Playtex 3 Pack BPA Free VentAire ADVANCED Wide Bottles, 9 Ounce, Colors Vary
by Playtex
|
Our Price: $12.39 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Baby Product See more product details |
|---|
Baby Products Reviews of Playtex 3 Pack BPA Free VentAire ADVANCED Wide Bottles, 9 Ounce, Colors Vary
Customer Review: Decent design, but nipple always clogs!
Summary: 3 Stars
In the first month and a half of my baby's life, we went through an enormous challenge trying to breastfeed, but, due to low milk supply (yes, I tried Fenugreek and a bunch of other stuff!), switched to mostly formula. We experimented with a bunch of bottles, so here is a comparison review:
Least Favorite: The First Years Breastflow The First Years Breastflow BPA Free Bottle 3-Pack, 5 Oz
We tried the Breastflow first because it was recommended by my lactation specialist as being the closest to the breast. In that respect, it does have an advantage. I haven't seen any other bottles on the market designed to mimic the mother's nipple the way these are. However, there were other problems with this bottle that ultimately made it my least favorite. Primarily, the flow was extremely variable. At times we would find it was flowing so fast my daughter would be dribbling everywhere, and then at the next feeding it would be so slow she could barely get anything out. This was ultimately very frustrating and we decided to move on.
Just Okay: Playtex VentAire Playtex BPA Free VentAire ADVANCED Wide Bottles 9 oz - 3 Pack (Colors Vary)
The second type of bottle we tried was the VentAire. We stuck with the wide nipple to hopefully continue to support breastfeeding. Luckily for us, though, our baby adapted really well to different types of nipples and didn't really have more trouble latching after switching to primarily using bottles. The nipple shape may be a bigger issue for some babies. We liked the flow of the VentAire better since it seemed more consistent. However, the nipples were constantly getting clogged! Some occasional clogging is inevitable if you're using formula, but we found ourselves having to unclog before almost every feeding, then sometimes in the middle of the feeding as well. It was frustrating to us and to our baby when her meal got interrupted.
Our Favorite: Dr. Brown's Dr. Brown's BPA Free Polypropylene Natural Flow Wide Neck Bottle, 8 oz - 3-Pack
The Dr. Brown's have definitely been our favorite bottles overall. The flow of the Level 1 nipple was very consistent and when our daughter turned 3 months old we switched to the Level 2 with much success. It is very rare that we have a clogged nipple or a leak, although those things do happen once in a while. It is a little bit of a hassle to clean the extra parts, but the dishwasher racks are very helpful with that.
A note on gas:
Both VentAire and Dr. Brown's claim to help reduce gas and spit-up. I have no idea if either made any difference with our daughter. She spat up sometimes before we switched to these bottles, and she still spits up sometimes now. As our pediatrician says, "It's what babies do." People who have had babies with severe colic or other issues may have been able to notice a bigger change due to the bottle design, but we didn't see much.
Customer Review: These are my favorite bottles so far but......
Summary: 3 Stars
First let me say that I have tried many different bottles.
When my first child was born a few years ago, I used Advent bottles. I didn't like the straight shape, although cleaning was easier and I loved the wide neck. Unfortunately if you don't screw the top on just right on those things - whammo - formula/breast milk/juice all over you and your close neighbors! (I don't even want to mention what this can mean when you are sitting on an airplane). And let me just say that I could never quite figure out when this was going to happen. There was absolutlely NO indication that the top was not on correctly. It looked right. It felt right. After being completely disgusted with the unpredictability of those, I switched to a bent-necked J&J bottle that is no longer being made. I liked those, but hated cleaning the narrow bottle - it never seemed to GET clean.
With my next child, I chose the playtex ventaire natural shape. There are several things I love about them:
1. Wide bottles are a MUST for ease of cleaning. You don't even need a special brush which is nice when you are travelling/camping/backpacking
2. I agree with some other reviewers that having all those separate pieces actually makes cleaning easier and as long as you have a little dishwasher cage to collect them all it's not a big deal.
3. The crook-neck design is great for the carseat/stroller/whatever.
What I hate about these bottles:
1. What's with the cover? Can anyone else get them to stay on? I simply abandoned them completely after wrestling with them for a few weeks with no luck
2. They do leak sometimes. It has only happened a few times but when it does - Yikes! Another reviewer mentioned a slow leak that happens over time in your car/diaper bag and that has definitely happened to me. Perhaps only 10 times in the year and a half I've been using them, but STILL annoying. and MESSY and what happens when you only brought that one bottle and there it has spilled all over the floor of your car?
3. After about 11 months of use, all of the bottles started cracking in the dishwasher and they all had to be thrown away and replaced. Which come to think of it could have coincided with the slow leak issue...Now we just put the bottles on the upper rack (was this in the instructions to begin with?) and haven't had a problem yet (been about 6 months).
4. My son bites through the nipples and I have trouble finding replacements. Babies R Us is the only store around that carries the nipples (not Target, not the Grocery store) and then playtex has so many designs, it's tough to figure out which one you really need. Made all the more challenging by screaming baby and impatient 5 year old. Right now I am frantically searching the internet for suppliers as BabiesRus is out of stock and I only have 4 functioning nipples.
With all of that said...I really love the concept and wish they would solve their quality and availibility issues.
Customer Review: No Problems At All!
Summary: 5 Stars
I own 3 sets of these bottles, bought at 3 different times and three different places, and I haven't had a bit of trouble with any of them. I started out using the Playtex disposables with the natural shape nipple while breastfeeding - and they were great - but when I started the transition to formula gas became more of an issue for my baby. My best friend and my sister swore by these. (They both hated the Avent ones.) I bought these and I haven't looked back.
When I bought the first set my baby was still using the slow flow nipples, so I got the 9 oz size, bought slower nipples and just switched them out. Around 6 or 7 months I noticed that my baby seemed to be working too hard when taking her bottle. I switched back to the stage 2 nipples. My best friend had warned me that they took a little while for the baby to get used to, and she was right. She was used to sucking really hard, and so the faster flow gagged her a little. She dribbled a lot more out of her mouth, too. After a week or so she learned to slow down. She still dribbles a little at almost a year, but she's a baby. She doesn't seem to mind, so why should I? I have plenty of burp cloths to clean her up with!
I have had a few leaks, BUT each time it was my fault. Either I didn't take the time to make sure the disk was fully inserted into the rim, I didn't pull the nipple all the way through the nipple ring securely, or I didn't line up the threads of the nipple ring when I screwed it on so it wasn't on completely. Sometimes you're just in a rush. But, I have used these bottles all day, every day for at least 6 months now, and they are holding up beautifully. I scrubbed and sterilized her bottles daily until she was 10 months old. (Looking back, what was I thinking? That was total overkill!!!) Now I just rinse them and put them in the dishwasher. The wide size cleans up easily no matter how you choose to clean them.
After reading some other reviews, I guess I would be a little upset too if I bought a bunch of bottles only to find out they weren't right for me and my baby. One of the best pieces of advice I got came from a salesperson at Babies 'R Us. She said instead of buying a lot of bottles up front or a big starter pack, buy one or two of the individual ones in the brand(s) you want to try. Then get one or two of the alternate nipples (if the bottle comes with silicone, buy one or two latex). By doing this you have them on hand, so there is no middle of the night baby-won't-take-the-bottle trauma. When the baby comes you can try out just one or two. She said to still register for the big box, but just don't open it. If they aren't what you or the baby likes you can return the starter pack and get the ones that work for you. Smart cookie. That's how I knew the Playtex bottles and nipples were the right ones for us.
Customer Review: I hate these bottles!
Summary: 1 Stars
I've never felt compelled to write a review before, but felt so strongly about these bottles that I decided to voice my opinion. I bought a 5 pack for more than $20 and I wish that I had saved my money! We have several different brands of bottles in our house, all of which we like and have had no problems with, whatsoever. But, for whatever reason, we decided to try these, honestly because we liked the shape and we thought that if they lessened the amount of gas our son had, then, why not?
To begin with, they are absolutely inconvenient to use. You can't use a bottle sterilizer or warmer for them, so both of these items are sitting dormant on top of my fridge right now while I try these bottles out. You have to warm the Playtex bottles up the old fashioned way by heating them on the stove in a pot of water (while making sure that the water never boils). This means that you have to keep testing to see if the milk is the right temperature- something that I wanted to avoid, which is why I purchased a bottle warmer in the first place- with the warmer, it's ALWAYS the right temperature, with little fuss. On top of that, the Playtex nipple ring has to be off the bottle when you warm it, so what ends up happening with me is that I have our crying, hungry son in one arm, and am constantly screwing on and unscrewing off the top of the bottle with the other hand so I can test the warmth, and then invariably keep heating it because it's still too cold. It takes way too much time to go through this. Perhaps I'm a bad parent by not being able to anticipate when my son will be hungry so I can start slowly warming up his bottle... all I know is that I never had these problems or the associated stress with our other bottles.
Besides all of this, our son has equally as much gas/spit up as with our other bottles (he doesn't do either excessively, we just thought that we'd try these bottles to see if it made a difference). And while I wouldn't call what these bottles do as leaking exactly, every feeding is an absolute mess. Milk everywhere- all over his face, on his clothes, etc. NONE of the other bottles that we have tried have been anywhere as messy as these.
In short, in my opinion, these bottles are a huge waste of money. I was given a cheap bottle from a dollar store (not to use, but filled with candy as a shower gift) and I ended up using it once in a pinch. That cheap, generic bottle was so much easier, mess-free and nicer to use than these Playtex bottles. I think that says a lot. I've given these Playtex bottles a full 2 week test run and will be getting rid of them asap. My sister is pregnant and rather than give them to her to use for her baby, I'll be throwing them away as I wouldn't wish these bottles on anyone.
Customer Review: love em!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a first time mother to twin sons ((now nearly 8 months old)) and I was unable to breastfeed for a few reasons, so I purchased a whole LOT of Avent bottles... HUGE MISTAKE!
First let me tell you, NEVER buy a lot of one type of bottle before having your baby test them out! I sterlized all the avent bottles, wanting to be prepared when I needed them, and now I have a million of them around the house collecting dust because I cannot return them! For a few reasons the Avents did not work for us ((not just based on my boys preferances either, I all in all do NOT reccomend those bottles if you or your baby do not like the VentAires!)). I purchased these bottles and I LOVE them! My boys only take the natural nipple, and I have yet to see another bottle with a similar nipple shape. They do NOT leak if you put them together properly. First of all, you must make sure that the bottom of the bottle is secured TIGHTLY, and that the disk is put in correctly for you to get the advantages of the vent system. There is no "special trick" to getting the bottles to seal correctly so there aren't any leaks, which is how a bottle should be... you shouldn't have to line up arrows or wet the rim first, thats none-sense. The curve allows me to easily feed a baby ((or two!)) and the shape is great for the release of air to reduce gas problems ((which my boys have never had a huge problem with, and I thank the ventaire bottles!)) It is VERY easy to clean, I just rinse out the bottles in the sink ((just some warm water and soap)), and then I put the long bottle part on the highest rack of my dishwasher, and the rings, bases, nipples and disks go into the smaller baskets that I purchased for the dishwasher. I have NEVER had a problem with the dishwasher ruining nipples or disks, and so far no leaks ((although I do recommend changing nipples and disks every few months, they DO start to wear!)).
There IS one thing I would like to add. One of my friends who has a daughter a bit older than my boys was at first dissapointed in the ventaires because they leaked in her diaper bag while traveling with them... We realized that this is because the bottle caps are NOT meant for preventing leaks while thrown into a diaper bag! They are for keeping the nipple sanitary on-the-go. Therefore when I need to bring bottles on a day trip, I put the right about of powdered formula into the bottles required, and carry around a large water bottle separately. When its feeding time I add water, shake, and have a ready-made bottle! If there is still liquid in the bottle, I cary it straight up in the stroller, or cap it with the solid caps ((sold separately... I found them at BRU)).
All in all GREAT bottles, highly recommended!