The Best Bottles for Breastfed Babies
Looking for a bottle for your breastfed baby that will limit nipple confusion and make the transition easier? This post shares results from a survey done regarding a variety of moms favorite bottle for their breastfed baby.
For mothers who are breastfeeding, there may come a time where they need to use a bottle.
Perhaps their baby can’t latch, or they need to supplement to help baby grow.
Or maybe they have to go back to work at six weeks (which is a reality for many, many moms).
Or maybe they just want to be able to leave their baby for longer than two to three hours every now and then.
Whatever the reason, I know that many moms wonder what is the best bottle for breastfed babies.
The truth is, this often varies depending on the baby and the mom – and unfortunately, some moms have to go through dozens of brands to find the one their baby will finally take.
So I thought I’d ask some members of our Breastfeeding Mama’s Support Tribe for their insight. Below, you’ll find their insights and commentary on the bottles they liked…you’ll likely start to see a trend.
But first, here are a few things to consider when finding the perfect bottle for your breastfed baby:
- Does it offer a preemie or newborn sized nipple? It is good to try and use the slowest flow nipple possible. This helps prevent nipple confusion, as it more mimics the breast. A mother’s nipple doesn’t change in size as baby gets older, so you shouldn’t really need to change nipple size!
- Is the nipple shaped like the breast?
- Is the nipple hard or soft?
- How many parts does it have?
- Can you pump directly into it? There are several bottles that work with breast pumps, which makes for easy feeding and even storage. You can also find pump-to-bottle adapters to make this work as well.
Below, you will find the most popular bottles, listed in order of popularity from the people I surveyed (I’d say there was about 60 responses). I’ve also provided some insight on what I’ve heard about some of the bottles.
Don’t miss this post – How to Bottle Feed a Breastfed Baby
Best Bottles for Breastfed Baby
Dr. Brown’s Bottles
We personally used Dr. Brown’s bottles when I was needing to feed him pumped milk via a bottle. I liked that they offered a preemie nipple.
They have a couple different versions (wide mouth and traditional), and they are also available in glass if that’s important to you. We had no problems with
The two biggest complaints I’ve heard about these bottles are that they leak, and they have multiple parts. It can be annoying to clean all the parts, but I didn’t find it that big of a deal (but we only used the bottle maybe once a day for a few months). I did experience a little bit of leaking.
Overall, this was the most popular bottle recommended by moms in my survey. Here are a few other comments that I gathered:
“Dr. Brown’s Bottles with the 0-3 months Slow Flow Nipples, continue with the same type & age nipple throughout the first year. Mom’s nipples don’t change, so why should the bottle nipples change? Just our thoughts. :)” – Megan W.
“We give one bottle of breast milk a day. He is a month old and we started 2 weeks ago. he has had no problems. He has taken Dr. Browns and Avent. Mam is next because I have a couple and then Kiinde because I am freezing milk in those bags.” – Shannon R.
“Dr Brown was the only bottle my LO would take slow and not get angry afterwards. Still using the size 1 nipple at 8mnths.” – Kathryn S.
“Dr. Brown’s–my 9mo still uses the preemie nipple.” – Kristina Y.
“Dr. Browns options with the slow flow and newborn nipples size 1 to make them work for the milk.” – Cindy C.
Avent Natural
I was sent a bunch of Avent products when Oliver was about six months. At that point, he had no interest in a bottle, so I didn’t have a chance to try them out much with him…beyond taking these pictures 🙂
However, I was impressed with the quality of the Avent Natural bottles. I feel that they resembled the breast, and they had a variety of nipple options. I also love that it works with the Avent Comfort Double Pump, which I own and love.
These were the second most popular option among those surveyed. Make sure you are getting the Avent Natural bottle – NOT the classic.
“Phillips Avent was the only ones my daughter would take other than nursing.”
“I loved Avent…none of my five kids ever had nipple confusion.” Paula I.
“Avent natural. We tried 4 other bottles before my son took that one.”
“I started with Dr Browns but they leaked and I got tired of washing so many parts. I switched to Avent Natural (not Classic) and she’s done fabulous on them. Only breast milk but she takes them no problem.” Lisa S.
“Avent natural glass bottles. I prefer the glass ones over plastic.”
“Avent. My daughter loves them, they’re super easy to use and clean!” -Lizeth G.
Nuk Simply Natural
I had actually not even heard of this one, but it was mentioned several times as the preferred bottle. It’s supposed to help encourage that special breastfeeding bond, even when you aren’t able to.
The nipples have been 3 and 9 nipple holes, depending on the flow of the nipple. I thought this was an interesting idea, since it is similar to how breastfeeding works (as in, milk comes out of multiple holes in the nipple!).
??He never did well with medela bottles, We had hand-me-down bottles from a close friend & they were Phillips Advent & Nuk Natural. He took Nuk much better & at 9 months still uses it with a slow flow nipple. I think I would have liked to give tommee tippee or munchkin latch a try if he didn’t like Nuk, I liked reading all the great reviews on Amazon but never tried them.” – Sophie H.
Medela Calma
I’ve seen a lot of discussion on this bottle, and I feel like people either love or hate it.
It has a longer nipple, which I’ve heard some moms say their baby gags a little bit on. But other moms say it is the only thing their baby will take. So perhaps if you’ve tried everything else, this is a good bottle for harder to please babies!
“My second nurses and will only take medela bottles.”
“For BM the Medela bottles worked well. I much prefer Dr Browns for formula.” -Amber F.
Playtex Nursers with Drop In
I think I only used a bottle three times with Jack, but this is the brand we used when we did. My sister-in-law recommended them, and I thought they worked well.
“Started with Munchkin Latch then he took plain old playtex nursers with drop in!”
” – Jodie A. “With my son, the Munchkin Latch. The most important thing on both being the vent at the bottom!”
Kiinde is an interesting product. They are bags that you can pump directly into. I know a lot of people that love these bags for pumping, but they don’t necessarily use the nipples for nursing.
However, a few mothers mentioned that these worked well for them, so if they do…then it makes life easier if you don’t have to transfer milk from a bag to a bottle!
“We use the kiinde bottles/bags and lucked out- She’s never had a problem going back and forth. She gets a bottle 1-2 days a week when I work in the office.” – Rachel A.
Lansinoh mOmma
MAM
I found a lot of people mentioned MAM as a bottle they used in addition to their preferred bottle. I also noticed that these bottles had really good reviews on Amazon – a lot of bottles (even the most popular above!) don’t have near five star reviews like these. Interesting!
Honorable Mentions
These are other bottles that were either not mentioned or just mentioned once or twice – however, I have heard and read that they can be good options for breastfed babies.
First Years Breastflow – I always felt like this one looked good, but there are a lot of parts!
Katie is a Colorado-native, BYU graduated, and most importantly, wife to one and mother to three beautiful boys. She is passionate about sharing her experiences with others – especially about pregnancy, breastfeeding, cooking, and crafts. She is currently training to be a Certified Lactation Educator. She loves spending time with her family and helping others find joy in family life.
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