The Bottle Battle! - Bottle Review on Avent Classic, The First Years Breastflow & Avent Natural

After almost two months of pure direct breastfeeding, here comes the tricky part... Introducing the bottle!

Of course, my Bubbah didn't like the bottle. Naturally, she preferred the comfort of direct feeding in mommy's arms.

But sometimes, mommy has to have Me-time, too. I started going to the gym and attending aerobics classes 8 wks after I gave birth for Liane. Being new in Tagaytay, being a full-time stay at home mommy, not knowing too many people and not much about the places as well could sometimes make you feel alone. So it's really important to unwind and feel good about yourself! :)

So here's a review on Avent Classic vs. The First Years Breastflow vs. Avent Natural (Bubbahroo @ 6wks onwards)

We received an Avent Classic starter kit from Cordlife, so although I wanted to use Avent Natural all the way, the bottles and nipples I ordered then were 9oz and midflow for 3mo+. The bottles/teats were not available here in the Philippines yet. 

Anyway, with the Classic bottles-- she hated it. She would cry by the sight of it. Some mommies had problems with the bottle leaking and the hastle with the adapter ring, we didn't have that. Although the first few times, Yaya forgets about the ring!

She also wasn't relaxed with feeding from it. The nipple sometimes collapses when she pushes and tugs at it.

I made it a routine for her Yaya to give her the bottle in the morning while she sunbathes so I get a little more sleep before her 8am bath time... She'd give in and feed 1-1.5 oz after a little protesting and murmuring. 

On burping-- direct breastfed babies take longer to burp, around 20mins when she was a newborn up to around 5wks; sometimes they don't burp at all. So whenever she feeds from Avent Classic, she burps faster... She also has spit-ups.

For The First Years Breastflow; I just had to try it; I bought 1 5oz bottle; the next morning I fed her this, I was so excited! She took the bottle and she event smiled while I fed her! She was so relaxed I thought I would buy more of these-- she took around 2.5oz. A milestone! I think she really liked the soft teat.

And then she stopped feeding and suddenly became fussy, so I picked her up and she burped a really big one and had spit-up. After that she didn't ever take it. She'd cry when I or Yaya tried to feed her from it. 

Also this bottle has 2 nipples-- the outer and the inner ones. We didn't have problems with leakage either. 

Pro: wide neck, we didn't have problems pouring breastmilk from milkbag.

Con: too many parts! 

So on her 3rd month, her Auntie Rachel sent us a 3pk Avent Natural 4oz bottles! The next morning, Yaya fed her and she fed almost 3oz-- happily! There was no battle. She liked it! So I thought it was just like the previous bottle experience... And went to the gym that afternoon, worried the whole time she was hungry... I went home a couple of hours later to a sleeping, happy, well fed baby. She consumed 5 ounces from Avent Natural! I was so happy I danced! I retired her Classic and Breastflow bottles and stored them away... She is only feeding now purely from her Natural bottles.

Pro: wider neck, easy to pour from milk bags ; few parts--no more adapter ring; the nipple doesn't collapse no matter how much she pushes or tugs at it; softer nipple

I would recommend this for mommies who bottle-breastfeed!