I have a few questions for the moms out there:
1.) Do you use glass or BPA free plastic? Glass bottles are obviously less harmful (chemical wise) but they are heavy and can break or the baby can drop it on their head. In the first few months they will work because I would always hold the bottle for the baby, but after that I am not so sure. Also, it will be too heavy in my diaper bag no? What are your thoughts? **-- i tried every.single.bottle on the market to find the one that would help my son with his gas, and subsequently, throw up’s, and the one he responded to best that filtered out all the air from the bottle was the playtex ventaires. we keep the playtex drop in’s in the car as a backup for when we’re out and about, but the drop in’s get expensive pretty quickly, esp in the beginning when they’re drinking more milk. **
2.) If you use BPA free plastic bottles, how do you sterilize them? I know Avent comes with a microwave sterilizer system but I keep reading that plastic bottles (even if they are BPA free) should never be boiled or put in microwave? Other sites, however, such as Health Canada advise to boil them for 2 minutes to sterilize. I keep getting conflicting information. What is the safest and correct way to sterilize BPA free plastic bottles? – when you first buy the bottle, you should definitely boil it, and all its parts, as per the instructions on the package. initially, when he was brand new, we’d sterilize by boiling at least once a day, if not more. now, though, the dishwasher or hand-washing in hot, soapy water is sufficient. you can do either/or – i don’t think there is any harm in boiling your bottles to sterilize them, but remember that babies also need to build their immunity, so its not necesarily the end of the world if you handwash the bottles. and yes, no microwaves for most bottle brands. if you want to heat up the milk, either do it separately and the pour into the bottle (which is what we do) or register for a bottle warmer. i think the safety 1st brand is a universal bottle warmer so any brand can go in there (except for the playtex ventaires, actually, because the vent that filters out the air is at the bottom of the bottle and the steam from the bottle warmer will loosen the vacuum and etc etc. it won’t work). honestly though, the bottle warmer was such a pain for us. it was so much quicker to just pop the milk into the microwave so we really only used it very briefly.
3.) Does anyone have experience using either Avent BPA free plastic or Playtex Drop ins? Please provide your reviews. – drop ins are good for on the go. for daily use, they can get pricey, and also they have no air filter type thing so he was gulping down his milk way too fast, and then taking in a lot of air with it, burping and eventually spitting up a lot. so that was our experience. we switched to the playtex ventaires and still use them. what i didn’t like about the avents was that the bottle quality seemed kind of cheap (compared to the other brands i tried - dr. browns, tommee tippee, born free, playtex ventaires, playtex drop in’s, etc.) and it turned me off. having said that, a lot of people i know use the bottles and are very happy with them, so what do i know?
4.) If you used Playtex drop ins, how did you take them with you in the diaper bag? Can you put the breast milk in the liner and put it into the bottle and carry a pre-made bottle in your diaper bag or will the liner burst in your diaper bag, causing all the milk to spill out? I really like the Playtex drop ins because the liners are sterilized so clean up is much easier and no worrying about sterilizing the bottles, my only concern is how I would pack a pre-made bottle in my diaper bag. I don’t want the liner to burst. – you can prefill the bottles but it would spill if it wasn’t upright in your diaper bag, and also, you would need a cooler bag to keep the milk from spoiling. or you’ll have to feed the baby before you go, or after you come home, if you are going out for long. formula, once made, only lasts two hours outside, 24 hours in the fridge, and if your baby has had even a sip, its good for only an hour because your kid’s saliva contains bacteria that can spoil the formula. what we did was keep a small container of formula that had slots where you could pre-measure the quantity of formula you’d need, a thermos of boiled water, and a cool water bottle. we’d then mix the formula on the go whereever we were. this is the formula container we had - http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UKsMIBmzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg - its the avent one and its available everywhere.
Baby bottle research has literally consumed my life for the last 2 weeks. I’ve done nothing but come home from work and research bottle after bottle and I am still no further than when I started. sigh Sorry for the long post, but I’d really appreciate some insight! Thanks a bunch! 