The Best Baby Bottles for Acid Reflux: Top 3 Contenders

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Reflux is somewhat common in babies but can cause all sorts of issues. Researching the best bottles for acid reflux feels overwhelming when you’re functioning on little sleep and dealing with an upset baby.

As a mom of three kids who all dealt with reflux of varying degrees, I know the struggle all too well. I’m going to share what things to be looking for and the best bottles to help with the issues that acid reflux brings.

The Best Baby Bottles for Acid Reflux

We’re sharing several different options further down in this post, but if you’re looking for the three best to pick from, here’s a list:

Dr Brown’s Bottles – the most popular choice on the market.

Mam Anti Colic Bottles – self-sterilizing and easy to use.

Philips Avent Anti-Colic Bottles – a great choice if you’re looking for easy-to-clean bottles.

We’ll go into each one’s features more in-depth further down in the post. Plus, we’ll talk about other bottles that are a really good option if your baby has infant reflux.

What Is Acid Reflux In Babies?

Reflux is a relatively common issue for young babies that usually starts within their first couple of months but should resolve itself by the time they reach 1 year old.

It happens when babies bring up their milk or are sick while they are being fed or just afterward, which means that the contents of their stomach are brought back up the esophagus.

It’s not often a cause for any significant concern and generally gets better on its own, but it can lead to colic (when a healthy baby cries a lot without an obvious cause).

Basically, the muscle that closes off your baby’s food pipe needs to open to allow the food and milk into the stomach. While a baby is young, this muscle can open when it’s not supposed to, allowing the food and/or stomach acid inside to come back up the wrong way.

Acid reflux in babies is also known by the medical term, gastroesophageal reflux (GER), and a more significant variation of the condition is known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD is rarer and more severe, with the symptoms tending to be more long-lasting and occasionally leading to other complications.

How Do You Know Your Baby Has Reflux?

Panicking about any small thing your baby might be doing is perfectly natural as a new parent, so it’s always a good idea to inform yourself as much as possible about what may really be going on to ease your fears.

Some of the common symptoms of acid reflux in babies include:

Spitting up or regurgitating milk while being fed or just afterward
Discomfort during feeding
Hiccoughing and/or coughing during feeding
Gulping/swallowing after feeding and burping
Crying when fed
Lack of weight gain
Taking very short naps and waking up crying

When the problem is more serious and may indicate GERD, you might notice:

A high frequency of spitting up
Pain in the stomach area
Difficulty feeding and a lack of appetite
Seeming irritable and unsettled after feeding
Arching their back and pulling away from the bottle or breast

Most of these symptoms are signs of discomfort more than anything, which is obviously a little distressing even though it is usually perfectly healthy. Not putting on enough weight and abdominal pains are more significant concerns, however, as they can mean that your baby is not keeping enough food down.

How Do You Treat Reflux in Babies?

It’s always best to check with a doctor before you make any decisions about your baby’s health – just so you can be completely sure that you are doing the right thing. A doctor will also be able to let you know whether you are likely dealing with a simple case of acid reflux that will resolve through small adjustments or a more serious case of GERD.

Most reflux won’t need actual treatment, but there are some things that you can do to help – even if the problem will resolve itself over time anyway.

Doctors usually suggest lifestyle changes as the first course of action, such as changing how your baby eats. Depending on how old your infant is, and their specific symptoms, doctors might also suggest changing their diet through things like avoiding overfeeding, thickening their food, or removing cow’s milk protein.

This is generally enough to improve or completely resolve the symptoms, but more serious cases of GERD may require medicine or even surgery.

How Do Baby Bottles Affect Reflux?

The way your baby eats can make a significant difference in how bad their reflux might be – particularly when they are bottle feeding.

Some bottles are more helpful than others when it comes to keeping down food. They are often labeled as “anti-colic” bottles since they reduce the likelihood that your baby will be crying from discomfort or acid reflux.

The main thing that these bottles try to do is stop your baby from swallowing air alongside their food. When they swallow air, their tummies become overly full, and they’re more likely to experience acid reflux and pain from the trapped gas. These bottles can also help your baby to feed slowly, which will reduce the likelihood of them spitting up or regurgitating their food.

Tips For Bottle Feeding Babies With Reflux

It’s not just about choosing the right bottle either. The way that you actually go about giving the bottle to your baby can make a significant difference.

Smaller amounts more frequently will help to keep their stomach from becoming too full.
Pause to burp your baby while you are feeding to release some of the pressure.
Keep them upright for an hour once they have finished feeding to let their stomach settle.
Don’t up the formula when mixing it with water. Swirl it instead.
Feed your baby in an upright position.

Some of the best bottles out there will make it easier to follow these tips and provide additional benefits.

Something that is super important is to avoid forcing your baby to feed. This may seem like a given, but if you’ve got a baby who has drastically reduced their milk intake, it can make parents feel panicky.

The issue is, if you’re pushing the bottle onto them it can very easily create a bottle-feeding aversion which brings along a whole new set of stressful things to deal with.

You can read all about bottle-feeding aversions here and how to work through them.

What Are The Best Baby Bottles for Acid Reflux?

So, what makes a good bottle for a baby with acid reflux? New parents can understandably feel overwhelmed with all the options available. Well, there are a few things to look out for.

A shape that helps you to keep your baby sitting upright during the feed.
A nipple design that reduces air intake.
An anti-colic valve that stops a vacuum from forming inside the bottle.
A steady nipple flow that allows the milk to move at the right speed (a slow-flow nipple isn’t always the answer).
Vents that reduce the amount of air passing through the milk.

There are many great options on the market today, including:

Dr. Brown’s Natural Flow

This is the most popular anti-colic bottle right now, and it has a unique vent system that you won’t find elsewhere. You can choose between glass bottles or a BPA-free plastic version, and they are very budget-friendly too.

While these are excellent and marketed as anti-colic bottles, the one downside to them is that they come with a lot of pieces. This can make it frustrating to clean them, especially when you’re a sleep-deprived and busy parent.

However, the internal vent system really will help your baby’s tummy and reduce the number of air bubbles they swallow.

Nanobebe

This bottle is shaped to replicate breastfeeding as closely as possible, which means that there is less chance of nipple confusion for breastfed babies who are switching over. It has its own air-free vent and a slow flow, and it’s designed to work at any angle. The nipple shape is often one of the biggest things babies struggle with, so this bottle could be helpful.

It’s also very easy to clean with minimal parts to it. You can use a slow flow nipple and then size up when your baby is ready for a faster flow.

Comotomo Bottles

The Comotomo baby bottle is also designed to replicate the breast as much as possible. This silicon bottle also has two vents that keep too much air from entering your baby’s stomach, and it is very easy to clean – which is a big plus. It’s even nice and soft to hold for when your baby starts feeding on their own.

Something to consider is that your baby’s reflux symptoms are probably going to be worse if they don’t take well to the new bottle that you’re giving them.

You’ll want to make sure that the bottle isn’t just one that helps with reflux, but also that your baby will drink out of it well.

Different bottles can make a really big difference to colicky babies. It’s worth trying out several until you find one that works well.

These silicone bottles are a good place to start due to their innovative design.

MAM AntiColic Bottles

These were the top pick for my babies. I chose the MAM Anti-colic bottles over Dr Brown’s for two reasons. One is that there are fewer pieces to them, making cleaning easier. Secondly, they are self-sterilizing.

There are clear instructions for how to put together the bottles to be sterilized in the microwave. This was pretty cool and saved us money on sterilizing tablets.

It would also save you bench space because you’re not having to have them soak in a container or have a sterilizing machine sitting on your bench.

The bottom of the bottle twists off and then everything can be placed in that with some water and be properly cleaned.

One of the best things I found about these bottles was the teats. They came in different sizes so that you could get the flow rate just right.

When your baby can handle the flow of the milk it means they’ll take in less air overall. Otherwise, they’ll be gulping at the milk and swallowing a lot of air along with it.

Infant reflux is made easier when you can alleviate things like gas.

Philips Avent Anti-Colic Baby Bottle

I used these bottles with my eldest child, first with breast milk and then later on with formula.

The pros for these bottles are:

specifically designed to be anti-colic
not made of lots of pieces
easy to clean
wide neck for mess-free pouring

Some parents may not like that it’s a plastic bottle. They don’t have a glass bottle option, unfortunately.

I cannot speak to how well these work with really young babies as we only used it sparingly when my child was little. However, they were really great when my child was over 5 months old.

Tommee Tippee Bottles

As is the case with Philips Avent bottles, Tommee Tippee bottles have been around for a long time.

These are easy to clean with just a few parts to them.

They have been developed specifically to reduce colic symptoms in babies by using a vent system. They also have a cool feature where the straw or vent turns pink when the milk is too hot for your baby.

Tips for Making Your Bottle Choice

Choosing a bottle for your baby can feel really overwhelming. It can also be a very expensive endeavor.

If you can, find a friend who will lend you a bottle to try with your baby first. Or, just buy one bottle and not a whole set. Otherwise, you’re going to potentially spend a fortune on bottles that don’t work very well for your baby.

Another thing to consider is to try different nipples. Either increase or decrease the flow depending on what you feel your baby might need.

Consider the ease of use that the bottle you choose will have. If you don’t want to be cleaning a bunch of little parts then Dr. Brown’s baby bottles may not be the right choice for you. Easy cleaning is a feature of many other options, so take a look at those.

The good news is that there are multiple options to choose from meaning that you will very likely find a bottle that works very well to help reduce the reflux symptoms your baby has. The best baby bottles are the ones that work for your baby.

What I Wish I Had Known About Acid Reflux in Babies

Now that my babies are all grown well out of the baby and toddler stage, I can look back and see the things I wish I had known about back then.

Here are just a few things:

#1 Reflux doesn’t always mean spitting up

Babies can have such a thing as silent reflux. It’s important to know the symptoms so that you can seek help sooner rather than later.

If your baby isn’t spitting up milk but arches back in pain when feeding, then they could still have an issue with acid reflux.

Going to the doctor about it is a good idea, even if it turns out they don’t have reflux after all.

#2 It can last a long time

My youngest child had the most severe case of acid reflux. She wasn’t in tremendous pain for a long time but she did spit up her feedings pretty close to her first birthday. It was a messy year but it did eventually stop.

#3 Bottle aversion can develop

I had no clue what a bottle aversion was until my youngest baby developed it. Let me tell you, it was an incredibly stressful time. If your baby is refusing to feed then take them to the doctor first and foremost. If there are no underlying medical issues, read up on bottle feeding aversion.

It’s a horrible thing to have to go through, but it can be resolved.

#4 Invest in mattress protectors, sheets, and burp cloths

If your baby spits up a lot then you’re going to want to be well-stocked with sheets and burp cloths. You’re also going to want to make sure you have waterproof mattress protectors.

Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a wet mattress. This can quickly become a health hazard if not dealt with as mold can grow.

#5 Many reflux meds can cause constipation

By the time I got to my third baby, I knew this and so was well prepared. However, if you’re new to using meds to treat your baby’s reflux you may not know that constipation can become an issue.

Be proactive so that you don’t end up with a miserable baby. It can be managed but you just need to be sure you’re not letting it go unchecked.

#6 Simethicone drops can be helpful

These baby gas drops can be really helpful to break up all the little bubbles and create one larger bubble that is easier for your baby to bring up.

When your baby has trapped gas and struggles with acid reflux, the constant burping can cause them more pain.

By burping them often through feeds and using gas drops, you’re going to reduce the amount of wind they get and help them to get it up more easily.

#7 Bottle feeding can be made easier

There are ways to make bottle feeding easier on you as a parent. Let’s face it, feeding our babies takes a large chunk of the day (and night) for the first year of their lives.

It’s a good idea to look into ways to make it an easier process overall. You can read some tips for bottle-feeding your baby here in this post.

While washing bottles and prepping formula is always going to take some time, you can simplify the process and make bottle feeding easier with the tips in that post.

#8 Your baby can feel your stress

Just as we can be a calming influence on our babies, we can also be the opposite. When you have a baby struggling with acid reflux, feed times can become very stressful.

If you’re a ball of stress, your baby absolutely will pick up on that. It’s important to try and relax as best you can when you’re feeding your baby.

Close the blinds, dim the lights, and turn on some white noise. While I didn’t typically feed my babies to sleep, there were times when we needed very minimal stimulation and distractions.

Another idea is that if you have someone else who can take turns feeding your baby, try that. My husband would sometimes step in when I was just really struggling.

The baby still got fed and often fed better because he was a whole lot more relaxed about the situation than I was. So, if you have someone who can help support you, definitely lean on them.

Final Thoughts

In most cases, acid reflux clears up by the time babies turn a year old. This is encouraging news for moms dealing with all the issues that come with having a baby with reflux. As with almost everything in motherhood, it is just a stage.

Goodness, the number of milk spills I had to clean up off my carpet! We definitely hired a carpet cleaner once my youngest had finally moved past her days of spilling milk.

You may be struggling with this issue right now but it really is just for a season. Finding the right bottles to help your baby can make a major difference. Borrow bottles from friends and don’t buy a whole set of new bottles before you’ve tried them with your baby. Otherwise, you’ll end up broke!

It may take a bit of trial and error, but don’t give up! Once you find the right bottle, it will make a world of difference to feeding times and the comfort of your baby.