Dr. Brown's 3-pack 8-ounce Standard Bottles
by Dr. Brown's
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Our Price: $19.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Dr. Brown's 3-pack 8-ounce Standard Bottles
Customer Review: Not Durable - Great @ First, Then They Start To Leak
Summary: 1 Stars
When my son was first born and had colic, I bought these bottles and thought they were wonderful. If I would have reviewed them at that time, I would have given them 5 stars.
They worked great as long as I followed ALL the rules. It's true that if you don't follow their rules to a tee, you will get leaks. You cannot heat the formula anywhere above room temperature, because formula will rise into the vent tube and leak, plus make it difficult for baby to feed because formula in the tube prevents the air from being filtered to the bottom of bottle, and he gets lots of air. Washing all those parts was a pain, but I thought it was worth it if it helped prevent gas and colic.
The problem after using these for only 8 weeks - THEY STARTED TO LEAK NO MATTER WHAT I DID! Even ready-to-use formula fresh from the can would rise up into the vent tube and leak everywhere. My son would cry and cry because the vent tube was almost choking-off the normal rythm of feeding that he had been accustomed to and he was getting tons of air. I would get so frustrated, I would start crying, too.
I called Dr Brown's toll free number and went through the entire question session - No, I never shook formula in the bottles; No, I never heat above room temperature; No, I don't leave any of the top assembly or the nipple on the bottle when I heat it; Yes, I'm sure all the parts were assembled correctly and tight.
Come-on, these had been working fine for me during the first 8 weeks - how can they say that I'm doing something wrong all of a sudden if I hadn't changed the way I was doing anything?
Dr. Browns even sent me replacement rubber stoppers, and they didn't do anything to solve leaks. I think the problem is the vent tubes. I don't think they are durable. I think regular heat and use wears them down or warps them to the point that they're useless because they no longer make a perfect seal around the rubber stopper. I mostly hand-washed in hot tap water and rarely placed vent tubes in the dishwasher. If I did place parts in the dishwasher they only went in top rack in one of those bottle-baskets. My dishwasher is not one of those fancy "heat-the-water" types, so I know I didn't expose parts to too much heat.
Bottom line, I tried the Playtex Vent-Aire's and those aren't perfect either, but they're better than these, and cheaper, too, plus less parts to wash. My son is accustomed to the faster flow of the Dr. Brown's nipples and hated the Playtex nipples, so I now use the Playtex Vent-Aire bottles with the Dr. Brown's nipples. Yes, I know you're not supposed to do that, but I've had enough of following these manufacturer's rules to no avail - the Dr. Brown's nipples work fine on the Playtex Vent-Aire's - just make sure you push them in all the way and that you tighten top really well.
If you're buying bottles for the first time, my advice is buy the Playtex Vent Aires with one package of the Dr Brown's Nipples in Preemie and one of the Size 1 packs. If the Playtex nipples are too slow, try the Dr Browns preemies and then the size 1's to find the nipples that flow best for your little one. It's sooo true when people tell you that all babies are different - some like slow flowing nipples, some like faster flowing, some are somewhere in between - you won't know until you have your little one. If you buy the Vent-Aires, you will also need to buy one or two regular (buy cheap) bottles to heat your formula in, because you can't heat Formula in the Vent-Aire bottles - they have that rubber sieve in the bottom that might get damaged by heat.
One more tip to avoid all air with the Playtex Vent Aire's - when your baby starts to feed, and bottle is upside-down, loosen the bottom of the bottle and he won't get any air at all....just remember to tighten the bottom again before you bring bottle back right-side-up.
My advice, stay away from the Dr Brown's bottles. You'll either be disappointed from the beginning like so many other reviewers on this board, or you will be thrilled at first and eventually be disappointed because they don't hold up well. And even the company can't even figure out what is wrong - they told me they're pretty new - so if you call them you might get a meany-weenie that tries to blame you for the faulty mechanics of their parts.
Good luck. :)
Customer Review: A quality bottle that really does do what it claims
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr Brown's bottles may represent an increase in initial cost over more traditional bottles, but in my experience this initial cost is negated by the incredible quality and durability of this product. That is above and beyond the relief of gas and colic which can often be found from these bottles.
My daughter was a difficult eater from the start, as it turns out she has gastric Reflux and developed several feeding problems as a result. These bottles made it much easier for her to eat. Without needing to fight the vacuum of other bottles, she was able to eat more and grow. In the three weeks before these bottles, she never even regained her birth weight. Once we made the switch, her consumption went up by half to ¾ of an ounce at every bottle. She quickly started to regain desperately needed weight.
The design of these bottles greatly reduced the fight against the bottle vacuum which leads to less air being swallows as well as venting air into the bottle NOT through the nipple, so there is not unneeded air in the nipple to be swallowed. By reducing air swallowed, stomach discomfort is reduced in many colicky babies as well as many babies with reflux.
Will this reduce discomfort for every baby? Of course not. But this is a great bottle to try. If it helps, the cost of a bottle is well worth it.
In regards to cost. At first I thought these bottles were very expensive. Now ten months later, they aren't at all. I bought 12 of the 8oz bottles after the 3 4oz bottles I tried worked so well. Ten months later I have 11 of those bottles still. They have been dropped. They have been stepped on. They have gone down the stairs. They have been thrown across the room by my sometimes temperamental sweetie. The only one that broke, I accidentally ran over with a truck. It didn't even break badly; it just squished so I tossed it. Even the nipples in these bottles seem to last longer. My Brother in law seems to always be buying new nipples for his daughter, and I am rarely buying new ones. I will never buy new bottles for my daughter, since there is no conceivable way I would need more than what I have now.
As for cleaning? I wash mine in the dishwasher, the stems suspend from a little rack on the side of the top meant to set cups on and everything else is in a little basket. Maybe 3 extra minutes a day while loading the dishwasher?
I love these bottles; I now get them for everyone I know who is pregnant. They are very well made and a quality product. While they may not work for everyone, for the many babies they help, they are amazing.
Customer Review: Best Bottles for Caring Mothers
Summary: 5 Stars
These are the best bottles to buy if you want to prevent gas and colic. I have four children, and it is the only bottle I have ever seen that doesn't leak around the nipple while feeding. I just want to offer a few tips:
First of all, these bottles are not for anyone who tends to be lazy. There are extra parts to clean. It is these parts however that prevent gas. You have to be willing to give up an extra 15 minutes a day so that your baby can be more comfortable.
I noticed a few complaints about these bottles that can easily be fixed. The bottle will not leak if you don't fill it above the fill line. Also, don't mix the formula and shake it up in the bottle. Mix up your formula in a quart jar or other container then pour into the bottles. Prepare a few bottles ahead of time and refrigerate. Then you can warm a fresh bottle when you need to in a warmer. Prepared formula in the frig will keep for 24 hours. Maybe some people don't prepare bottles ahead of time because they don't like to take time to warm the bottle, and they are mixing one bottle at a time with hot tap water. Hot tap water is not always sanitary for a baby. If the water supply was ever to become cantaminated for some reason, then your baby's health could be in danger. Haven't you ever heard on the news before when they would tell some communities to boil their drinking water because an issue came up with the water? That is why you shoudl always boil the water or use nursery water.
The complaint about the baby becoming attached to the nipple because it was so soft and the baby wouldn't take a pacifier and just wanted to suck the bottle. Some babies just don't take to pacifiers as well as other babies do. If a baby doesn't want to suck a paci, you can't force them to, and it has nothing to do with a bottle nipple. Maybe the baby was hungry and wanted more milk. Maybe the baby became too attached to sucking the bottle because it was being put in bed with them or propped at night. You can buy pacis with soft silicone nipples. Or if baby wants a paci that is like a bottle nipple, there are pacis called soothies that are just like a bottle nipple.
Bottom line is these bottles are great. But if your lazy they just are not going to work out for you.
Customer Review: Great bottles for preemies!
Summary: 5 Stars
My son was born 5 weeks early, and weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs, 6 oz. Because his digestive system was still immature, he was extremely difficult to burp, which caused MAJOR gas issues. After going through 2 bottles of Mylicon in the first 2 weeks after he was born, I decided to give these bottles a try. Wow! I saw a difference after the first feeding. I went to burp my son, expecting to spend my usual 15-20 minutes trying to get him to burp, and imagine my surprise after two minutes this HUGE burp came out of this tiny baby! And an hour later, he was happy as a clam, where in the past, he would have his legs pulled up to his chest, in pain from gas.
I don't understand what the problem is that people have with cleaning the bottles. So they come with two extra parts...big deal. I hand-wash my bottles, and sterilize them in the dishwasher about once a week, and after the first few washes, the extra parts were a non-issue. I also can't figure out how people can't seem to get the beige vent or the tube clean. Unless you let your bottles sit for days until the forumla gets caked on, a simple soaking in hot water and dish detergent before using the special brush should be all that is needed to keep the vent and the tube clean. If that doesn't work, then you can always boil the pieces for about a minute to sterilize them, without the pieces becoming distorted. I also shake the vents and tubes out after washing to dislodge any water that might be remaining inside the holes. Also, if necessary, I have seen in the Babies R Us store that they sell a 2-pack of vents, as well as a 2-pack of tubes in case the need for new ones arises.
My only complaint is that the bottles do leak if they fall on their side for a period of time, so that can be a little tricky when traveling in the diaper bag. I solved that problem by pre-measuring water and putting it into one of my Medela breast pump bottles (which come with lids). Then, while I'm out, I just add formula to the breast pump bottle and shake, then I pour the formula into the empty Dr. Brown's bottle. Problem solved!
I would definitely recommend these bottles to anyone who has a newborn that has serious burping and gas issues!
Customer Review: I like these bottles but to love them is a matter of opinion
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought these bottles after I saw a friend of mine receive them at a baby shower. Everyone just raved about how great they were. I was bottle feeding breast milk to my 5 week old (born 6 weeks premature)and was rather discouraged with the bottles I was using. She was collapsing the nipple, the nipples were way to fast, she was spitting for distance and rivaled her 5 year old brother in the gas catagory. So off I went to babiesrus for my miracle cure Dr. Brown. I tried both wide neck and the standard. I stuck with the standard because they have premie nipples and she seemed to like them better. The first thing I noticed was she wasn't collapsing the nipple anymore and the bubble machine disappeared from the bottle. Ahhhh sweet victory. Her gas definitely cut back but she still went through that collicky phase. Her gas seems to be getting under control but she can still produce sounds that even makes her father jealous. We were able to upgrade to Level One nipples after she was three months. She is now 4 months and still burps after every couple ounces and the spit up thing is still out of control. Although we have started giving her cereal and that seems to be keeping things down better. I also am a fan of the Y cut nipple. I like the bottles and I do recommend them to my friends. I just am not gushing over them like most people. They helped on some stuff and didn't make a difference on other stuff. I think every baby is different and this just didn't work the miracles for my baby that all the reviews raved about. I guess there is always the exception right? Oh and the cleaning and leaking thing...give me a break. If you pay attention to what you are doing they won't leak. Cleaning them is not that bad. If you are hand washing them that means you would be hand washing other brands too. It is 2 (count them) extra pieces. Which adds about a minute and a half to the cleaning time of washing 5 or 6 bottles. When the dishwasher is full I will put them in with the load but for the most part I wash them by hand every night. It's really not a big deal.