Baby Bottle Review

BPA-free baby bottles are now the norm

Most of the reviews we found indicate that the right bottle for your baby is largely a matter of personal preference. That said, baby bottles come in several styles to meet different needs. Standard baby bottles are very basic, made of plastic or glass with a silicone or latex nipple. Wide-neck bottles are wider at the top, a feature which makes them easier to clean. Other bottles have additional features for gas reduction, such as the use of disposable liners that collapse as an infant consumes formula or milk to reduce the amount of air consumed.

A few brands of baby bottles take air reduction a step further with venting mechanisms that transfer the air to the back of the bottle, rather than allowing it to mix with the formula, so a baby consumes fewer air bubbles. Finally, a few baby bottles are designed to mimic the experience of breastfeeding (through the shape of the bottle or nipple or the flow of milk through the nipple) to avoid a problem experts term "nipple confusion," in which a baby is reluctant to transition from breast to bottle due to the different feeding experience.

Baby bottles have been a topic of debate for the past several years. Some baby bottles are made of polycarbonate, which contains a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) that has been found in studies to be potentially harmful to humans. The New York Times has also entered the debate with an article summarizing concerns surrounding the use of the chemical, particularly in baby products, and steps several companies have taken in response. The author points to a decision by Wal-Mart to discontinue carrying baby products that contain BPA and steps by manufacturers, such as Playtex, to stop using BPA in its products, including baby bottles.

ZRecommends.com, a blog network, is the most comprehensive source we found that keeps tabs on BPA content in baby bottles. The editors provide extensive and regularly updated coverage of issues related to BPA, including the ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products. Editors there take a more comprehensive approach than The New York Times, listing most available brands and rating them as excellent, good, fair or poor depending on what percentage of their products contain BPA. ZRecommends.com also has a useful blog entry with detailed reviews of five individual BPA-free baby bottles.

The ZRecommends.com blog also includes details about the March 2009 decision by six major baby-bottle manufacturers to stop selling BPA-containing baby bottles in the U.S. That decision includes Playtex, Gerber, Evenflo, Avent, Dr. Brown's and The First Years. While most products currently on shelves by these manufacturers should not include BPA, it's still wise for consumers to check labels carefully. Several states have enacted bans limiting the use of BPA in products intended for small children, including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington. California lawmakers rejected a similar proposed ban in September 2010 and the U.S. rejected a ban on BPA in all children's toys in November 2010, although more than a dozen states and local municipalities are considering similar bans after Chicago become the first city to do so in 2009.

And while the United States government hasn't banned BPA products entirely, the European Union's ban, which was passed a week after the Senate rejected one, takes effect this year. Specifically, it will target bottles manufactured in the EU starting in March 2011, and on imports and sales starting in June. In addition, the industry itself is making progress toward totally BPA-free baby bottles, and most manufacturers now make bottles using polypropylene, PES plastic or other types of BPA-free plastic. That said, the use of BPA is still a central issue and it continues to be a focus of most of the reviews we found.

Safety concerns aside, experts say the big things to keep in mind when you're choosing a bottle are that a baby's preference is everything and every baby is different. For that reason, we found parent-written reviews at Amazon.com, Target.com, BabiesRUs.com and Viewpoints.com most helpful. For baby bottles, where user experience is the most important factor, these sites offer subjective reports describing which products and features have worked best and which fall short. Amazon.com has a particularly good selection of baby bottles as well as hundreds of parent reviews ranging from glowing to disappointed. Target.com and BabiesRUs.com are also excellent review sources. Interestingly, although baby bottle preference is considered by experts to be highly subjective, parent ratings across review sites tend to be substantially in agreement on the specific pros and cons of many baby bottles.

Expert reviews, normally a useful source of ratings for baby products, are less specific for baby bottles. "Baby Bargains," a popular baby-gear book by Denise and Alan Fields, has a section on baby bottles, including a discussion of features and a buying guide. However, the authors stop short of actually testing or comparing specific baby bottles. We also found several useful baby-bottle reviews in publications such as Parents.com, The Essential Infant Resource for Moms, LilSugar.com, StyleBakeryMom.com, RatedbyMom.com, BabyGadget.com and MomFinds.com that list recommended products and include brief reviews; however, the downside to these reviews is that baby bottles aren't given official ratings and it's not clear whether formal testing has been conducted. In some cases, reviews refer to "mom testers," yet it appears that only one parent actually tested the bottles, making consensus from sites like Amazon.com (where multiple users offer feedback) more valuable.

About.com has a few pages on baby bottles as well as some good general information on how to choose the right one. Pregnancy and childbirth guide Robin Elise Weiss ranks her six favorite baby bottles, but she makes no mentions of hands-on testing or comparison evaluations. Baby products guide Heather Corley includes a detailed hands-on review of Avent baby bottles, but no other bottles are reviewed. ConsumerReports.org covers baby bottles in a buying guide, but doesn't conduct testing or provide formal ratings. Several articles relating to the bisphenol A debate are also available.