How to find the right bottle for your baby
If you want to feed your baby with the bottle, then you have the choice between countless different products. Since you will use the bottle several times a day, you should consider some important factors when buying so that the meals are as pleasant as possible for you and your child. Find out here what is particularly important when buying bottles and what the advantages and disadvantages of the different models are.
How many vials to buy?
If youdo not breastfeed your baby, then you will need to stock up on bottles for your baby at least for the first year of life in order to be able to feed it. Since you will feed your baby about five to six times a day and a bottle should be carefully cleaned after each meal, it is advisable to have a fresh bottle available for each of these meals, i.e. also five to seven bottles. So you only have to clean and sterilize the baby bottles once a day, which can save you a lot of work. Information on what you should pay attention to when cleaning can be found in our article “Clean vials properly“.
Where to buy a bottle?
You can buy the baby bottles in thedrugstore, in the pharmacy, in the supermarket or in specialist shops, for example a baby market. The offer is incredibly large nowadays, which is why it is useful to find out in advance what differences there are in general with bottles and what you should definitely pay attention to when buying. We have put together the most important points for buying the bottle here.
Buy bottles made of glass or plastic?
There are both baby bottles made of glass and plastic. A clear recommendation as to which material is best suited for vials cannot be given at this point, as both materials have their advantages and disadvantages. Here you can get an overview:
- Glass: Vials made of glass are very heat-resistant and therefore suitable for the microwave in most cases. This is handy if you want to heat milk quickly in a bottle. Glass bottles are also free of questionable ingredients and you can be sure that no plasticizers or the like are released into the food.
However, baby bottles made of glass are heavier than their plastic counterparts, which could literally “matter” with prolonged feeding. In addition, glass vials can easily break or chip in the event of a fall. This becomes especially dangerous when your baby starts holding the bottle himself. You should therefore never leave your baby alone with a glass bottle. - Plastic: Most of the baby bottles that you can buy in stores today are made of plastic. They have the great advantage that they are shatterproof and therefore sometimes survive a litter from the high chair or the baby cot. In addition, plastic vials are usually slightly cheaper than glass vials. The low weight of plastic vials can also be an advantage when feeding, as they are easier for you to hold. However, they also tempt older babies to suck on the bottle permanently, as your child can also hold it up more easily. Therefore, always make sure to take the bottle away from your child after drinking so that caries does not form. Another disadvantage of plastic vials is that, unlike glass, the material scratches easily. Since bacteria and germs can easily settle in scratches, damaged vials, especially if they have scratches inside, for example from a hard dishwashing brush, should be disposed of if possible. It is also worthwhile to pay attention to whether the vials are microwaveable when buying, as this is not the case with all plastic products.
Plastic bottles are often suspected of secreting pollutants into the milk when heated. Until recently, this was sometimes actually the case, as the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) was often used in the production of plastic vials to make the material as clear as glass. However, the use of bisphenol-A for vials and teats has been banned within the EU since the beginning of 2011. You can find out more about this topic in our article “No more bisphenol-A in plastic vials”. Other pollutants are also very rarely detected in plastic vials today.
Other criteria for buying bottles
- Size: Baby bottles are available in different sizes. The exact capacity depends on the product and manufacturer, but is usually between 125 and 330 milliliters. The size you choose depends primarily on how much your child drinks per meal. At the beginning, therefore, small vials are usually sufficient. However, since your child will increase his amount of drink per meal over time, it is worth considering buying large bottles directly. While you can of course also fill them with less milk than they hold in total, it may soon be that a small bottle will soon no longer be enough to satisfy your child’s hunger. For the occasional administration of tea, for example if your child has a stomach ache, you should still buy about two small bottles in which you do not give your child milk.
- Form: Theshape of the bottle is also a matter of tasteand differs slightly from each manufacturer. There are both very straight “cut” bottles, as well as ergonomically curved ones, where the bottle neck is curved, so that you do not have to lift the bottle so much when feeding. However, most plastic bottles are only a little narrower in the middle so that they fit better in the hand, but otherwise have no special shapes. You should refrain from vials whose sides are shaped into handles. They not only tempt you to suck constantly, but are also difficult to clean.
- Bottleneck: The bottle neck is another distinguishing feature of baby bottles. Some bottles have a narrow filling opening, others, the so-calledwide-neck bottles, a wide one. A large opening not only makes it easier for you to fill with milk powder and water, but also proves to be practical when cleaning.
Each vial should, of course, have aleak-proof closure, which plays an important role in transporting the vial. In most baby bottles, this consists of a small plastic plate that is placed in the closure. You should also make sure that there is aneasy-to-read scaleon the vial so that you can always fill in the right amount of water toprepare the vial.
Of course, each manufacturer combines the individual selection factors differently in almost every model and some vials even have special functions. Which one suits you and your baby the most, you have to find out for yourself in the practical test.
Interesting information about what you should consider when buying the teat can be found in our article “Latex or silicone: The right teat for the bottle”.