Think Baby Bottles vs. Born Free and Green to Grow: What’s the Difference?
January 26, 2008 by Alicia
Filed under Safer Baby Bottles
Updated 12/6/08
Think Baby introduced a new line of baby bottles earlier this year. We’ve had a little time to learn more about the new kid on the block. Here are a few thoughts on how Think Baby bottles compare to both Born Free and Green to Grow wide neck bottles:
- I really like that all baby bottle and sippy cup parts are interchangeable in both Think Baby and Born Free.
- The Think Baby anti-colic valve is very intriguing. The valve is a simple little tube (also made of silicone) that extends down from the collar of the nipple into the bottle. It allows air to enter the bottle as the baby sucks, which in turn equalizes the pressure within the bottle. It is a simple way to accomplish eliminating a vacuum without the added parts. Born Free has several extra parts to clean and to worry about keeping track of, but has proven to be a reliable air venting system. Green to Grow doesn’t offer a vent at this time.
- I personally like the shape of the Think Baby nipple; it’s wide neck nipple has a shorter base, as compared to Born Free’s taller base. Green to Grow wide neck bottles compare more closely to Think Baby in its shape. All three are wide neck nipples which promote a better latch for baby.
- Green to Grow regular neck bottles work with Medela and Lansinoh breast pumps, where Born Free and Think Baby bottles do not.
- The nipple flows are a little too fast with Think Baby, where Born Free’s is right on the money. Think Baby’s venting system allows more of a free flow than expected. UPDATE 4/24/08: Think Baby has released their reduced flow cross cut nipples. The original flow is still included with the bottle twin pack, but you can order the cross cut to try out here. UPDATE 5/14/08: We’ve given the cross cut nipples a run for their money with some Home Grown Testing. They are excellent!! We’ve received nothing but positive feedback from our customers as well. UPDATE 6/21/08: All of our Think Baby bottles now come with the new slow flow cross cut nipple.
- Think Baby pricing is very competitive, as is Green to Grow. Green to Grow and Born Free are a little pricier.
- An added positive for all three options is knowing that I’m supporting such great charities like Healthy Child Healthy World (through Think Baby and Born Free) and 1% for the Planet and Bottles for Babies (through Green to Grow).
Hopefully this information will help you choose between the front runners on the BPA free market. Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences about these bottles too!
Still can’t decide which bottle to buy? Start out with our exclusive Baby Bottle Samplers, which include the most popular bottle styles. That way you can give them a try before buying your whole stash of bottles.
2/6/08 UPDATE: We’ve had an interesting question come up: inquiring minds want to know, “Are the nipples interchangeable between Born Free, Think Baby, and the wide neck Green to Grow bottles?” The answer is a resounding YES!
3/11/08 UPDATE: We just heard from Think Baby that we will soon have access to the new flow rate nipples. We can’t wait to see how they work with the unique venting system.
UPDATE 4/24/08: Think Baby has released their reduced flow cross cut nipples. The original flow is still included with the bottle twin pack, but you can order the cross cut to try out here.
UPDATE 4/24/08: Thanks to a tip from one of our customers, we learned that Born Free has recently switched the plastic in their bottles to PES, just like Green to Grow and Think Baby.
UPDATE 5/14/08: We’ve given the cross cut nipples a run for their money with some Home Grown Testing. They are excellent! We’ve received nothing but positive feedback from our customers as well.
UPDATE 8/16/08: Think Baby has just released the long awaited Handle and Training Spout Conversion Kit for their bottles!
So have all of the old problems with the Green to Grow bottles been fixed now, do they still leak?… Think baby? Born free?
First I just want to thank chanla and Jen for putting me onto the Second nature nipples. I’ve been worrying recently about bottle & breastfeeding and these nipples seems to be the answer and they’re phthalate-free and latex-free. I’ll be using those niplles with the GTG wide-neck bottles and I’m getting a twin pack of the Think Baby bottles to see if they’ll work as well. Thanks everybody for all the information!
I’ve been reading this wonderful blog about the Born Free vs. Think Baby Bottles. I like the fact that Born Free leaks less and the multi pieces to clean don’t bother me. But when I check out the website to see the safety of the Born Free vs. Think Baby, I question, does Born Free contain Lead and Nitrosamines on their plastic. Think Baby has on their website it is BPA Free, PVC Free, Lead Free, Pthalates Free and Nitosamines free. Born free only has on their website BPA Free, PVC Free and Pthalates Free, but not Lead Free and Nitrosamines Free. Is there anyway to find out if the Born Free bottles have these toxins in them?
I love my thinkbaby bottles! They are the only bottles my 9 month old will drink from. The soft sippy cup spout is great for mealtimes too. The only problem I have is knowing which nipples are which. They have numbers on the nipples but they are inconsistent and don’t seem to indicate rate of flow. Is there any way to tell the slow flow from the fast flow, etc.?
Thanks!
Hi!
I’ve been reading about all the bottles that leak…i use born free for my baby and they sometimes leak when i’m feeding him and almost always leak when i leave them on the table. And it’s not just a ring around the bottle, you can see a trail. Are BPA free bottles less durable and do they have to be changed frequently?
Thanks!
I have been an avid user of MAM bottles, but as mine needed updating (getting old) I decided to try the Thinkbaby I love the feel of the bottle, but am not impressed with the teats that came with the bottle they are too slow for my girls (I think they are the slow ones) I know I need to get the fast ones to give them a go, but for now took the advice above to use my MAM teats, they work great.
Does anyone know how often you should change your bottles, not just the teats?
Ron,
Given the variety of challenges you've faced using Green to Grow bottles, might I ask what motivated you to switch away from Avent in the first place?
Hi Sapphire (and Maria Carolina),
Before delving deeper into the baby bottle safety issue—which I did not have the time to do until recently—my wife and I registered for and received multiple Avent products as gifts. Like Maria Carolina, we have the Breast Pump Conversion Kit. In addition, we got the Gift Set of BPA-Free bottles (i.e., one 9 oz. bottle, two 4 oz. bottles, a warmer, a sterilizer, a bottle brush and a milk powder dispenser) and a two-pack of BPA-free 4 oz. bottles. While we don't plan on using the milk powder dispenser—my wife intends to breastfeed exclusively—the rest of the set struck us as a good value.
With regard to the issue of whether Avent is able to tell its customers that their conversion kit is BPA-free and Pthalate-free, it seems they can and do. I just spoke with customer service and was advised that, even if the packaging does not explicitly state it as such, Avent products contain neither BPA nor Pthalates (this argument was supported by Laura at The Soft Landing; see below for details). Evidently, the only plastics used in the manufacture of Avent products are Polyether Sulfone (PES) and Polypropylene (PP).
Moreover, I called and spoke with Laura (business partner and sister of Alicia) at The Soft Landing, just this morning. Laura stated that she is unaware of any reason why Avent products would be less safe than baby bottles/accessories produced by other manufacturers, including those made by green companies like Think Baby, Green to Grow, and Born Free. It turns out that companies are not required by law to state on the packaging of baby bottles or toys that the products contained within are, in fact, free of objectionable additives, like BPA or Pthalates. I guess consumers who inquire about the composition of such products just have to take it on faith that whatever a company representative tells them is, in fact, the truth.
As I mentioned to Laura, I admire the entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit of smaller companies like those aforementioned. Nevertheless, Laura sees no compelling reason why I should return three boxes of Avent products to Babies R Us and purchase instead bottles/accessories made by Born Free, Think Baby, or Green to Grow.
Prior to my conversation with Laura, the issue of plastic vs. glass bottles weighed heavily on my mind. With all of the publicity that BPA has gotten lately, I worried that other potential toxins (i.e., like Pthalates or others not yet discovered) might leach out of plastic bottles, particularly during sterilization in a microwave oven. Laura acknowledged this possibility but stated that she herself used plastic bottles in feeding her children. What's more, she mentioned that there have long been concerns about glass bottles as well, particularly with respect to lead contamination.
The bottom line is that, since our son is still hours or days away from being born (EDD: 7/25/09), our Avent boxes will remain unopened for now. A few weeks prior to my wife's return to work—in roughly three months—we will need to acquaint ourselves with the bottle-feeding process (I am a part-time working* stay-at-home dad-to-be). If, in the intervening three months, someone on this blog can offer a strong case for a different course of action, my wife and I will be all ears.
Many thanks to The Soft Landing for hosting/moderating this helpful blog!
Devin
* My current part-time work involves the development and management of two consumer advocacy and networking sites/blogs: one for fathers-to-be/fathers interested in taking a more active role—than is traditionally expected—in supporting their wives during pregnancy/birth and in parenting their children; another for dog owners that helps take the guesswork out of purchasing the most healthful food possible for your canine companion.
Before delving deeper into the baby bottle safety issue—which I did not have the time to do until recently—my wife and I registered for and received multiple Avent products as gifts. Like Maria Carolina (see post from one year ago), we have the Breast Pump Conversion Kit. In addition, we got the Gift Set of BPA-Free bottles (i.e., one 9 oz. bottle, two 4 oz. bottles, a warmer, a sterilizer, a bottle brush and a milk powder dispenser) and a two-pack of BPA-free 4 oz. bottles. While we don't plan on using the milk powder dispenser—my wife intends to breastfeed exclusively—the rest of the set struck us as a good value.
With regard to the issue of whether Avent is able to tell its customers that their conversion kit is BPA-free and Pthalate-free, it seems they can and do. I just spoke with customer service and was advised that, even if the packaging does not explicitly state it as such, Avent products contain neither BPA nor Pthalates (this argument was supported by Laura at The Soft Landing; see below for details). Evidently, the only plastics used in the manufacture of Avent products are Polyether Sulfone (PES) and Polypropylene (PP).
Moreover, I called and spoke with Laura (business partner and sister of Alicia) at The Soft Landing, just this morning. Laura stated that she is unaware of any reason why Avent products would be less safe than baby bottles/accessories produced by other manufacturers, including those made by green companies like Think Baby, Green to Grow, and Born Free. It turns out that companies are not required by law to state on the packaging of baby bottles or toys that the products contained within are, in fact, free of objectionable additives, like BPA or Pthalates. I guess consumers who inquire about the composition of such products just have to take it on faith that whatever a company representative tells them is, in fact, the truth.
As I mentioned to Laura, I admire the entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit of smaller companies like those aforementioned. Nevertheless, Laura sees no compelling reason why I should return three boxes of Avent products to Babies R Us and purchase instead bottles/accessories made by Born Free, Think Baby, or Green to Grow.
Prior to my conversation with Laura, the issue of plastic vs. glass bottles weighed heavily on my mind. With all of the publicity that BPA has gotten lately, I worried that other potential toxins (i.e., like Pthalates or others not yet discovered) might leach out of plastic bottles, particularly during sterilization in a microwave oven. Laura acknowledged this possibility but stated that she herself used plastic bottles in feeding her children. What's more, she mentioned that there have long been concerns about glass bottles as well, particularly with respect to lead contamination.
The bottom line is that, since our son is still hours or days away from being born (EDD: 7/25/09), our Avent boxes will remain unopened for now. A few weeks prior to my wife's return to work—in roughly three months—we will need to acquaint ourselves with the bottle-feeding process (I am a part-time working* stay-at-home dad-to-be). If, in the intervening three months, someone on this blog can offer a strong case for a different course of action, my wife and I will be all ears.
Many thanks to The Soft Landing for hosting/moderating this helpful blog!
Devin
* My current part-time work involves the development and management of two consumer advocacy and networking sites/blogs: one for fathers-to-be/fathers interested in taking a more active role—than is traditionally expected—in supporting their wives during pregnancy/birth and in parenting their children; another for dog owners that helps take the guesswork out of purchasing the most healthful food possible for your canine companion.
Before delving deeper into the baby bottle safety issue—which I did not have the time to do until recently—my wife and I registered for and received multiple Avent products as gifts. Like Maria Carolina (see post from one year ago), we have the Breast Pump Conversion Kit. In addition, we got the Gift Set of BPA-Free bottles (i.e., one 9 oz. bottle, two 4 oz. bottles, a warmer, a sterilizer, a bottle brush and a milk powder dispenser) and a two-pack of BPA-free 4 oz. bottles. While we don't plan on using the milk powder dispenser—my wife intends to breastfeed exclusively—the rest of the set struck us as a good value.
With regard to the issue of whether Avent is able to tell its customers that their conversion kit is BPA-free and Pthalate-free, it seems they can and do. I just spoke with customer service and was advised that, even if the packaging does not explicitly state it as such, Avent products contain neither BPA nor Pthalates (this argument was supported by Laura at The Soft Landing; see below for details). Evidently, the only plastics used in the manufacture of Avent products are Polyether Sulfone (PES) and Polypropylene (PP).
Moreover, I called and spoke with Laura (business partner and sister of Alicia) at The Soft Landing, just this morning. Laura stated that she is unaware of any reason why Avent products would be less safe than baby bottles/accessories produced by other manufacturers, including those made by green companies like Think Baby, Green to Grow, and Born Free. It turns out that companies are not required by law to state on the packaging of baby bottles or toys that the products contained within are, in fact, free of objectionable additives, like BPA or Pthalates. I guess consumers who inquire about the composition of such products just have to take it on faith that whatever a company representative tells them is, in fact, the truth.
As I mentioned to Laura, I admire the entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit of smaller companies like those aforementioned. Nevertheless, Laura sees no compelling reason why I should return three boxes of Avent products to Babies R Us and purchase instead bottles/accessories made by Born Free, Think Baby, or Green to Grow.
Prior to my conversation with Laura, the issue of plastic vs. glass bottles weighed heavily on my mind. With all of the publicity that BPA has gotten lately, I worried that other potential toxins (i.e., like Pthalates or others not yet discovered) might leach out of plastic bottles, particularly during sterilization in a microwave oven. Laura acknowledged this possibility but stated that she herself used plastic bottles in feeding her children. What's more, she mentioned that there have long been concerns about glass bottles as well, particularly with respect to lead contamination.
The bottom line is that, since our son is still hours or days away from being born (EDD: 7/25/09), our Avent boxes will remain unopened for now. A few weeks prior to my wife's return to work—in roughly three months—we will need to acquaint ourselves with the bottle-feeding process (I am a part-time working* stay-at-home dad-to-be). If, in the intervening three months, someone on this blog can offer a strong case for a different course of action, my wife and I will be all ears.
Many thanks to The Soft Landing for hosting/moderating this helpful blog!
Devin
* My current part-time work involves the development and management of two consumer advocacy and networking sites/blogs: one for fathers-to-be/fathers interested in taking a more active role—than is traditionally expected—in supporting their wives during pregnancy/birth and in parenting their children; another for dog owners that helps take the guesswork out of purchasing the most healthful food possible for your canine companion.
FWIW, Born Free makes an adaptor ($7) to use with breast pumps so you can pump directly into their wide neck bottles.
Hi Tara,
Thank you for the wonderful compliment on our blog!
Both Thinkbaby and Bornfree do third party testing for lead safety. Neither company uses synthetic latex in their products, so there’s not much concern of a nitrosamines.
Best,
Alicia