Customer Reviews

Playtex Premium Nurser Newborn Gift Set

5 star:		(164)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

FYI: the best thing about this system is that it offers liners that do NOT contain bisphenol-A, a chemical that may leach from polycarbonate plastic into breast milk or baby formula when a bottle containing those fluids is overheated. Liners and glass bottles are currently the only two options for avoiding bisphenol-A.

Initially I selected this system for the convenience, then after I read up on bisphenol-A, I was very relieved that I'd inadvertently made the right choice, and thought I'd share that with others. Best wishes!

I love these bottles(so does my daughter!)I breast fed her for the first month and relized that it was to difficult to breast feed when I was going out all the time, so now I had to buy a bottle,so I bought the playtex nursers(the regular ones) and realized she hated the nipple and she was getting mad cause she couldnt get anything!!!(If you ask me they are nothing like the breast like they say they are!!!) so now I had a big problem, I bought 11 bottles and she didnt like them!!! So I noticed the Premium Nurser and I bought only 1(cause I already made the mistake of buying to many before trying them!!!)Well needless to say she LOVED them!!! So all I did now was buy the Premium Nipples SLOW FLOW and they worked on all the regular nursers!!! The other thing that I noticed too was that its not at all messy on the baby and really easy to clean!!!! Any one whos not sure how long they are going to breast feed or need to pump their milk into a bottle(special breast pump attachment included) this is the system for you!!!!!!

I orginally bought only the Avent disposable bottles for my baby-to-be. Once she arrived, I quickly discovered that the Avent bottles were not all they were cracked up to be except for more expensive. They leaked, she made a mess every time we used one, she still got gas bubbles from them, took a lot of effort to get her latched on to their nipple, and finally the liners always leaked in the freezer with my precious breast milk. So I switched to these, but was very apprehensive. I loved the drop in liners and their ease, unlike the bag style. They did not leak. Plus she liked the nipple and could go back to the breast without any confusion. She is now 3 months old and we are still using the playtex premium. This was the bottle for us!

I knew from the time I was pregnant that I would be combining breast and bottle feeding so I chose the Playtex system. When we were in the hospital, I had two lactation nurses in my room for an hour straight trying to help my daughter latch on. She wouldn't open her mouth correctly and it was very painful. They discouraged me from using a bottle until this problem resolved and gave her formula from a spoon so she wouldn't get too hungry. She got more on her than in her, so I sent my husband home for the bottles I had bought. Once we were home, I pumped for 3 days while using this bottle. She learned how to open her mouth correctly without me having to go through that agony and when we tried nursing again, she did it perfectly. Now at 3 months old, she's a champion at the breast and the bottle. I love the drop-ins when you have a fussy baby and only one hand free and like everyone else I love how you can use the premium nipples in the regular nursers. I was willing to pump full time if I had to in order for my daughter to get the benefits of breast milk, but thanks to Playtex, we didn't have to miss out on what I personally feel is a very special experience between mother and baby and I'm grateful.

I love the Playtex bottles, but I strongly recommend buying the new Easy Feeder. The Easy Feeder has a burper which is my only complaint about the original and premium playtex nursers. Prior to feeding the bag or drop-in has to be burped which is easily done by pushing it up until milk comes out of the nipple. The problem is while feeding, if you have to stop and set the bottle down, air goes back in and needs to be re-burped. It is very dificult to burp when there is less milk. Your hand can not fit into the bottle high enough. Some people use a spoon to push it up, but who wants to carry around a spoon too and use two hands. With the Easy Feeder, each time you just slide it up (with one hand after some practice)...much easier and faster when your baby is hungry.

I still haven't found the perfect bottle for my son, but so far these are the ones we've settled on. Here are the various features of the Playtex Premium Nursers and their advantages/disadvantages.

NATURAL SHAPE NIPPLE: For me this is the biggest attraction of this bottle. My son is a very messy eater and was soaking his clothes and everything else in his path with each bottle. I tried almost every bottle and nipple combination out there looking for one where the formula didn't pour out the sides of his mouth. This was one of the last ones I tried because I had already tried the regular Playtex nursers/nipples and didn't think there would be that much of a difference with the premium version. The difference turned out to be in the nipple. The premium nursers come with the silicone Natural Shape nipple (slow flow), and of all the nipples I have tried, FINALLY this one cuts down on the mess, thought hasn't eliminated it completely. I think the reason is because this nipple is softer than almost every other one I've tried, making it easier to conform to the shape of his mouth and create a better seal so formula doesn't keep pouring out. On the other hand, because the nipple is soft, it tends to bend over if I don't position it in his mouth just right. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get it right. He has always been a bottle fed baby and this is the first time we've really used a wide based nipple with any consistency, so I'm hoping that problem will go away as he gets more accustomed to the nipple. You can also buy these nipples separately and use them in regular Playtex nursers, but I found it more cost effective to go ahead and buy the more expensive premium nursers since in the long run it's cheaper than buying the nipples separately.

CONTOURED BOTTLE SHAPE: I like the bottles themselves because the shape makes them easy to hold, and they are clear, which makes it easier to see the markings on the drop-in liners. The regular Playtex nursers are either opaque, or covered in designs, so this is a definite improvement if seeing the liner markings is important to you.

OUNCE MARKINGS: One thing that I find a nuisance about disposable bottles in general is that the ounce markings aren't really accurate. I will say that the markings printed on the premium nurser are MUCH closer to accurate than the markings printed on the regular or EZ Feed nursers. It's close enough to get a rough idea of how much your baby drinks, but they still aren't 100% accurate. If I'm pouring in premixed formula it doesn't bother me so much, but if I'm measuring water to which I will add powder later, I usually do it in a measuring cup first and then pour into the liner, since I don't want to over or under dilute the formula preparation. If you don't have a measuring cup, use the markings on the actual drop-in liner rather than the ones printed on the nurser for closer accuracy.

DROP-IN LINERS: Another thing I don't like about disposable bottles is that it's very difficult to tell how much baby is drinking, since the liners collapse. I don't usually push the air out of the liner - it just doesn't seem to make much difference for us since ds doesn't tend to be gassy. Good thing, since it takes forever to push the air out. But even so, the liners do still collapse as baby drinks the formula out. This makes it really hard to see what he drank unless I unscrew the lid to let air back in. This poses its own problems because if the liner is collapsed to the point where liquid is trapped in the nipple and you don't unscrew the lid carefully, you may end up with a lap full of formula. As ds is getting older this is less of a concern, but for newborns, I think most parents want to be pretty on top of how much their babies are getting. I DO like the fact that these liners are sterile and I don't have to worry so much about bottle cleaning.

LID SHAPE: I like the lid on this bottle better than the one on the regular nursers. It's bigger and therefore easier to take off. The lid on the regular nursers is only around 1/2" high, which doesn't leave much to grasp on to. I've had a hard time getting those lids off the regular nursers before. But I do find that the premium lid doesn't do as good a job of containing the bottle contents when shaking/mixing individual bottles. For day to day use I make up batches of formula and pour it individually as needed, so the shaking thing is only a concern when we are out. For those occasions, I do have a couple of the regular nursers that I use because I find they do a better job of preventing leaks out the nipple hole.

That is why I love this system. It is true that you can't mix 8 oz in the bottle, but you can do it in a mesuring cup and then pour it in, or pre mix the formula and save it in the fridge. If you are on the go, then I guess you can buy some other bottle that acomodates you. That is what I do at least. (the pooh ones at [local] stores are great)
I've tried them all and this is what I got:
Avent: it is very good, but for some odd reason it started leaking after some time. Changed the nipples and it still leaks some times.
Evenflo ultra (or whatever it is called): love the bottleshape and the nipple shape... hate the cap. IT COMES OF! constantly. I've lost them all. Also they leak.
Gerber (the fat ones): the fist time I used it worked great, I was so happy. THe second time I used this bottle the nipple collapsed!
playtex ventair: They leak like heck! I HATE THEM SO MUCH I WON'T EVEN TALK ABUT THEM (still have 3 unopened ones I got as a shower gift)
disney babies: I have two pooh bottles that I love. They are my going out bottles, No leaks, collapses and they make 8 oz and beyond. The bad thing is that they don't sell the nipple replacement for these bottles. THe packaging even says "can be used with avent nipples" And I tried it with an Avent nipple... and it collapsed!
plytex premium nurser: I love it because my baby loves it. I breast fed my baby for 6 months and then I stoped. I had to start giving her formula at 1 month because I didn't have enough milk for her, So I started trying different bottles then. Well about a month or two ago I bought one of these playtex premium bottles, because I needed bigger bottles. My baby LOVED IT. I'm convinced it feels like mommy to her, because she gets that nursing face of joy. It is a little cumbersome to heat water first and then mix the milk but it takes me about 10 seconds more to prepare the bottle, and honestly, she deserves those 10 extra seconds.
The bottle doesn't leak, and the milk warms or cools down really quick when sumerged in cool or hot water.
So this is what I can say about bottles so far. I forgot to mention that you can interexchange nipples between playtex premium, evenflo ultra and the fat gerber ones, but I didn't have a good experience with this. They either collapsed or leaked.
Thank you for reading
Macarena

I have been using these bottles since my son was born four months ago. I initially bought them because I felt the nipple was more like the breast and I had intended to breast feed. Since I didn't get milk, my baby is strictly bottle fed.

I like these bottles for the convenience factor; they are easy to clean. Since you use the sterilized inserts it eliminates the effort of trying to get a regular bottle clean enough for baby.

The nipples are easy for the baby to latch onto, and because they are soft silicone and designed to be more like the breast, my son didn't get lip blisters from sucking.

I have used the original liners and the new disposable liners. The original liners are very difficult to position in the bottle and aren't worth the hassle. The disposable liners are very easy to use, but tend to collapse and leak. This occurs when you have filled the liner, put on the nipple and try to push the air out of the liner by pressing gently on the bottom of it. You realize you have a problem once you start feeding your baby and you both wear half of the bottle. This happened every single time we tried to get the air out - without fail...and no, this wasn't due to operator error! :-)

If you are looking for convenience, ease of cleaning and/or to transition between the breast and bottle, I would recommend this product. However, if you want to eliminate the air your child consumes during feeding, choose Dr. Brown's instead.

I use these bottles with my daughter who is two months old. She has been using these since week one (with expressed milk) along with the breast. She has no problem with switching back and forth which makes it great for me since I do not like to breast feed when I am out. I also freeze the milk in the pre-sterilized liners. I highly recommend them.

I initially purchased [another] set for my 2-month-old exclusively breast-fed baby, based on the ... advertising claiming these were "Most like Mom". HA! Unless you have Farrah Fawcett nipples, they [were] not at all like Mom - much too long and hard to please a baby used to something smaller and softer. [Then I] tried the Playtex Premium Nursers. Bingo! These silicone nipples are much more realistic and soft (make sure they are the Premium). Also, the wide nipple base helps maintain good latch-on habit. You can also buy these "Natural Shape" nipples separately if you already have any of the Playtex bottles - they are mix & match! Finally - successful switchover! I subtracted 1 star due to the fact that this set only comes with non-environmentally friendly disposable liner type bottles (which can't be used with bottle warmers, either).