Nontoxic Baby Bottles

I frequently get asked about safer baby products, especially bottles and other feeding gear. This is something I’ve wanted to share about for quite awhile now and what better time to share then during my Plastic Free In 2016 series? We tried a lot of nontoxic baby bottles and overall, two were clear winners and met ALL of our babies’ needs (even a baby that all but refused a bottle), all while being completely free of anything questionable.

So why go plastic free with baby bottles? Many people assume BPA free is good enough, but in reality, several initial studies have shown what they’ve replaced BPA with may actually be more harmful to us than BPA is. The sad truth is that not all of the substances in plastic (or in many of the products that we use) have been tested for human safety. It’s only after a correlation to a health concern is made that companies actually reassess and use other materials instead. I loved the movie The Human Experiment for how well they highlighted that. The other issue with bottles is that the milk or formula is often being heated and/or stored in the bottle giving the substances in the plastic an even greater chance of migrating into the milk. The good news is that there are several safer options out there now. Here are our two favorites:

Evenflo Glass Bottles

Pros:

• Attaches directly to Medela and some other  breast pumps
• Fits in most bottle warmers
• Safe to store milk in (refrigerated breast milk is good for 3-5 days)
• Comes in 4oz or 8oz sizes
• Fits into most diaper bag bottle pouches/breast pump coolers
• Easy to clean/dishwasher safe
• No plastic parts come in contact with milk
• Really affordable price

Cons:

• Not all daycares will allow glass. Check with your childcare provider.
• Breakable- although there are several silicone protection sleeves that fit on these.
• Heavier than traditional bottles (although, not terribly heavy)

We used these bottles for my son and absolutely LOVED them (I have the classic version in the photos above, but they’ve updated the design). I went back to work initially with him and found these to be extremely easy to use with my Medela pump. I would pump the milk directly into the bottle, store it in the fridge and it would be ready to be heated and fed to my son the next day without having to transfer the milk. I breastfed him for 14 months and he really never fed himself with the bottle, so glass breaking was never an issue. I did buy a few silicone sleeves to use with them, but it makes them slightly harder to clean. I usually used the 4 ounce bottles for pumping, but I bought both sizes which came in handy after 6 months when he would take 5 to 6 ounces at a time. Most younger babies typically drink 3 to 4 ounces of breast milk at a feeding so I got the most use out of buying 2 sets of the 4 ounce bottles and 1 set of the 8 ounce bottles. 

Comotomo Silicone Bottles

Pros:

• Great for babies who prefer breast to bottle
• Very wide nipple makes latching easy for baby
• Safe for dishwasher/boiling water/sterilizers
• Lightweight 
• Unbreakable
• Interchangeable ring can be swapped for a ring with handles for baby to self feed
• No plastic comes in contact with milk
• Comes in green or pink

Cons:

• Price- not cheap, but if you’re only occasionally bottle feeding you only need a couple
• Squishy- like the whole bottle is really squishy. This may not be a full-on con, but it does take some getting used to
• Replacement nipples are expensive
• Doesn’t fit in all bottle warmers

I hate to write any cons for this, since this bottle saved my sanity with my daughter. Home girl would not take a bottle under any circumstances. Even at 4 1/2 months when I had to travel to host a baby shower for a friend (long story, but it really would have been impossible to bring her), she preferred to wait 7 hours to be fed rather than subject herself to using a bottle while I was gone. She was just not having it. In her defense, she had GERD (extremely severe reflux) and eating had never really been her strong suit, but mama needed some time to herself once in a while. It’s hard to have a 2 year old and an infant that will only eat in a dark, completely quiet room (which sounds totally reasonable, right?) and sometimes us mamas need a chance to recharge. We purchased so many different bottles and finally bought this bottle as a last resort and jokingly named it the Boob because of it’s wide, squishy shape. Long story short, this was the one and only bottle she would take. It took some coaxing, of course. Every night at bedtime, when she was less likely to put up a fight, my hubby fed her with the Comotomo bottle and I put my son to bed and then pumped after. After a week or so, she was a pro and we often had my husband feed her a bedtime after that to keep her used to the bottle (FREEDOM at last!). You can purchase it in 5 ounce or 8 ounce sizes. 

Here’s to happy, healthy, well-fed babies! xo