Customer Reviews

Dr. Brown's BPA Free Polypropylene Natural Flow Wide Neck Bottle, 8 oz - 3-Pack

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the first month and a half of my baby's life, we went through an enormous challenge trying to breastfeed, but, due to low milk supply (yes, I tried Fenugreek and a bunch of other stuff!), switched to mostly formula. We experimented with a bunch of bottles, so here is a comparison review:

Least Favorite: The First Years Breastflow The First Years Breastflow BPA Free Bottle 3-Pack, 5 Oz

We tried the Breastflow first because it was recommended by my lactation specialist as being the closest to the breast. In that respect, it does have an advantage. I haven't seen any other bottles on the market designed to mimic the mother's nipple the way these are. However, there were other problems with this bottle that ultimately made it my least favorite. Primarily, the flow was extremely variable. At times we would find it was flowing so fast my daughter would be dribbling everywhere, and then at the next feeding it would be so slow she could barely get anything out. This was ultimately very frustrating and we decided to move on.

Just Okay: Playtex VentAire Playtex BPA Free VentAire ADVANCED Wide Bottles 9 oz - 3 Pack (Colors Vary)

The second type of bottle we tried was the VentAire. We stuck with the wide nipple to hopefully continue to support breastfeeding. Luckily for us, though, our baby adapted really well to different types of nipples and didn't really have more trouble latching after switching to primarily using bottles. The nipple shape may be a bigger issue for some babies. We liked the flow of the VentAire better since it seemed more consistent. However, the nipples were constantly getting clogged! Some occasional clogging is inevitable if you're using formula, but we found ourselves having to unclog before almost every feeding, then sometimes in the middle of the feeding as well. It was frustrating to us and to our baby when her meal got interrupted.

Our Favorite: Dr. Brown's Dr. Brown's BPA Free Polypropylene Natural Flow Wide Neck Bottle, 8 oz - 3-Pack

The Dr. Brown's have definitely been our favorite bottles overall. The flow of the Level 1 nipple was very consistent and when our daughter turned 3 months old we switched to the Level 2 with much success. It is very rare that we have a clogged nipple or a leak, although those things do happen once in a while. It is a little bit of a hassle to clean the extra parts, but the dishwasher racks are very helpful with that.

A note on gas:

Both VentAire and Dr. Brown's claim to help reduce gas and spit-up. I have no idea if either made any difference with our daughter. She spat up sometimes before we switched to these bottles, and she still spits up sometimes now. As our pediatrician says, "It's what babies do." People who have had babies with severe colic or other issues may have been able to notice a bigger change due to the bottle design, but we didn't see much.

I decided to try Dr. Brown's bottles with my baby since my previous baby had gas issues. For the first 5 months my baby did have gas and I had to use gas drops.(I believe its because I use powder formula. The country I'm living in only has powder.My first 2 babies used concentrated formula & had no gas.) If I hadn't used Dr. Brown's however her gas would have been worse. I know this because at 4 months, when I needed to change the nipples, I opted to change to another popular brand. (Because I live overseas I would have had to order them on-line and wait.) With the new bottles her gas became worse. I decided to order them and I'm glad I did because when I started using them there was definetly an improvement Now at 6 months she is gas free, but only because I;m using these bottles! I recommend these bottles to everyone!

We have used Dr. Brown's bottles and nipples since our first daughter was born, for about 5 years.
We would not trade them for anything else. Our kids rarely have gas or colic, and rarely spit-up, even though all 3 have reflux. These bottles are the main reason, in our opinion. Likewise with the nipples. And now the bottles are safer to use, as they are offered in glass and/or bpa-free plastic versions. They are a little pricey, but well worth the investment. We would not trade our Dr. Brown's sets for anything else on the market.

We used these for our daughter--almost three now--while she was a baby. She likes the nipples on Dr. Brown's more than anything else (maybe becuse the shape or they were softer). She never had colic and rarely gas--so maybe the bottles helped. I liked the wide-necked ones best for her. The bottles occassionally leaked, but if we made sure all the parts were very dry, it wasn't routine. I'll buy more for my new baby due in April.

Yes, they do leak sometimes but I haven't found anything that is totally leak proof. I think it's b/c it sucks all the air out so the baby doesn't take in the air so when they are finished the air has to come out somehow causing it to slowly leak and push the extra milk out. I'm just very careful to put the disc back in the bottle before I put it in the diaper bag. I have used Dr. Brown's for 2 out of 3 of my kids and I love them. All of my kids spit up a ton and I felt like it helped them have less gas and less spit up.

We went with these because we didn't want spit up issues. There wasn't that much, but there was some. When hand washing with the Dr. Brown brush, there's not a lot of room to sweep the brush around and get a good scrubbing. The wide neck bottles we got for baby #2 are easier to clean.

My daughter started using Dr. Browns bottles shortly after coming home for the first time. But at the time, I was using hand-me-down Dr. Brown bottles. Once she was out of the "4 ounce stage" and I needed bigger bottles, I found these and decided to go with them. They are GREAT bottles, but it took some time for her to adjust to the wide-neck nipples. She seemed to have trouble getting a good latch onto these new bottles. But after some time and patience, she has no problems using them. I am SURE that if she would have started out with the wide neck bottles & nipples, the problem would have never happened in the first place. This is a great product, and the only reason I gave four stars instead of five is because of the design of the nipples being hard for my daughter to transition to. But like I said - she just needed to become accustomed to using the new style of bottle -- now it's a breeze!

I was semi happy with the bottle. The bottle didn't made out of the mareials I like and the measurement is not very clear to identify. I pick the Born Free bottles over this.

I originally purchased Dr. Brown's due to the great reviews for them being as close to breast as possible. They are, however, a huge hassle to clean. I hand wash all our bottles daily and the additional two pieces inside are ridiculous to clean out. The little pipe cleaner brushes they come with get dirty and rusty really quickly. Even the Dr. Brown's bottle brush (which I purchased too) does nothing special to help clean these proprietary bottles. Does the special airflow system make a difference? Hell if I know...my baby still burps and spits up - with no basis for comparison since spending another $50+ on another brand and batch of bottles is silly. That's all just my frustration - I don't have the time or money to spend debating cleaning and cost of bottles. However, to Dr. Brown's credit, my baby is being effectively fed. He's still riding high at the 95th percentile for length and weight. The bottles are doing their job.

I love Dr. Brown's bottles and use the 4 oz and 8 oz standard bottles. I decided to try the wide neck 8 oz as my baby is now eating 5 oz per feeding. These bottles function like the standard bottles; however when I went to warm up the formula in a bottle warmer(munchkin brand,)formula leaked out of the bottle. Not sure where it leaks at and it was about 1/4 oz that came out. I like these bottles other than the leaking factor but if you are using powder or do not have to heat the bottle then these would work.