Loving Those Teats!

Wow. Surprisingly, my review regarding Little Bean Sterilizer & Warmer has produced such an overwhelming stats. The moment it was posted, I got lots of hits everyday. I really hope it has help some parents-to-be in making their decision. As a first-time parent myself, I wished I had received lots of little tips that made lots of difference before the arrival of my baby, thus enable me to save lots of money from making mistakes. Therefore, I will continue giving simple yet practical tips based on my own personal experience and opinion every now and then.

Next on my list of review is the MAM brand feeding bottle. Initially, I had bought 2 bottles of 160ml MAM wide neck feeding bottles. In the end, the endless cleaning and sterilizing of bottles per day got to me, and I had to ask Momo to get me another one. Luckily, Mummycare boutique, which is very popular in Kuching, carry this brand too.




The pros of using MAM wide neck feeding bottle are;

1. The purpose of wide neck bottle is to cater for a wider teat to simulate mother's breast. Wider teat is good for baby's oral and jaw development, although I felt there is nothing wrong with my jaw when in those days wide neck bottle is unheard of.

The design shape of MAM teat is wonderful, my baby has less messy feeding from the leaking at the side of her lips. Once she get used to the bottle, I found that she can do stronger suction on my breast compared to before. I am thankful for this as I had initially feared she would have 'nipple confusion', but instead it has helps us both. I believe this is one of MAM bottles strongest points, it made the transition from mom to bottle easier. I have tried giving Marion the normal rounded teats, she had no idea what to do with it, she just chew on it or place it at the corner of her mouth.

2. MAM bottle is BPA-free, very sturdy, have 4 choices of color (I have blue, green and purple but not pink) with pleasant bottle design. I don't have any Phillips Avent feeding bottles, but I have heard lots of complaints about it getting yellow stains (imagine plastic bottle that has been subjected to high heat many times, u can imagine how it looks like), and I have seen it with my own eyes too in few occasions. I never heard of MAM bottle having the same complaint so far.

3. The anti-colic design is by using silicone valve at the base instead of on the teats. It works, but so does any other anti-colic design of other brands. I don't know about you but I really find this anti-colic thingy is an overstatement, you still have to burp your baby after feeding anyway.

4. The base is separated because of the valve, made it very accessible for cleaning.


And the cons are;

1. The base is separated because of the valve, so you have extra 2 piece of parts to clean. Imagine if you are using 4 bottles, it means you have additional 8 parts to clean everyday. I admit that after a month, I am getting tired of it already.



2. Wear and tear-You have to change the silicone valve, not just the teats. It means extra money to spend, and the valve and teats are not cheap either (teat alone cost 1/3 of the feeding bottle price).

3. The base has open holes at the bottom. If you forgot to put the silicon valve in place in your haste to beat your baby's crying, things can get very very messy urgghhh >.<

4. The holes at the base may cause cross-contamination. Although MAM never encourage or discourage the user from immersing the bottle in the warmer and cause water to sip in, I have my own reservation. This is one of the reason why I prefer to heat up milk in the storage bottle instead of feeding bottle.

5. At RM33.50 per 160ml bottle, it's not cheap. You need about 3-4 bottles (don't forget the babysitter!) so you are spending more than RM100 for bottles alone. And don't forget the teats, as you need to change it as your baby grows. It cost about RM12 per teat. So please do the math..

I think the pros and cons are quite balance. If you don't mind the extra parts/price and ignore the possibility of contamination, I can say that this bottle is really good especially if you want to bottle feed but still wants to continue direct feeding at the same time. Bear in mind though that babies are unique individual, so what I experience with my baby may not necessary be the same with yours.