BOTTLE STERILIZERS

My topics keep getting more and more entertaining, but I promise to wrap up the world of bottles with one more post on Bottle drying racks tomorrow. So after talking to numerous doctors, nurses, lactation consultants and reading every baby book known to man, I found out my sister was officially a paranoid bottle sterilizing mother. Apparently you are only supposed to sterilize baby stuff the first time you use it, bottles, pacifiers etc..... After that, hot soapy water does the trick (or a dishwasher - which I personally am opposed to - see post on BOTTLE DRYING RACKS). Sterilizing is not only a waste of time, but it's a waste of money buying a sterilizer. The cheapest microwaveable one goes for about $20 with electric ones going up to $100. For those of you with a tiny NYC apartment, this also means you have to find space for a huge bulky sterilizer that will eat up 2/3 of your counter space. SAVE YOUR MONEY. You can instead buy sterilizing bags. Each bag can be used 20 times before you have to buy a new one. I have no clue what price they are, but all of you preggers friends of mine will each receive one. My sister (because the sterilizer was not enough) stockpiled these things and I have at least one to give each of you. Also if you buy a Medela Pump, one of these handy things will come with your pump or a pump parts kit.

The bag is plastic, folds flat and you simply pour in 2oz of water, microwave according to instructions, and VIOLA ! your stuff is sterilized on the cheap.

BOTTLE BRUSHES

Wow I just realized how much is involved with baby stuff and how detailed and boring the subjects can get. That's right ladies, today I will be discussing bottle brushes, to be followed up with bottle sterilizers and bottle drying racks. FANTASTIC. Today's post will even have a picture!

So after my recent move, the bottle brush I had (which I now disgustingly realize was a hand-me-down from my sister) got lost or tossed, and I was faced with the daunting task of picking a new one. There was a WALL of bottle brushes. I couldn't find the one that I had previously, one with scratchy bristles and sponge combined in one and made by Munchkin. So now that I had driven all the way to Babies R us, what was I to do? Go home of course and scour the internet for reviews so I didn't waste $4 on the wrong brush ? Yes I almost did this, but I sucked it up and took the plunge and I haven't looked back. I bought another one made by Munchkin. After all, I soon came to realize that you are supposed to toss them after about a month of use, much like a sponge. It came in a two pack and it has been fantastic.

This is why I like it:

It has a cool suction cup so it stands upright. This feature is GENIUS and a must have for a bottle brush in my opinion. It keeps it from getting all gross and nasty, falling into the sink or touching things. It also has a built in nipple brush which my other one was lacking. With the small nipples this is really important to get them properly cleaned. This one didn't have the spongy material of my other one, but the two different kinds of bristles get the job done just as well.

BOTTLES

MAM, BORN FREE, AVENT, DR. BROWNS, PLAYTEX or all of these in GLASS ? oh My !

I had to try a few bottles in my search for the perfect one. Of course I started with the free ones that I got, Born Free, Avent and MAM. They were all short and squat, which meant they had the wide nipples on them. At first I really wanted to try the MAM because it was supposed to prevent nipple confusion. However for my little muncher, that was never an issue, he would latch onto anything near his mouth, nipple or not. MAM was easy to clean, despite the 5 parts of the bottle: bottom, air vent ring, bottle, nipple, nipple holder ring. The flow however was super fast and my little man would suck it down in 2 seconds. Because of the fast flow, my little man was getting lazy with his sucking and was also gulping a lot of air. My lactation consultant suggested that we switch to the Playtex Ventaire Advanced. I liked the tall skinny ones. I felt they were easy to hold, much easier than the short squat bottles. Lincoln also liked the small nipples much better than the wide ones. The flow was also super slow. Finally, I had what I had been looking for. The construction of the bottle was just like the MAM in 5 pieces but you get used to washing it, and I found it actually easier to put together than the MAM. I did try the Avent and Born free each once. They were fine, but I didn't like how it felt to hold the bottle. I've had friends complain that Avent and Born free leaked. As for Dr. Browns, I have friends that swear by it, but complain that it is a major pain to clean.

PLAYTEX WINS FOR ME !!!!

There are a few great things about these bottles.

1. They also come in a short squat wide nipple version. These nipples are interchangeable with the drop-ins version of Playtex bottles so that can save you a little bit of money if you are using those. (Drop ins are probably the best for gassy babies as you can squeeze all the air out before they start sucking).

2. The tall skinny version fits perfectly onto Medela parts. This means you can pump and feed right out of the Playtex bottle. This is great for 2 reasons. It saves you money having to buy Medela bottles AND Lincoln HATED drinking out of them, they didn't have air vents, and he got super gassy.

3. They are some of the cheapest bottles on the market you can get a pack of 3 for 13.99 (plus 20% off - see the Babies R US v. Buy Buy Baby Post. They have a started pack of 5 where you can get a combo of the short and tall ones.

GLASS

I thought about buying glass, until I spoke to one of the Born Free founders, whom by the way sell plastic and glass and this is how he talked me out of glass:

1. Glass breaks

2. They are typically more expensive

3. They are heavy

4. You have to buy a silicone sleeve to keep bottle from breaking if it hits floor = More money

5. All the formula is flowing through a PLASTIC nipple anyways, so everything is touching plastic. Yes it is better to heat glass than plastic, but see my post on Bottle Warmers. If you are that worried about the plastic, which is all now BPA FREE, use silicon bottles.