Canstar Blue’s 2021 baby bottles review has seen Philips Avent, Pigeon, Tommee Tippee and B.Box compared on quality of seal (i.e. don’t leak), ease of use for baby, ease of cleaning, design, durability, availability, value for money and overall satisfaction.
In a hungry market, Philips Avent was rated best for baby bottles, scoring five-star reviews across most research categories. These include quality of seal, ease of cleaning, design, durability, availability, value for money and overall satisfaction.
Feeding time can be a tough time, regardless of your age! While the toughest decision for those of us who can look after ourselves comes from whether or not to order in while we sit back and relax on the couch, those with children will know that feeding time brings a number of more serious challenges to overcome, especially if you’re bottle feeding.
While the focus may be on what goes inside the bottle, finding a bottle to use for daily feedings can itself be a big decision, especially when there’s no shortage of products on offer, or if it’s your first time venturing into the market. To help make the decision a bit easier, Canstar Blue has released its ratings for baby bottles, based on the feedback of more than 400 new mums and dads who recently purchased a baby bottle, with their thoughts and preferences forming the basis of our results.
In 2021, Philips Avent was rated best for baby bottles, achieving five stars across most categories and for overall satisfaction.
Here are the best brands of baby bottles in Australia, as rated by mums and dads in Canstar Blue’s latest review:
Philips Avent topped our baby bottle ratings, scoring five-star reviews for quality of seal, ease of cleaning, design, durability, availability, value for money and overall satisfaction. Runner-up Pigeon scored top marks for ease of use for baby, design, durability and value for money. Tommee Tippee also managed to receive five stars for ease of use for bub, quality of seal, availability and bang for buck.
Read on as we explore what each of the brands in this year’s comparison have to offer.
Philips Avent is a brand recommended by mums and dads worldwide. For those after a baby bottle or a few extra replacement nipples, Philips Avent has a number of types available, with its range divided into age brackets, as well as by teat type if you have a fussy eater.
Philips Avent’s bottle range is split between the Natural, Classic+ and Anti-Colic range, with bottle capacities ranging from 125ml and 330ml. Anti-Colic baby bottles are designed to minimise the amount of air your baby ingests while bottle feeding to help reduce colic and discomfort. Each bottle has an integrated anti-colic valve to vent away air from bub’s tummy. The Anti-Colic range is the more expensive option of the three. Philips Avent also offers a number of teat flow rates and types, ideal for those who often struggle when it comes to dinner time. Bottles are made from either glass or BPA-free plastic.
Available at chemists and baby product retailers, you can find a store close to you through the Store Locator available on the Philips Avent website. Competitively priced, most Philip Avent baby bottles can be found between $10 and $25 depending on the type.
Japanese brand Pigeon offers a wide variety of baby products including breast pumps, breastfeeding accessories, teethers, soothers, cleaning products and yes, baby bottles and teats. For baby bottles, Pigeon offers a choice of three different materials – glass, polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and polypropylene (PP) varieties, all of which are supplied with the Pigeon wide neck teat and are available in capacities ranging from 120ml to 330ml. The wide neck teat is similar to the natural breast shape to avoid nipple confusion and has a textured surface for perfect latch-on and good tongue position. Firm, but soft, the teat allows babies to use their natural feeding motion and each has a unique venting system to support constant milk flow and help reduce colic.
Reasonably priced within the market, a Pigeon baby bottle can be picked up between $10 and $25 depending on the size and material, with Pigeon products available nationwide at chemists, baby product retailers as well as online through the Pigeon website. Pigeon additionally offers a liquid cleanser to help keep your baby bottles clean and looking good.
Founded over 50 years ago, Tommee Tippee currently operates under the Mayborn Group, and is one of the bigger players within the baby market. Offering products for feeding time, changing time, and those moments in between, you’ll often find Tommee Tippee products at retail stores, baby product retailers, as well as online via its website.
Offering a number of bottle varieties and capacities, including the Closer To Nature bottles which are shaped like a breast and come in a range of functional and super cute designs. Tommee Tippee also has a number of teats, including the Advanced Anti-Colic teat, Vari-Flow teat, as well as a standard silicone neck teat, along with an online guide to help you find the best for your needs. You can also find a range of other products to help with bottle feeding, including sterilising and preparation kits, along with brushes to help with the clean-up.
B.Box offers feeding solutions from the early days all the way through to the school days, with a range of sippy and training cups (which come in assorted colours), kid’s cutlery sets, plates, bowls, straws and lunch boxes available. If you’re formula feeding however, the brand only sells the B.Box baby bottle made from medical-grade PPSU, which come with anti-colic silicone teats designed to assist natural feeding and encourage easy attachment. These are available in three stages to support babies’ development and sucking patterns.
The brands rated in our review aren’t the only options worth considering. Here are a couple more you could check out.
A brand from Tommee Tippee, Closer to Nature is another well-known name within the baby bottle market, offering a number of bottle and teat options for parents to choose from. The Closer to Nature range includes a slow flow teat (ideal for newborns) in sizes 150ml and 260ml, and some come with an anti-colic valve to reduce excessive airflow during feeding. Each bottle is compatible with the entire Closer to Nature teat range.
Bottles are BPA-free and are available in capacities ranging from 150ml to 340ml, with a number of colours also available. You can purchase bottles individually or up to packs of six, with Closer to Nature bottles available at baby retail stores, chemists as well as retail stores such as Big W.
NUK is arguably one of the best-known brands when it comes to baby bottles and feeding accessories. The brand is claimed to have invented one of the first asymmetric teat shape modelled on the physiology of a mother’s breast during breastfeeding. ‘Natural and suited to the jaw’ was the name given to this shape, which is still used in the production of NUK teats and soothers even today.
NUK has a wide range of baby bottles and teats available, include a Nature Sense Starter Set to begin bottle feeding your baby, a First Choice Plus Glass Baby Bottle (240ml) with teat, a Disney Mickey Mouse First Choice Plus Baby Bottle (300ml) and more. All NUK plastic baby bottles are clinically tested, BPA-free and made of polypropylene (PP).
Choosing the best bottle for your little cherub isn’t as easy as picking up the first or cheapest option on the shelf. There are various factors to consider before settling on a baby bottle, including:
BPA-free is the standard when it comes to plastic baby products, but what exactly is BPA, and why should you avoid it? Well, BPA stands for Bisphenol-A, an estrogen-imitating chemical used in the manufacturing of plastic products from the 1950s. Since then, BPA has been linked to a number of negative health issues, some of which can affect infants and babies.
Nowadays, most baby brands have moved away from BPA chemicals, with BPA-free plastics now a major selling point, although if you’re worried about what your bottle is made of, it may be best to research into how each brand manufacturers their specific products, as well as checking the label. With 21% of survey respondents worried about using plastic bottles because of the harmful chemicals (such as BPA) they can contain, digging a bit deeper into how each brand goes about making their products may give you additional peace of mind when it comes to finding a brand to take home.
Most baby bottles can be effectively sterilised, and re-used if you plan to have more children in the future, provided they’re still in good nick and aren’t cracked or worn out. Baby bottles can also be handed down or given to charities for infants that need them. Depending on the material, some baby bottles may also be recyclable. Just head to the manufacturer’s website for more information on how to recycle specific bottles properly.
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Home & Lifestyle Content Lead, Megan Birot. She’s an expert on household appliances, health & beauty products, as well as all things grocery and shopping. When she’s not writing up our research-based ratings reports, Megan spends her time helping consumers make better purchase decisions, whether it’s at the supermarket, other retailers, or online, highlighting the best deals and flagging anything you need to be aware of.
Photo Credit: MISS TREECHADA YOKSAN/Shutterstock.com.
Canstar Blue surveyed 1,200 Australian parents of children aged six years and under across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group who have purchased baby bottles or bottle teats in the last 12 months – in this case, 425 people.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.
Here are the previous winners of Canstar Blue’s baby bottle ratings:
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