There are many types of baby bottles and there are different ways to classify them. The various materials from which they’re made can categorize them. Alternately, shapes and other features could group them. Clearly, bottles can be viewed in terms of different sizes. Lastly, they could be considered by type of nipple and bottle-feeding experience they offer.
In terms of materials, baby bottles may come in clear and opaque plastics or in glass. There are parents who prefer glass, though it is not as portable and may be more subject to breakage. Other parents prefer plastic, though some are opposed to certain forms of plastic because they may contain high levels of chemicals, especially when overheated, that are anecdotally deemed unsafe. It’s a personal choice each family must make, given the information available on the topic, and those who are unsure could try out several different materials to see which ones are most comfortable.
A more important consideration in choosing baby bottles might be their shape or different features. Round bottles are common, but many parents now prefer types that have an angled neck. Trying to avoid too much air intake when baby drinks makes the angled neck attractive, because it reduces this to a certain degree. Conversely, angled neck bottles can be more challenging to clean.
Other baby bottles that could be preferred are those with plastic, one-time use liners. These are attached to a hollow cylinder and secured by a lid and a nipple. They do make cleaning much easier. The wide nipple is often thought more comparable to breastfeeding.
Size does matter when choosing baby bottles. While newborns might not finish bigger bottles, larger babies can eat six to eight ounces (.18-.24 liters) at a time, at least. It can get laborious to continue to wash and fill smaller sized bottles when demand for formula, breast milk or other fluids goes up. It may be wiser to begin with smaller bottles and work up to larger ones, or some parents just begin with larger bottles early. Either way, many choices exist in size and this is another point of comparison.
Lastly, types of bottles have different types of nipples. Round bottles of standard sizes will usually have greatest variety, and purchase of nipples may not need to correspond in brand, provided the standard fitting is the same. The above-mentioned cylinder bottle usually has a flatter nipple shape that may appeal to some babies. Angled neck bottles may have standard fittings too.
There are different materials from which nipples are made like silicone and rubber, and they can also have varying levels of flow. Some may require hard sucking to produce fluid, and others almost pour straight out of the nipple top. Different flow levels might be recommended for babies at a variety of developmental stages.
Most important though, can be finding the nipple type that satisfies the baby. Some babies are easily satisfied, and others may require searching on the part of the parent to locate acceptable nipples. Babies who are routinely breastfed may be pickier when it comes to this matter, especially if they are just being introduced to bottle-feeding.
Baby bottles thus represent a range of choices for parents. It may help to get recommendations from others on what they’ve found easy to use. Ultimately, a baby may make the final decision by his or her response to type or types of nipples. Some infants are adamant about kinds of bottles they like, and others are a bit more easygoing on the subject and will feed easily from any of them.
