Dr. Brown's Natural Flow Baby Bottle Review

I think one thing that every parent needs to realize is that not every baby is the same -  I know, I know what an insight! 

 When my baby was first born he was quite "colicky"(or had colick, was colick etc...) as they called it at the hospital.  Now let's check out what was happening in the mind of a FIRST time Mother when she heard this and had NEVER heard the name COLICK before...I thought to myself, my baby was gravely ill, sick, born with some illness that we had to fix.  I quickly asked the nurse:  "What can I give him for that?"  And she said, "nothing, just try and burp/rub him and be patient."  I thought to myself "Surely man has made SOMETHING to overcome this illness - i mean, he's just a little newborn babe just hours into this world and IT won't stop crying; whatever IT is, it's TERRIBLE and is putting this child in grave hurt/danger.  This illness MUST be severe and something MUST be done about it before his little lungs get overworked and he develops some NEW sickness or problems."

I was out of the hospital and researching this great "joy-sucker-outter-out-of-a-new-mother" and as it turned out - this was NORMAL.  PHEW.  So we went on the great search for all sort of serums, potions, acupuncturist, baby chiropractors (no we didn't really use any of those, except maybe the chiropractor thingy).  Yep, I'm getting to the Dr. Brown's bottle part....

During my pregnancy I had already chosen all my baby items (all of them well researched) and had already decided on Dr. Brown's bottles even before I knew about all this colicky stuff.  Simply because I had heard so many great things about them.  When I discovered all the "bells and whistles" that accompanied IT, I was about to throw the whole thing out.  I mean, what PARENT has the time to CAREFULLY wash and sterilize all those things?  But my husband said he would handle the bottles and we should keep them if they were supposed to be "really good."  No arguments here, I said Okay.

My son was VERY GASSY!!  He seemed to only cry at night though.  We were already using the bottles so what was causing the gas?  Well it had to be the formula,  we went through EVERY formula there was and finally lo and behold the LAST one we tried worked (how convenient).  He was lactose intolerant and the only thing that seemed to greatly relieve him was the Enfamil Lactose Intolerant formula.  It didn't mean that he wasn't gassy any more.  He was still pretty gassy up until 8-9 months or so but he was NOT crying out in PAINFUL gas any more.  And please keep in mind we were using the Dr. Brown's the WHOLE time from birth. 

All in all - there were parents who swear that the bottles helped tremendously, some who say it didn't work at all and there are others like me who are saying it just depends on your child and the child's digestive tract.  When it comes to kids, keep an open mind and don't EVER rely on just ONE thing to diagnose children because even though something may work wonders right away doesn't mean it'll always remain that way either.

What I DON'T LIKE about the Dr. Brown's bottles however is how quickly it gets cracked or gets scratch marks from cleaning (even though we use the dishwasher- top rack).  And the paint with all the writings become VERY loose very fast.  If you stove top sterilize (which we did for a while because his grandparents REFUSED to use the microwave) the paint that comes loose from the bottles gets stuck to the nipples or gets inside the bottles - which means your little one could be drinking the paint!!!  So be careful and inspect them carefully after washing!  And one more thing....IT LEAKS PRETTY BAD IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL.  My husband and I travel with our son A LOT!!  And every time we pour milk/formula into those bottles and have had to feed our son on the plane it starts to leak!  So do not pre-fill them before you get on the plane.  If you do, be sure to unscrew the top so the air does not build up and push upward.  Also, be sure to unscrew the top when using a bottle warmer.  Once the milk gets hot and the top is not unscrewed the heat will push the air upward again and it will create a big mess in your warmer!!