Best baby bottles for colic - tested by parents

That's a very long wait in baby time, but there is a whole world of anti-colic bottles to help you and your little one to survive.

Here's what our mums had to say about the best-selling anti-colic bottles.

1. Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Bottle, from £6.49

Capacity/sizes available: 150ml, 260ml and 340ml

Price per bottle: £6.49

Type of teats: Slow flow (from birth), medium flow (from 3 months), fast flow (from 6 months) and vari-flow (from birth)

Made from: Silicone and polypropylene

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Tommee Tippee recommend against using a microwave to heat milk

Our overall gold winner in the bottle for babies category comes from the Tommee Tippee range, where the bottles are all shaped like a breast, with a realistic nipple shape and natural stretch and flex to mimic breastfeeding and minimise colic.

Closer to Nature bottles are designed to make switching between breast and bottle feeding easier than ever before, which is good to know if you plan to combination feed, or wind down breastfeeding.

The unique, easy-latch-on teat shape was designed with breastfeeding experts and has a super-sensitive valve to encourage your baby’s intuitive feeding action. It has a super sensitive anti-colic valve which eliminates excessive air flow, so they ingest more milk and less air

Thoughtful touches such as a compact shape to allow you to hold your little one close, and a soft silicone teat that feels like skin, mean these bottles have really been designed with comfort in mind.

The range is available in 150ml, 260mland 340ml options, along with decorated and colour options.

What our MadeForMums Awards Judges say about the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Bottle:

“I have used these bottles for both my sons from birth, alongside breastfeeding. I found the bottles to be durable and safe. My children were able to latch onto the teats with ease and I was able to control the flow of milk using the different teat options. As you’d expect, they fit perfectly into the Tommee Tippee bottle warmers for heating expressed milk or formula easily and effectively. I would definitely recommend them to friends and family.” Mum of 2, Rebecca

“Easy to hold and the different sizes from 150ml to 340ml allow a range of options. Love the soft, flexible teat. Lid comes off easily, no struggling!” MFM Reviews Editor Magda Ibrahim

You can buy the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Bottle from: Amazon, Superdrug and Argos .

2. MAM Easy Start Anti Colic Bottle 260ml 2pk, £13.99

Capacity/sizes available: 160ml, 260ml

Price per bottle: £6

Type of teats: Size 1 (slow flow) for birth onwards, size 2 (medium flow) for two months onwards, size 3 (fast flow) for four months onwards, non-spill for older babies who are attempting to self-feed, size x (cross cut) for six months onwards and for thicker liquids.

Made from: Silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Yes

This is a great option for bottlefeeding – it picked up the silver award in our best baby bottles from birth category – but it really shines as an anti-colic bottle.

According to MAM, this bottle’s unique silky-soft silicone teat feels so familiar it has a 94% acceptance rate, helping it earn this year’s silver award in our best baby bottles from birth category.

It also has a clever vented base to help prevent air swallowing, helping to reduce colic, and gives your baby a smooth flow of milk.

There are lot of nifty perks to please parents too – the self-sterilising function makes it super-convenient if you’re out and about or on holiday – just pop the bottle in the microwave with 20ml of water for three minutes and it’s done. The extra-wide openings also make it easy to fill and clean.

What our MadeForMums Awards Judges say about the MAM Easy Start Anti Colic Bottle 260ml:

“The soft teat is much more to my little girl’s liking than some other rubbery teats we tried, and feels a lot more natural. The self-sterilizing feature is great, especially when out and about or visiting relatives.” Mum of 1, Joelle

“A versatile bottle, easy to use and decent price.” MFM Reviews Editor Hazelann Williams

Read the full review of the MAM anti-colic bottle here.

You can buy the MAM Easy Start Anti Colic Bottle 260ml from: Amazon, John Lewis and Boots

3. Dr Brown's 2-in-1 Transition Bottle, £8.99

Capacity/sizes available: 270 ml

Price per bottle: £8.99

Type of teats: Level 3 nipple

Made from: Silicone spout

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Doesn't specify

NHS advice says if you're bottle feeding, it's a good idea to introduce a cup rather than a bottle from about six months, as this will help your baby learn to sip rather than suck, which is better for their teeth. But in practice, moving on from a tried-and-tested bottle is easier said than done (especially if your tot discovers the joy of throwing a full cup on the floor!).

The bottle is designed to help little ones make the transition from bottle to cup more easily, and its two-in-one style means it is useful for longer.

It has Dr Brown’s unique vented anti-colic system, and when baby is ready, can be converted by removing the vent and replacing the bottle teat with a super soft sippy spout.

You can buy Dr Brown's 2-in-1 Transition Bottle from: Boots, Amazon and Central Medical Supplies

4. Chicco Natural Feeling Bottle, from £6.50

Capacity/sizes available: 150ml, 250ml

Price per bottle: £6.50 (150ml), £7.50 (250ml)

Type of teats: Slow flow (from 0 months), medium flow (from 1 month), fast flow (from 6 months) and variable flow (from 3 months) teats in either straight or angled version

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: No

Microwave safe: No

The unique angled teat, designed to replicate the natural way a baby feeds, is one of the reasons that Chicco’s Natural Feeling bottle impressed our testers.

The teat’s soft, wide base flexes to simulate the movement of mum’s breast, allowing easy transition between breast and bottle. Plus, the wide belly of the teat stays full of milk and the dual anti-colic valve helps reduce the risk of swallowing air, both of which work together to help prevent colic and keep baby calm during feeds.

Read what our MFM reviewer Emma and her daughter Mya thought of the bottle in our review here.

You can buy the Chicco Natural Feeling Bottle from: Amazon, PreciousLittleOne and Kiddies Kingdom

5. Dr Brown's Natural Flow Triple Pack, £19.00

Capacity/sizes available: 120ml, 240ml

Price per bottle: £5.84 (120ml), £6.29 (240ml)

Type of teats: Preemie, Level 1 (from 0 months), Level 2 (from 3 months), Level 3 (from 6 months), Level 4 (from 9 months), and Y-cut teat (from 9 months)

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Not recommended

The original Dr Brown's bottle, the Natural Flow system claims to reduce colic through the internal vent, and is recommended by healthcare professionals. The bottle also aims to preserve vitamins in baby's milk and comes in colours including the original transparent and white version, as well as pink, blue, purple and green.

Our mum reviewer Sarah used the bottle with her son, and thought he seemed less colicky after feeds:

There are more parts to this bottle than others as it has a two-piece internal vent. This makes it a little more complicated to use, but it’s easy to get the hang of. It’s also slightly more time-consuming to make up formula in this bottle as you have to stir rather than shake to mix the powder with water. The extra parts to this bottle mean it is trickier to clean, but it does come with a special cleaning brush

Dr Brown's Natural Flow bottle is available from: Amazon, John Lewis and Lucky Vitamin

6.Haberman Suckle Feeder Bottle (260ml), £7.49

Capacity/sizes available: 260ml

Price per bottle: £7.49

Type of teats: Teat and filter from 0 months

Made from: Plastic and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Yes

The award-winning Haberman Suckle Feeder bottle claims to closely mimic breastfeeding with its teat design that helps reduce the amount of air your little one can swallow from the bottle.

Haberman says this is because the valve system and filter help avoid baby guzzling their milk and filters out bubbles and froth, as well as the teat always remaining full of milk at any angle.

MFM reviewer Samantha liked the fact that she could adjust the flow of milk by the way she held the bottle - read what else she thought of it:

The five components are bulky and take up a lot of room in a steriliser. I have the Avent microwave steriliser and I struggled to get two bottles in it with no parts touching. However, in the instructions it suggests putting the filter in the bottle for sterilising which helped with space.

The filter is tricky to wash as it's an odd shape. I gave it a rub with a bottle brush then a good rinse but wasn’t confident I had got to all surfaces. All other parts were very easy to wash.

The Haberman Suckle Feeder is available from: Amazon and Uber Kids

7. Comotomo Bottle Double Pack, £18

Capacity/sizes available: 150ml, 250ml

Price per bottle: £8.57 (150ml) £7.91 (250ml)

Type of teats: Slow flow nipple for 0-3 months with 150ml bottle, medium flow nipple for 3-6 months with 250ml bottle

Made from: Silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)

Microwave safe: No

US brand Comotomo came up with this design as a way to emulate breastfeeding, so the bottle itself is made from a soft, squeezable silicone.

The bottle features two anti-colic vents for air circulation, with the aim of reducing colic, spit up, burping and gas.

According to our mum reviewer Steffi, the bottle "looks lovely" and is easy to use:

Yes. The Como Tomo is very easy to clean as it is just a basic bottle without lots of different parts to it. On the box it states that the flexible body and wide neck makes it easier to clean compared to other bottles which is true because you do not need any small wired brushes as there are no small vents and tubes in the bottle unlike so many other ‘Anti-Colic’ bottle brands.

There are 3 parts in total. The main part of the bottle, the cap, and the teat which splits so there is the teat and the screw ring which twists on to the actual bottle. This was very handy and you don’t have to faff with lots of different small parts when you have a crying baby in your arms who doesn’t want to wait for you to assemble a bottle.

My daughter took to the teat very well and she didn’t spill milk down the side of the bottle. I think the shape of the teat also helped her bottle-feed as she was using Tommee Tippee bottles originally and as the teats are similar shaped she switched bottles easily.

Isabelle has struggled with colic since I stopped breastfeeding at 9 weeks old. We have tried a number of different anti colic bottles/formula, none of which has been completely effective. Sometimes when she drank from this bottle she seemed comfortable, other times she didn’t. She has stopped her periods of unsettledness and crying which she was previously doing almost every day for a few hours at a time. However, since testing other bottles the upset periods have not returned so I am not sure whether the bottle had any effect or whether she is just growing out of it?

The bottle is a very simple design and is easy to use. My daughter has no issues drinking from this bottle and it also looks lovely and is unique in the way it looks and feels. I am not sure if it stopped my daughter’s colic but it definitely didn’t make it any worse. Also, because there are no additional parts to the bottle it can also easily be used even if you baby doesn’t suffer with colic.

I have already shown the bottle to a few of my mummy friends and all of them love the design, so yes, I would recommend this bottle.

The Comotomo bottle is available from: Amazon and Kidly

8. Vital Baby Nurture Breast-like Feeding Bottle Four Pack, £14.99

Capacity/sizes available: 150ml, 240ml

Price per bottle: £4.49(150ml) £4.49 (240ml)

Type of teats: Medium flow and fast flow teats

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes

Microwave safe: Yes

Family-run business Vital Baby's range of bottles includes the Nurture, with its flattened nipple-shaped teat. The three super sensitive valves have been designed to allow air to flow back into the bottle and aim to relieve the vacuum build-up inside. Vital Baby says this makes it easy for baby to control the flow of milk, swallow less air, feed well and reduce colic symptoms.

Our MFM reviewer Kath tested out the Vital Baby Nurture feeding bottle:

The Vital Baby Nurture is easy to use and clean as there’s not many parts and it has a wide neck. It’s also dishwasher and steriliser safe. The teat is much wider than other feeding bottles and the teat is specially designed to mimic the breast to offer a natural breastfeeding action, therefore helping combination feeding.

Feeding is relatively easy, although the teat’s flattened design makes it difficult to get the last ounce of milk out and I had to hold baby horizontal and tip the bottle right back for him to get to it.

The bottle’s teat has a soft texture and quite a slow flow system. My baby had a gentle, calm sucking rhythm when feeding, which meant that he didn’t gulp down the milk like he does with other bottles. This definitely seems to mimic the natural, slower flow of breastfeeding.

On the negative side, the teat regularly collapsed in on itself so I had to take the bottle out of baby’s mouth and allow the teat to pop back out (or pull it out manually).

It certainly contributed to a more comfortable feeding experience for my baby and there was less crying following a feed. I’d recommend it with the reservation about the teat occasionally collapsing in on itself.

The Vital Baby Nurture Breast-like feeding bottle is available from: Amazon and Vital Baby and Kiddicare .

9. Lansinoh Momma with Natural Wave Teat Double Pack, £11.99

Capacity/sizes available: 160ml, 240ml

Price per bottle: £5.99

Type of teats: Natural Wave teat in slow, medium or fast flow

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)

Microwave safe: Not recommended

Based on more than 50 years of research, Lansinoh's Natural Wave teat claims to promote oral development by encouraging a wave-like movement from your little one's tongue. It has internal ridges to stop the teat collapsing and a special air ventilation system aims to cut the risk of colic.

The Lansinoh Momma bottle was tested by our mum reviewer Samantha and her six-week old baby, who liked its ergonomic design, but said it did leak a little:

Small bottles and minimum components fit well in my steriliser. All easy to wash with a bottle brush.

The small hole in the teat is meant to reduce the air intake, but it doesn’t appear to do much (on other anti-colic bottles you can see the featured parts doing something so gives more confidence).

The teat is central so no right/wrong way up to feed, but feels quite wide and didn’t fit in baby’s mouth as easy as other narrower/angled designs. Also, the teat leaked a little when about to put it into baby’s mouth and dripped onto his chin. Assembling the teat into the collar is difficult and you have to handle the teat part a lot which is not good after it has been sterilised. Can’t be done one handed!

I don't think it has helped with colic, we had more colic episodes than normal during the trial week. It is cheaper than other anti-colic bottles but didn’t seem to have enough features to make it worth buying this over other cheaper standard bottles. I wouldn't recommend it mainly due to the issues with the teat and its assembly and the fact it didn’t appear to reduce the colic for my baby.

The Lansinoh Momma with Natural Wave teat is available from: Amazon, John Lewis, Kiddicare and Boots

10. Munchkin Latch Triple Pack, £18.99

Capacity/sizes available: 120ml, 240ml

Price per bottle: £6.49

Type of teats: Accordion-style teat in Stage 1 slow flow, Stage 2 medium flow and Stage 3 fast flow

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)

Microwave safe: Yes

The Munchkin Latch bottle's accordion-style teat is supposed to allow baby to move her head more easily while she feeds, while the anti-colic valve in the bottom of the bottle prevents air flowing through into the milk.

Although it has received some good ratings in online shopping sites, or mum reviewer Steffi and her daughter weren't too keen on the style of the teat when they tested the bottle. Read her review to find out why:

This bottle is very easy to clean and is a similar design to the Como Tomo. It fits into the electric steriliser, and you don’t need any small brushes to clean it making it quick and simple.

The teat was designed to be similar to breastfeeding. However, when my daughter sucked on the teat it kept sinking into the bottle as if she couldn’t the milk out despite using a medium flow teat, even though milk was coming out as she was emptying the bottle.

I only used the bottle twice because of the problem with the teat, so I didn’t use it long enough to see any improvement or change. I don’t think I have used the bottle for longer to be able to judge if it is value for money or not. I wouldn't recommend the bottle because the teat kept sinking in so it was difficult to use this bottle.

The Munchkin Latch bottle is available from: Mothercare, Tesco and Boots

11. NUK First Choice+ 300ml Bottle, £5.49

Capacity/sizes available: 150ml, 300ml

Price per bottle: £5.49

Type of teats: Size 1 (0-6 months) or Size 2 (6-18 months)

Made from: Plastic or glass bottle and silicone or latex teat

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Not recommended

Microwave safe: Not recommended

Award-winning brand NUK's bottles come with teats designed by dentists and have a special, asymmetric shape to mimic the way a mum's nipple changes shape as she feeds.

NUK teats also feature an anti-colic air system and are available in silicone or a softer latex option, as well as with bottles in a range of designs from Winnie the Pooh and Mickey and Minnie, to a limited-edition gold or silver.

Here's what our mum reviewer Caitlin thought of the NUK bottle:

Easy to clean, however still needs to be sterilised using a steriliser. The teat is a natural shape, with the hole in the teat on the side of the 'nipple' as opposed to the tip. It took my baby a little longer to get used to this, perhaps due to the direction and point where the milk was coming out from. I didn't notice much of a difference to my baby's colic when using these. As I didn't notice a difference in my baby's colic, I don't think they are worth the money. Based on my experience I wouldn't recommend it.

You can buy the NUK First Choice+ Bottle from: Nuk, Ocado and Boots

12. Yoomi Easi-Latch Bottle Double Pack, £15

Capacity/sizes available: 140ml, 240ml

Price per bottle: £7.50

Type of teats: Super slow (from newborn), Slow (from newborn), Medium from two months) and Fast flow (from four months)

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)

Microwave safe: Yes (apart from Yoomi Warmers)

With its six anti-colic vents and naturally-shaped teat, Yoomi's Easi-Latch bottle aims to help the transition from breast to bottle, plus has the added bonus that it can be used with the brand's attachable bottle warmer to heat milk to the same temperature as breast milk in 60 seconds.

Accessories such as the Yoomi bottle warmer appealed to our reviewer, mum Kath, but she wasn't too impressed with the teat collapsing in on itself, although Yoomi says this can be avoided by loosening the collar:

This bottle has a cool design and a nice chunky feel when holding it. As it’s so big it does take up quite a bit of space in the steriliser though! The pressure of hot water makes the top pop off when mixing formula up in it.

Baby initially found it difficult to latch onto the teat and kept slipping off. The teat does resemble the nipple and also has a soft texture which mimics the areola.

After a few uses, the teat collapses in on itself when feeding, so I had to keep taking it out of baby’s mouth to release it. The flow seemed to be quicker though than normal breastfeeding, and baby sounded like he was struggling with the speed of the milk flow. He also brought up more milk than usual straight after and it didn’t make any significant difference to his colic. The bottle is slightly pricier than others but has some good additional accessories available such as the Yoomi bottle warmer.

The Yoomi range is available from: Daisy Baby and Amazon

13. Philips Avent Classic+ Bottle Triple Pack, £15.50

Capacity/sizes available: 125ml, 260ml

Price per bottle: £4.83

Type of teats: Newborn flow (from newborn), Slow flow (from one month), Medium flow (from three months), Fast flow (from six months), Variable flow (from three months), Thick Feed flow (from six months)

Made from: Polypropylene and silicone

BPA free: Yes

Dishwasher safe: Yes (top rack)

Microwave safe: Yes

This classic bottle combines an anti-colic twin valve system with numerous different flow teats so it's easy to mix and match to find the right combination.

Philips Avent's range includes the Classic + bottle and the Natural bottle - which has a breast-shaped teat - and both include the anti-colic system.

Although this is an award-winning bottle, our mum reviewer Emma wasn't blown away with the Avent bottle and found her daughter refused to take it. Find out exactly what she thought:

We didn't have much success with this one. My little girl did take it a few times but more often than not refused it. When she did take it, she seemed to be quite windy. I think this was due to her not being totally relaxed while drinking. And so her colic did not get any better when using. I'm sure if she had accepted the bottle better we would have had a different outcome. It was a good sturdy bottle but just not for us.

Philips Avent bottles are available from: Amazon, Boots, Hello Baby and Philips

Find out more about colic and get tips on calming a crying baby:

• Can you prevent colic?
• Baby colic - all you need to know
• 50 tried and tested ways to soothe a crying baby

MadeForMums product reviews are independent, honest and provide advice you can have confidence in. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage. Our reviews and articles are written by parents who are professional journalists, and we also include feedback from our parent community and industry experts.