Transcript: What Are the 5 Best Bottles For Colic and Reflux?

This is a text transcript from The First Time Mum’s Chat podcast. The episode is called What Are the Best 5 Bottles For Colic and Reflux and you can click on the link to view the full episode page, listen to the episode and view the show notes.


When you are bottle feeding and your baby has colic, it can be very challenging to find a bottle that helps your baby. With so many choices available it can quickly become overwhelming and I’m often asked by parents for recommendations. This week, I spent some time researching 10 different kinds of bottles, and I have handpicked five of them, which I liked the sound of. In this episode you’ll hear pros and cons on the following brands:-

Tommee Tippee bottle, Mam Easy Start anti-colic bottle, Philips Avent bottle, Playtex Baby VentAire bottle, Doctor Brown’s baby bottle. I’ve included links to each vendor’s website with the episode notes on the website page for this podcast. To find it, just go to the podcast page for this episode on my website at mybabymassage.net/podcast/011.

We are going to discuss what to look for in the best baby bottles, five best baby bottles that stand out for me and why. It is believed that if you can reduce the amount of air getting into the bottle, it can help reduce fussiness of colic. And I also suggest doing it alongside with a tummy massage about 30 minutes after every feed. Some parents look for angle shaped bottles, as it is believed that the angle bottles helps the milk to flow easily and gently.

There are also bottles that have a vent system or positive pressure flow that mimics a breast, which can also help with colic and reflux. The idea behind these bottles is that it prevents air from passing through the nipple/teat of the bottle. There are many different bottles to choose from.

Dr. Brown’s baby bottle. This brand is known for its anti-colic vent system that claims it has been proven to reduce colic, as well as decrease spit up and burping of gassiness. The bottles are a hundred percent vacuum free. This means that no air gets in, which can lead to fusiness. The pros and cons of this particular bottle are the pros, has anti-colic vent system, fits most breast pumps, if you also want to use a bottle as well as breastfeeding.

Cons, slightly more expensive than other brands. Before I go on to the next one, there is another pro that if you are using a breast pump and using it for these bottles, that means that dad can help with feeding your baby, which is a great bonding experience for you both.

The next bottle that I researched is called the Philips Avent bottle. The good thing about these bottles are they also have vent system, which claims to prevent babies from swallowing air and getting fussy. The nipples/teat stay full of milk and not air so your baby gets a constant flow of milk. The valve helps prevent air building up. They’re easy to use. The pros for these ones are the vent system, prevents colic and gas, and they’re easy to clean, there are few parts for you to worry about and they’re reasonably priced. The cons are that some of the nipples/teats that you may want to use may not fit some of these bottles so you need to make sure that you check that out when you’re buying these bottles.

The next one is called Mam Easy Start anti-colic bottle. Mam is a very, very popular brand of bottle. They have been around for a while. The good thing about these bottles are they’re designed to release the liquid slowly to help reduce colic and reflux symptoms. These bottles have elongated nipple/teat to help babies switch between breast and bottle. And they’re also advantageous for dads to help feed the baby if they want to and it’s a bonding experience for dad. Some of the pros, is many parents like these because they do not have to spend a lot of time cleaning the bottles.

The bottles are also reasonably priced. They’re BP and BPS safe. Now I checked this out so that you’d know what BPA is, cuz I didn’t know and the Google definition of BPA is it’s a synthetic compound found in many plastics as well it is a lining of canned food containers. So it is just something to be aware of when you use those. Some bottles may have BPA and some don’t. This particular brand doesn’t. The cons are they cost slightly more than other brands, but from my research, they are worth it.

Tommee Tippee bottles, this is another very, very popular band. They also have a breast like nipple/teat shape that makes it easier for babies to latch onto the nipple/teat, if they are used in conjunction with breastfeeding. They have different nipples/teats that are designed to grow with your baby. Each nipple/teat has an age appropriate flow.

So the pros of these bottles are, again, they have an anti-colic valve, they are reasonably priced, the nipples are made of silicon, which is meant to mimic the breast. Again, this is a pro if you want to use a pump and breastfeed and bottle feed and have that option. The bottles are easy to hold. The cons are, the Closer to Nature nipples/teats are only compatible with Closer to Nature bottles. So be aware of that when you buy them.

The last one I want to mention is the Playtex Baby VentAire bottle and yes, there is a Platex bottle, as well as a bra. This bottle has an anti-vent system at the bottom of the bottle. This keeps the air at the back, so as your baby drinks, no air is mixed in. It is believed that this helps to reduce gas and digestion problems. Parents tend to like these bottles as they do not have a lot of parts and they’re easy to put together. So the pros are, they’re reasonably priced, easy to clean, the air vent is on the bottom of the bottle, which is supposed to be beneficial. Cons, they may leak from the bottom.

There are so many other brands out there, but these are the ones that parents have given me positive feedback on. I hope you find this information helpful on bottles, which are ideally suited to help babies suffering from colic and reflux. For further help with colic I’ve put together a free downloadable cheat sheet, which contains four simple to follow baby colic remedies that can help relieve your baby’s discomfort.

This will help you develop a simple daily routine that takes minutes each day to help ease their colic. To get yours go to MyBabyMassage.net/colicremedies.