Baby Bottles: Expert and User Reviews

Our AssessmentThe Toys "R" Us website is similar to Amazon.com, with reviews for the many baby bottles available through Babies "R" Us. Unfortunately, the website as a whole is more difficult to navigate. To find reviews, you first have to click on a specific model, then click again to read reviews, ultimately making for cumbersome reading. The Playtex 4 oz. Original Nurser maintains a perfect 5-star average rating, based on nearly 70 reviews. Other baby bottles with 100 or more reviews and an average rating of 4 stars or better (out of a possible 5) include Dr. Brown's 8 oz. Polypropylene Bottles, Playtex BPA Free 4 oz. Drop-Ins Nursers, Dr. Brown's 8 oz. Wide-Neck Polypropylene Bottles, BornFree 5 oz. and 9 oz. Wide-Neck Bottles, and The First Years BPA-Free Breastflow Bottle.

Our AssessmentNaomi Shapiro is a guest reviewer on ZRecommends.com, a commercial blog that includes product reviews aimed at parents. She has a useful review of five BPA-free bottles: the Adiri Natural Nurser, the BornFree Plastic Bottle, the Green to Grow Plastic Bottle, the Siliskins Bottle and the thinkbaby Plastic Bottle. Each gets a write-up with details on materials and components, plus some general observations and an overall rating.

Our AssessmentFifteen BPA-free baby bottles and sippy cups are included in a slideshow in this detailed review. Each product receives a lengthy review, including a discussion of both pros and cons based on feedback from a mom tester. The review is informative, and we like the fact that each product was tested individually; however, no clear winners are selected among the 15 covered products.

Our AssessmentThis brief update reflects findings from the National Toxicology Report that reinforce concerns about BPA. Editors list five bottles included in ConsumerReports.org's testing that offer low levels of bisphenol A.

Our AssessmentTarget's website allows readers to post reviews of baby bottles it sells. There are some good individual reviews here, but as with the Babies "R" Us website, finding and reading the reviews takes more clicking around, so the site is ultimately not as helpful as Amazon.com or Viewpoints.com.

Our AssessmentEditors of LilSugar.com list their top five baby bottle picks in a slideshow, along with a brief review of each. Unfortunately, this review appears to recommend general brands rather than specific bottles in most cases. Reviews are also highly positive, but editors do note important safety features (such as the absence of BPA).

Our AssessmentLilaGuide.com is a relatively new review site, operated by the same company that runs TheKnot.com and TheBump.com. A few baby bottles have accumulated a fair number of reviews. LilaGuide.com isn't the easiest to navigate, however. In order to see how many reviews are available for a given product, users have to click through to the individual product page. There are also a number of related feeding products included in the search results, so users must sort through the results to find baby bottles.

Our AssessmentThe ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products provides ratings for baby bottles made by 29 manufacturers. Ingredients of concern are listed, and a confidence rating for safety is provided for each. The site is difficult to navigate, however, because bottles of only one brand can be viewed at a time.

Our AssessmentAbout.com's guide to baby products, Heather Corley, includes a useful review of Avent's baby bottles on this website, and nearly 25 readers weigh in with comments. Reviews are mixed; the Avent bottles receive an average rating of 2.5 stars out of 5, with several reviewers noting that these bottles leak. This review would be more useful if other brands were compared. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

Our AssessmentThere are some parent-written reviews of baby bottles at Epinions.com, and the review templates are useful in that Epinions specifically asks contributors for both pros and cons. Although there aren't nearly as many reviews here for baby bottles as at Amazon.com, some of the individual reviews go into great depth.

Our AssessmentCoolMomPicks.com is written by a few moms who tend to track down cool stuff. They tend to write about "non-mainstream products and services, particularly those from indie or emerging designers and mom/women-run companies." While it is clear that the product is being tested or used, there isn't a lot of criticism that occurs.

Our AssessmentThis is another site that highlights hip things to make motherhood cool by focusing on products with sleek design elements. Reviews tend not to be substantial but address issues such as BPA and eco-friendliness.