We’ve Been Playing with Our Bottles Again . . .
March 11, 2008 by Alicia
Filed under Safer Baby Bottles
NEWLY UPDATED 10/21/08
The Girls and I had a wild itch to take every single bottle apart and see which nipples, venting systems, etc. would fit other brands of bottles. We came away from our mishmash of bottle parts with several interesting tidbits. This summary is based on bottles we stock in our store.
The Bottle Exchange
- The following wide neck nipples fit each other’s bottles: Born Free, Green to Grow, Sassy MAM UltiVent , Think Baby, Momo Plastic Wide Neck and Nuby Wide Neck.
- Think Baby nipples will only work with Born Free bottles when the Born Free air vent is removed, because Think Baby’s vent is a little tube on the bottom of the nipple that goes straight down into the bottle.
- We’ve heard from many relieved parents that the Think Baby vented nipple is amazing with the Sassy MAM vented bottle for extremely gassy babies.
- The following regular neck nipples fit all each other’s bottles: Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo (includes Siliskin), Green to Grow, Momo Glass, Nuby Regular Neck Bottles and Weego.
- It turns out that the Dr. Brown’s venting system fits most regular neck bottles, including Weego, Green to Grow, Nuby, Momo Glass and Evenflo. It does require the use of a Dr. Brown’s collar (they are taller than a normal collar). The reservoir tube needs to be trimmed to fit the bottle (with the exception of Weego).
- We had a reader try a wide neck Green to Grow bottle with the wide neck Dr. Brown’s venting system. It didn’t fit, not even with the Dr. Brown’s collar (the collar wouldn’t tighten all the way).
- Mother’s Milkmate storage bottles are the same size as Medela, which means they’ll fit Medela breast pumps. We also found that Dr. Brown’s (without the vent inserted), Evenflo (includes Siliskin), Green to Grow (reg. neck) and Weego fit the Mother’s Milkmate bottle ring, so they too will fit a Medela breast pump. We also confirmed with Green to Grow that their bottles fit Lansinoh breast pumps, which means all of these bottles will also work with Lansinoh – Yeeaahh!
- It’s been reported by several of our readers that none of our bottles will work with Avent Isis breast pump. Read some very helpful input from parents here.
- Evenflo’s Comfort Select nipple is quite a neat little invention. It fits almost any regular neck bottle and serves like a wide neck nipple. Please note when using the Comfort Select nipple with the Evenflo bottles, the cap will not fit over the nipple – so traveling with it in the diaper bag may not work out so well.
- Think Baby and Born Free’s training spouts work with all of our wide neck bottles. This is a great way to transition baby from bottle to sippy cup. Think Baby now offers a sippy conversion kit.
- It turns out the you can use of all of our wide neck nipples with Klean Kanteen sippy! And thanks to Evelyn’s tip, we can use the Born Free and Think Baby spouts instead of the Avent sippy spouts too! You’ll need to use the sippy adapter to make this work.
- Think Baby and Born Free handles and sippy spouts fit the Green to Grow wide neck bottles, making a great little transition cup.
- Playtex Drop-ins NaturaLatch nipple does NOT work with any other bottle we’ve tried so far.
- AND THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION IS: Does the famous Avent nipple work with any of our BPA free bottles? The basic answer is no, not really YES!! The nipple fits all of our wide neck bottles, but it leaks from under the bottle ring/collar. The only bottle the Avent nipple officially works with is the Nuby wide neck bottle with handles. You’ll need to use an Avent collar with the nipple and Nuby bottle to make it work correctly. We attribute the leaking issue with other bottles to the Avent venting system causing the nipple to stand higher, which in turn prevents the ring/collar from tightening down completely. UPDATE 10/21/08: The new BPA free Avent bottles are now available at The Soft Landing! No more trying to make those nipples work with another bottle
We would really love to hear what you’ve learned from playing with your bottles. Go ahead – post your bottle-weilding experience!
Stephanie – I wanted to let you know that I saw that Avent is making BPA free bottles now. I found them at Target and Babies R Us.
Similar to some earlier questions, anyone know of a bottle that will fit with the first years breast flow nipple??
Have seen this asked several times, but haven’t yet seen any answers -
has anyone found a glass bottle (or even BPA-free plastic) that works with the Breastflow nipples?
Softlanding, is this something you all could investigate since it seems to be such a hot topic?
Thanks!
Anyone try MAM bottles with Dr. Brown’s wide nipple? We tried Born Free #3 nipples but they did collapse (he has rice in his bottles for reflux). Anyone have luck with any other nipple on the MAM bottle? Thanks
We have been searching for a glass bottle that will fit the Breastflow nipples- would appreciate any help on this continuing topic! Thanks in advance for everyone’s assistance!
Definitely interested in what other bottles the breastflow nipple fits (without having to use drop-ins)! I’ll be keeping my eye on this thread!! Thanks, everyone!
ARRHHH!!! I’m so over whelmed! Apparently I have the dr brown bottles WITH BPA! My son is 7 mos and I just got him off the breast!! Is there a bottle that works with the dr brown vent system AND the nipples? I don’t want to spend a lot of money since my son will soon be using a Sippy cups. I just don’t know what to do!! Please help!
Hi Dalia,
I’m glad you realized it before using the bottles heavily. Dr. Brown’s now makes a BPA free polypropylene bottle. You can find them here.
Hope that helps,
Alicia
Does anyone know for sure if the wide Gerber NUK nipple will fit in the wide neck Green to Grow or Think Baby bottle securely? I have been through so many bottles, first trying to find a nipple that my twins would take and later trying to find a BPA free alternative.
I have read some reviews that say Green to Grow bottles are compatible with Gerber NUK nipples but other reviews say that they don’t fit securely. My twins are 9 months old and I don’t want them to be able to pull the nipple right out of the bottle.
Right now I am using Nuby bottles with Born Free nipples which I do not recommend at all. The Born Free nipples are very soft and collapse constantly. I bought them as a last resort because the nuby nipples were stretched out just from normal use and washing and were leaking all over the place. I cannot believe how hard it is to find a bottle that works and is BPA free.
NUK ORTHODONTIC NIPPLES WORK ON THE THINKBABY BOTTLES USING THE THINKBABY COLLAR!
IN RESPONSE TO LO, I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM, MY LITTLE ONE LOVES THE NUK NIPPLES (WE USED THEM IN THE HOSPITAL)…TRY THEM ON THE THINKBABY USING THE THINKBABY COLLAR. THEY FIT…
Thank you for the responses, I will have to try Thinkbaby bottles.
Also I just wanted to chime in on using wide Nuk nipples with Nuby wide neck bottles. They do fit, however they don’t lock in as well as they could and my 9 month old babies are able to get the nipple out of the collar altogether and then of course the bottle spills everywhere.
Okay, I tried the Green To Grow wide neck bottles with Gerber Nuk nipples today.
JUST BECAUSE THE NUK NIPPLE FITS THROUGH THE HOLE OF THE COLLAR DOES NOT MEAN IT FITS!!! THE NUK NIPPLE DOES NOT LOCK IN SECURELY.
I placed the NUK nipple in the Green To Grow bottle and twisted it on tightly. I pulled on the nipple to see if it was secure, and it SEEMED to be fine. Then I handed it to my 10 month old, she grabbed it by the collar and the nipple, somehow ended up squeezing the base of the nipple, and the nipple popped right out of the collar and formula spilled everywhere.
I actually called Green To Grow on the telephone and asked them this very question before I bought these bottles. I was assured that the nipple fits in securely and “an adult might be able to get it out but a baby definitely wouldn’t.” Obviously, that isn’t true. I drove forty minutes one way and spent 24 dollars on two bottles today based on this advice, just to have my baby end up soaking wet with formula the very first time I tried using the Nuk nipple in the Green To Grow bottle. It is not safe to give a baby who holds her own bottle a bottle where they can get the nipple out.
Straight from the Dr. Brown’s website:
Can I use Dr. Brown’s nipples on other brands of bottles?
Dr. Brown’s nipples are of the highest quality. However they are specifically designed for the Dr. Brown’s baby bottles and should not be used on other brands of bottles. The Dr. Brown’s nipple does not have a vacuum operated rim-vent like other brands of bottles. If a Dr. Brown’s nipple is used on an un-vented bottle the baby may experience feeding difficulties and could experience the discomfort commonly described as colic.
That’s part of my problem. My twins are used to a vented nipple.
The Green to Grow nipple does not have a vent. It collapses, is too soft (although better than the Born Free nipple in that regard) and is a hassle. Yes I did try the “expert” flow and it still collapsed, and badly. The whole nipple recoiled into the top of the bottle and when I twised off the collar to fix it, it shot down into the formula and I had to fish it out.
My major problem with this situation is that the company names NUK nipples specifically as a replacement. You might get away with using a NUK nipple in a green to grow bottle if you are feeding a newborn but my baby (10 months) got the NUK nipple out of the GTG bottle effortlessly, she wasn’t even trying to pull it out.
I emailed GTG about this and they did offer me other nipples. I have already tried their expert flow and they were just as bad as the slow flow ones. I’m still trying to figure out why 10 ounce bottles come with 0-3 month slow flow nipples. For 11.00 a bottle the least they could offer is an appropriate nipple flow.
It’s too bad about the nipple problems. The bottles are cute and way more sturdy and durable than I imagined they would be even if they are basically useless as far as I’m concerned.
I bought the Nuby wide neck bottle with the handles. My daughter did not like the vari-flow nipple. Too much came out for her at once.
I tried the Avent, did not fit good with the nuby.
I tried the Dr. Browns,. the nipple collapses.
The nam nipple did fit, but my daughter didn’t like that nipple either.
These are all wide neck.
Bec, you mentioned Avent nipples. Avent now makes a BPA free bottle. Not just the ones with disposable bags. They’re just like the original Avent bottle except there is a yellowish tinge to the plastic. Target sells them. That’s what I finally ended up using.
Has anyone tried using a Dr. Brown bottle (with the vent system) with a different nipple.
Thanks for posting this it was extremley helpful!
Our baby is only 5 weeks old and what a crazy bottle experience weve had!
To start with the good, because of your website, and postings, we are now using the Avent nipples on the Nuby wide neck bottles (8oz). The nuby bottles are cheaper 3 for $10, compared to the Avent $12 for 1 bottle. Then we get the great quality and variety of the tried and true Avent nipples.
IF we want to go to a disposable system for traveling, I could buy the Avent Tempo Nurser…but the liners are expensive, so I would use them sparenly.
The failers:
Evenflo Glass: Nipple wore out within a few days and suddenly became a fast flo nipple. Leaked extremley around the ring.
Nuby Narrow: Couldn’t get any formula from slow flo nipple, varable flo that came with bottle was to fast for him. Didn’t know I could put different nipples on bottles.
Avent BPA free: leaked like CRAZY!
Playtex Drop ins: used the most…he liked the brown nipple best. Nipple wore out within a couple weeks and suddenly became a fast flo nipple. Also found cracks in nipple. Bottles also leaked, had to keep them upright when traveling.
Did the math, replacing nipples once a month, and buying liners would have been extremley costly.
Customer service is great however, every time we called with a complaint they sent us $5 to $20 worth of coupons to buy for of they’re products.
Once again, thanks for posting your experiements!!
I’m just seeking support here. I am very distraught. An assistant in my son’s daycare room took it upon herself to try a new bottle with him – the regular old NON BPA-free Avent they had kicking around!! Anyone know what the risks of his short-term exposure to BPA may be? I know they use a bottle warmer to hear all of their bottles…and he has only received a couple of feedings (maybe 2-3) through this other bottle. I just hope I can get it through their heads that it is SO VERY IMPORTANT NOT to use this bottle again!!! I even ran out and bought their BPA-free sippy cup (less expensive than the bottle) with nipples to replace the one they “tried out” with him. I’m still so angry at this though. How could they do this without checking with me first?!?!?!
I was under the impression (from discussion threads on this site and others) that the Gerber Gentle Flow bottle is BPA-free. However, Gerber itself does not list this bottle as being BPA-free (only the Clear View and Fashion Tints). What’s the deal? If anyone has any info, please let me know as I recently switched from Avent to Gerber Gentle Flow and was hoping I was now in the clear.
Hi Jen,
Labels are not required by law, so many manufacturers don’t bother with them. Both ZRecsGuide.com and BabyEarth.com list them as BPA free, and they are both reputable sources.
If you are still unsure, you may want to contact Gerber directly to double check.
Alicia
I called Gerber and asked them about Gentle Flow bottles before I tried them and they assured me that they are BPA free
Thanks, Lo!
Alicia
Has anyone tried putting Green to Grow standard neck nipples on Nuby non-drip bottles… the ones that come in the inexpensive 3pk? My son, Dante, started off on Nuby, which I loved, loved, loved… but found replacing the nipples to be a nightmare! We switched to G to G, which I have HATED from the start… I won’t even list the issues I’ve had. Luckily, my little one has never had a problem drinking from them. I’d like to switch back to Nuby, and figured that I’d just use the G to G nipples with them. I read on Diapers, etc. that they should fit any standard nipple… but we all know how these sites are with their “accurate” information…
Just wanted to post that Gerber NUK bottles are now BPA free.
The packaging isn’t marked yet but if you look at the bottles they are made of a cloudy plastic. The patterns and colors are exactly the same as before but the plastic is cloudy.
I just want to start by saying I am thankful that my son is not fussy about nipples or bottles. He’ll take playtex, nuk, evenflow, nuby. The only problem he has had is with the nuby vari flows — takes him forever to finish a bottle; however, they are fabulous for helping to get rid of hiccups (just a 1/2 oz water in the bottle, a few minutes of sucking and voila)!
I have the Lansinoh pump and standard bottles (no PBA) but I can not find the nipples to go with them. I have tried the NUK and the evenflo, but they leak. The nubys were perfect except for the problem mentioned above. Anyone know of a nipple that fits like a nuby and flows like the nuk/evenflo slow flow? I am trying not to spend a fortune, which is why I don’t want to use the dropins, even though he likes them!
I am trying to find a nipple that is compatiable to my Medela bottles. My daughter does not like the silicone nipples as it is an adjustment from her mother’s natural breast. Is latex the way to go? What fits?
my former daycare lady gave me two born free spouts to use on my playtex nurser. I didn’t believe that they fit, but they do. The ridge is wide enough to just set the spout on the bottle, and place the cap on overtop, and screw it on. She told me that this is how she got her son on a sippy.
Today I tried the born free bottle nipple on the playtex nurser, and It seems to work. Not sure about the venting system, but we will see.
Playtex does not offer (in canada) a med flo in the breast like nipple. The slow was too slow for my son, and the fast to fast!
So we will see how this goes.
has anyone tried Mam nipples on Dr. Brown wideneck bottles?
I don’t think there has been an answer yet regarding the Breastflow nipples fitting any other bottle.
Does anyone have some info?
Thanks!
I am also wondering if my non-bpa free breastflow bottles can be recycled by using the nipples on another bottle. Specifically the Green Sprouts bottle…Does anyone have any experience with Breastflow bottles? It’s hard to find them these days but my baby loves them — just wish they were bpa-free. I know First Years makes bpa free now but I am sorta bummed it took them so long so I wanted to give my business to another company.
The Born Free nipples may fit onto the Nuby bottles, but they don't vent, therefore they don't work
BREASTFLOW BOTTLES
The First Years Breastflow Bottles are now made BPA free. From my understanding and comparison shopping, the nipples do not fit on any other bottles. You can use Avent Tempo Drop-Ins with the Breastflow bottle and nipples (which would not transfer the affects of BPA. You can also use the First Years Easy Stack Milk Containers. The containers are only available in 5 oz. bottles, but it is better than nothing!
BREASTFLOW BOTTLES
The First Years Breastflow Bottles are now made BPA free. From my understanding and comparison shopping, the nipples do not fit on any other bottles. You can use Avent Tempo Drop-Ins with the Breastflow bottle and nipples (which would not transfer the affects of BPA. You can also use the First Years Easy Stack Milk Containers. The containers are only available in 5 oz. bottles, but it is better than nothing!
Avent works pretty well as far as i know & one more think born free set costs very much.That's why nobody likes it & nobody uses it.
I was wondering if anyone has had success with the wide neck Green to Grow bottles and attaching to a breast pump. Do the Avent pumps work since Avent has wide neck bottles?
Green To Grow Wide Neck Bottles/Nuk Orthodontic
Hi, I just wanted to post here to let everybody wanting to know “what nipple fits the Green to Grow Wide Neck Bottle” After trying almost every brand nipple I had I found that the Mam Ultivent nipple fits perfect.My son will only take the Nuk orthodontic nipple, and after contacting costumer service to see if they offered an orthodontic nipple they told me that the Nuk nipple would fit, but it didn't. The Green to Grow bottle ring is wider than the Nuk nipple so it can easily be pulled right out. Does anyone know what other bottle can fit the Nuk orthodontic nipple?
Hi Michael,
We recommend sticking with natural latex rubber nipples and avoiding synthetic latex. As far as we know, all latex nipples currently available in the U.S., with the exception of Natursutten, are made from a synthetic chemical cocktail and are known to contain a chemical called nitrosamines. The Natursutten standard neck nipples fit the Medela bottles and you can find them at our store here.
Alicia