Tommy Tippee Closer To Nature Bottles

We decided to feed Lily using Tommy Tippee bottles initially. One bottle seemed as good as any other, in truth, and as the steriliser we had been given came with a number of Tommy Tippee bottles we thought 'why not give them a go?'. I was also planning on giving Lily a combination of breast and formula milk, so these bottles seemed a good choice anyway. They are called Closer To Nature bottles because the teat is supposed to replicate the nipple, meaning baby can go from one to the other with more ease and less confusion.

It was evident a few weeks into having Lily that she was not easy to burp and the result was ultimately trapped wind which was clearly causing her pain and would often result in her posseting some milk. I noticed that Tommy Tippee anti-colic bottles were available in the range and so ditched the original bottles in favour of these to see how we got on and whether they would help Lily.

The anti-colic bottles are made so thanks to a special vent which runs through the centre of the bottle and is designed to prevent baby taking in air and therefore air bubbles when feeding. The particular bottles we bought have a special colour changing vent (called anti colic plus bottles) which indicates if the milk is too warm – a clever little feature which no other bottle seems to offer. If the heat sensing tube is blue then it's safe to feed; pink and the milk is warmer than 37 degrees Celsius.

These anti-colic bottles did help but a few weeks into using them Lily, for some reason, started playing with the teat during her feed, pushing it away and spitting out her milk. We tried to persevere but she seemed to have taken a dislike to the bottles and feed time became a bit of a battle ground! Eventually we had to look for an alternative and settled for Dr Brown's as they seemed the next best thing.

We still don't know why Lily developed an 'anti Tommy Tippee' attitude and I know lots of mummies who have used these bottles with their babies with much success. The only thing I can put it down to is that I tried Lily with Closer To Nature dummies and she really didn't like these at all (in fact she has never taken a dummy). Perhaps she associated the bottle with the feeling of the dummy and so instantly started fighting it. Just a theory! Guess it just goes to show that all babies have their own little unique nuances!

The only negative thing I could say about these bottles is that they are quite big. Initially I thought they looked quite cool, a bit different from the other bottles on the market, but then you realise how much room they take up in the changing bag. It is true that building the bottle is perhaps a little more finicky than regular bottles, what with the internal vent, but at the end of the day I would say that's a small inconvenience if it helps lessen the discomfort of a baby's colic.