The Best Bottles for Breastfed Babies, According to our Community of Millions of Moms

As sweet as it is to have the opportunity to breastfeed your baby, at some point or another, you’re likely going to have to offer up the bottle — whether it’s because you’re heading to work, letting someone else handle some of the night feedings or simply leaving the house for a few hours without your little one. And that can be a nerve-wracking experiment — especially if your baby has been exclusively breastfed up until this point in his life.

But introducing your baby to the bottle can be an exciting milestone — one that teaches him a new skill and one that gives you a bit of a breather from time to time. 

While grasping this new skill might not be smooth sailing right off the bat for your little one, with the right tools and a bit of know-how, he’ll pick it up in no time.

How to introduce a bottle to a breastfed baby

Giving a breastfed baby a bottle for the first time is all about timing, technique and having patience, says Yines Garcia-Taylor, a registered nurse and a certified lactation consultant in Jersey City, New Jersey. “Bottle feeding is a different skill set a baby needs to develop and master — and like any new thing that we do, we need time to practice to get better at the given task,” she says.

Be prepared to try several different bottle brands, since babies may take to some easier than others. Once you’ve invested in a few different types, it’s time to give each a try, says Garcia-Taylor. Pour just a few ounces of pumped breast milk into the bottle so that you don’t waste too much if your baby doesn’t drink from that particular bottle right away. If you’ve tried a couple of bottles with no success, you can try a tactic some moms say has helped them: Warm up the milk to as hot as you can go without scalding your skin — you’ll want to test it on your inner wrist — to make the milk feel as similar to straight from the breast as possible. 

If that doesn’t work, Garcia-Taylor recommends breastfeeding your baby and switching to the bottle’s nipple after a minute or two. Still a no go? Try again in a couple of minutes. Continue to reinforce this during each feeding session of the day.

After your baby is taking a bottle, make sure to continue giving them one at least once a week so it remains part of their routine and they don't get out of the habit of drinking from a bottle, recommends Andrea Tran, a registered nurse, a certified lactation consultant and founder of Breastfeeding Confidential in Denver, Colorado.

What to look for in a bottle for a breastfed baby

There are so many bottle brands out there to choose from that it can be overwhelming (to say the least) to find the right one for your baby. Here are some features experts recommend looking for when it comes to choosing a bottle for a breastfed baby.

• Familiar nipple shape: To help ease the transition to a bottle, choose an option that most closely mimics the breast. According to Garcia-Taylor, gradual slope nipple shape is recommended because it allows and encourages the baby to achieve a wide latch the way he would while breastfeeding.
• Slow-to-fast nipple flow: It is also important to pay attention to the flow of the nipple. “A slow-flow nipple is generally recommended for an infant since they are still learning to coordinate sucking and swallowing,” says Kyle W. Monk, M.D., a pediatrician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, California. “Usually after the baby is first born and mothers are still anticipating their milk supply, this is recommended so the baby does not get used to faster flowing milk from the bottle, and does not get frustrated with the general slower flowing milk directly from the breast.”
• Anti-gas attributes: Vented bottles can help reduce the air that gets into your baby's tummy, which can help cut down on gassiness and fussiness, says Dr. Monk.
• Comfort: Whether you’re feeding your baby breastmilk or formula, make sure the bottle you choose is comfortable for you to hold and for him to suck.

How we chose the best bottles for breastfed babies

When creating this list of the best bottles for breastfed babies, we used the above guidelines and cross-referenced them against the bottles that members of the What to Expect community, as well as our editors, have tried and loved. The list below contains bottles that connect to breast pumps, mimic the feel of breastfeeding, store breastmilk or have other helpful features. Check them out below.