.mambaby.co.uk/feeding/how-to-self-sterilise-the-mam-anti-colic-bottle/

I also have mam bottles, they aren't faffy at all, and quick and easy to sterilise in the microwave.

I personally find the MAM bottles very faffy! We like the Lanisoh bottles here, and Dr Brown's (expensive though). The Lanisoh bottles have so far been easy to use and clean, and great for switching between breast and bottle (if considering combi feeding).

I've used Tommee Tippee with the slow flow teats and never had any problems with her feeding. Used them from birth.

We found the Tommy Tippee bottles pretty leaky and also not great for our gassy refluxy baby. We ended up using Lansinoh which have been good for us and her, maybe worth considering if there is any chance you'll be breastfeeding as well.

Tommee tippee was great for us. DS took to them really well. I was able to BF him and he would have a bottle with DH when I was asleep. No nipple confusion at all from the beginning. Loved the dummies also.

We tried MAM but he didn't like them at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is one where you may need to buy a few and test which works best for your baby. I second everyone who has said Mam- easy to use and the self sterilisation makes life very easy.

We used Lansinoh glass bottles. I didn’t want to use plastic. They’ve worked really well and have been very robust!

They also screwed directly into my Lansinoh breast pump which was very helpful, 1 sent of bottles went to nursery that I pumped into the day before and the other set of bottles came to work with me.

Thank you all, I’ve never heard of Lansinoh so will do some research. I like the idea of using glass bottles.
regarding the self-sterilising I was under the impression that using a microwave to sterilise wasn’t good for the baby? Maybe I’m misguided on that

I used tommee tippee, only because I got a bargain on Amazon! They worked great for DD and just use to throw them in a microwave steriliser. I did try MAM bottles but daughter wasn't keen at all. I also had a few of the cheep bottles from Morrisons, think it's 3 for £3.50, they were great when she was a bit older and using them for water but did use them sometimes for milk and never had any issues with them.

Just to add, I’m hoping to breastfeed (if I can) and express some into bottles but have a mixture of breast and bottle

I’m a bit over cautious about chemicals and babies so would only sterilise by boiling the bottles on the hob for 5 or 10 minutes as I didn’t like any of the other methods.

It was a lot of effort though and took bloody ages 😂 we called it the great boil. Will probably do it again for DC2.

@Zena88 Using the microwave for sterilising never did any harm to my DS, depends if you're over cautious/anxious about that sort of thing

We like dr. Browns but it might depend on what your baby likes. My brother has 3 kids and ended up buying all kinds of bottles with each kid to try out which worked best. And it was a different brand per kid.

We used tommee tippee for both and plan on doing so with number 3. I was unable to breastfeed so expressed and they were great. Neither had any colic or gassiness. They also do a glass version but tbh the amount of times I’ve dropped a bottle especially in those sleepy few weeks I don’t think they’d have lasted long.

I had the TT electric steriliser with my first and it was terrible. Stopped working properly and wouldn’t always turn itself off so would boil dry if you weren’t careful, although that was 12 years ago. Second I used a microwave steriliser and it was so easy we’re doing that again with number 3. There’s no risk to baby. Although unless your baby is premature or has low immunity you don’t actually have to sterilise as long as the bottles are washed in hot soapy water well.

All brands will have mixed reviews, don’t go buying different ones. Just choose whichever you like and see how you get on.

@Zena88 if you are hoping to breastfeed I would stay clear of bottles for now, ideally you would wait 6 weeks before introducing a bottle and you might find by then that you don't actually want to pump and use bottles. I bought everything, steriliser, electric pump, manual pump and bottles and 16months in they haven't been used except manual pump which I found a life saver when struggling with a blocked duct.

Obviously do your research and know what you want to buy, but maybe hold off purchasing until baby is here.

My combi fed baby wouldn’t take a silicone teat! I used the Nuk first choice bottles with the latex teats. I found them really easy to use, no faffing, and you can also buy spouts that fit on them to convert from bottle to sippy cup, so not paying out again in 4/6 months

Used TT with ds and he had terrible reflux. Changed to Dr Brown’s for dd. They are a bit of a faff, but they’re so good. Loads better than TT. I used to put all the bits in the big TT steam steriliser no problem.

Another vote for Lansinoh.
We used Tommee tippee initially but they aren't good to get baby to take a good latch which can mean extra air intake. We switched when doing some research as our little one had silent reflux.
Lansinoh are a better shape and teat material for a deep latch

I used the Mam glass bottles and loved them. They were heavier than the plastic ones but we're really easy to clean.

I loved the Mam bottles and the fact you can sterilise them in the microwave if needed. I used the TT steriliser with them most the time and found them easy to clean. I didn't have an issue with leaking.

Hated the TT electric steriliser, put it on ebay after one use - just my personal choice, everyone's different.

With DS (16 months now) he had awful colic. I breastfed but hubby did all the night feeds so expressed milk was given via a bottle. Tried MAM, tommee tippee, Dr Brown, Avent, back to MAM, Nuk, eventually the MAM ones seemed the better ones for him (all babies are different) and they are handy in the fact you can sterilise them in the microwave without a steriliser.

DD is 6 weeks and doesn't give a shit which bottle or boob it comes from as long as she gets fed😅we tried tommee tippee but as a previous poster said, she couldn't latch on those very well which was making her gassy, so she's on mam for night feeds. Some find them fiddly, i personally don't and like them, they leak if you haven't put them back together properly but yiu get the knack for it pretty quick.

... Reading my post back I actually dreading to think how much we spent on bottles now and teats for the relevant flow 🙃