Dr. Brown's v/s Philips Avent Bottles for Baby Feeding - Which is better ?

In this post, i will discuss the experience i and my wife had of using two of the very popular formula feeding bottles from reputed companies such as Dr. brown's and Philips. I will also discuss the differences between the two and which is better in long run especially for babies exclusively formula fed or otherwise.

We were blessed with Twins in May 2016. Our pediatrician suggested us to use formula feed for covering up milk intake for the twins. Living in a nuclear family, we had no idea of formula feeding babies as to how it's done, what kind of bottles are needed, how frequently feed is to be given etc. etc. Thousands of questions popped up in no time. The only place where we could find answers to all the questions was "Google". We started searching online and based on most popular products that works best for the babies with no compromise to quality and our well researched products, we came up with 2 names - Philips Avent & Dr. Brown's bottles.

Because Philips as a company is quite common name among households, we were a bit biased in our chose for buying the feeding bottles. And plus, they were comparatively cheap when compared with Dr. Brown's bottles. The other reason was the cute ergonomic design of the bottles. We thought this must be super easy to handle and carry. We immediately bought a set of 4 bottles of Philips Avent from Amazon.

We were very sure that this product coming from an awesome company like "Philips" must be well researched and just right for the newborn and few months old babies. So once the package arrived, we could not help but thanks Philips for making this product and Amazon for delivering it in no time.

Let me write down few very good points about Philips Avent bottles that makes it a must buy:

- Its BPA free. Now, BPA is bisphenol A. In short, it's a chemical substance that has tendency to seep into food and water through the containers and thus cause health issues. So one should always go for BPA free bottles / containers / sippers etc.

- It's made up of polypropylene. A chemical substance which has good resistance to electricity and good impact strength.

- The soft and flexible teat makes it easy for baby to drink the formula feed without any issues. Bottle teat is designed in such a manner that it's very similar to breastfeeding.

- Measurement marking is in both Oz and ml.

- it's easy to handle thanks to its ergonomic design.

- Overall, it's a high quality product made in UK.

- it's portable and can be easily carried in bags as it has a lid tight cap.

After feeding our twins using Philips bottles for nearly 1.5 months, we started seeing babies suffer from colic issues. The little ones had tough time having burps and the colic just won't stop. I called our pediatrician to know the main reason behind colic. He mentioned there could be n number of possibilities but the ones that tops the list our - formula feed and the feeding bottles.

First, we decided to change the powder. We jumped from Similac to Enfomil to few other products like NanPro but soon were back to Similac as that was the only powder suited out babies.

So now we decided to change the feeding bottles. We further studied online to know that although Philips claim their bottles to be anti-colic but the bottles are not able to prevent it. Checked online and read other parents views to know that these bottles does create colic issues. Most of them recommended and switched to Dr. Brown's bottles. We decided to do the same.

I ordered a pack of Dr. brown's bottles. It took some time for product to deliver but once received, we felt happy.

So now the Philips bottles were replaced by Dr. brown's bottles. I ordered a pack for my twins. it had 5 bottles - 3 small and 2 big. 3 small bottles can hold upto 120 ml of water mixed feed and 2 bigger bottles can hold upto 250 ml.

We started feeding the twins through these bottles and our babies had no issues switching from one to the other. The Turnaround story - No more colic issues. Dr. Brown's bottles thus proved effective in handling colic issues. The company rightly claims it to be anti colic and works best in favor of babies formula feeding.

It's been 6 months now, babies have accepted Dr. Brown's bottles with a smile on their face. Dr. Brown's bottles worked like Magic.

So, here are few advantages of using Dr. brown's bottles:

- Reduces colic, spit-up, burping and gas issues

- Teat is designed in such a manner that babies feel as if they are being breastfed.

- it's portable and can be easily carried in bags as it has a lid tight cap.

- it is BPA, PVC, lead, phthalate free

- it has a vent system that removes air from milk and thus preserving all the necessary vitamins of formula feed. So no oxidation takes place, else all the important vitamins are lost.

Dr. Brown's bottles are costly when compared with Philips Avent but it's a onetime investment that will surely save babies from colic issues while formula feeding them. I was so very happy with the experience that we had with brown bottles, that i ordered another pack of 5 bottles and 2 additional pink bottles.

So, I personally recommend Dr. Brown's bottles over Avent bottles to all the parents who plan to formula feed their babies and do not want to see their little ones in pain because of colic or burp issues.

Please note, there are 2 types of bottles available in Dr. brown's - blue and pink color.

Apart from pink bottles made in China, there's big difference interms of bottle quality. Pink bottles is a replica of blue bottles. One can question the quality of the product after using the pink bottle few times.

Blue bottles are made in USA and are of better quality over pink bottles. The other main disadvantage in pink bottles is - that the measurement markings are so not visible on the bottles. Markings are not done by blue / pink ink but are engraved on the bottle which makes it very difficult to read the water level especially during nights.

I hope you found this post useful. Do let me know your experience of using these or any other feeding bottles. Looking forward to your comments.

Checkout the Product Review of "Philips Avent 3-in-1 Electric Steam Sterilizer" used for washing / cleaning / sterilizing feeding bottles. You can buy it here: Amazon Link

Thanks