There is no doubt that breast milk is the best milk for your baby. It is sterile, always available, you don't need any thing else to feed your baby. You don't need a whole lot of bottles, nipples, sterilizers and all the other paraphernalia associated with bottle feeding. It also helps you lose weight, since breast milk uses up calories.

However, there may be many reasons why you may opt to bottle feed. You may not be getting enough milk or your baby may not be satisfied. You don't want to be on call to your baby 10-20 times a day. You are working and need to be away. Or you just need a break. Of course, you can always express breast milk and your baby can be bottle fed with it. Or you have an adopted baby. You may be on medications which prevent you from breast-feeding. Or your baby may be lactose intolerant and cannot digest milk, in which case you would have to give soy milk or a lactose free formula. You don't have to feel guilty if you have to bottle feed, whatever your reason for doing so. Sometimes it is a boon to be able to bottle feed, otherwise you are constantly tied down and it seems that you do little else, but feed your baby.

If you use bottles, then other people can take care of the feedings, whether it is your husband or partner, baby's siblings, grandparents or a care-giver. Philips Avent gives you valuable time off - you realize the importance and quality of me-time only after you have a new baby.

Apart from that there are some benefits of bottle feeding. Firstly, you know exactly how much formula a baby takes in each feed every day, so you can monitor his or her intake. As formula stays in the stomach longer, baby is satisfied for a longer period of time. There is no doubt that bottle feeding is easier in public places, whether it is in a restaurant, while traveling or anywhere else for that matter. You need not curtail any activities just because you are tied down to feeding baby.

There is a whole range of baby bottles available in the market. There are straight bottles, curved bottles, wide-necked bottles, angle-necked bottles, bottles which open at both ends for easier cleaning, and even breast shaped bottles. And they are made in a wide variety of materials: glass, plastic, polycarbonate, polypropylene. They are plain or colored, opaque or clear, with colorful baby designs, in different types and sizes. You can buy bottles which are reusable, bottles with liners which can be disposed off after one use, ready to use bottles which come with formula already in them so again, you don't have to clean/sterilize them and can throw them away after use.

As there is such a wide variety of bottles to choose from, which one should you buy? You can buy something that appeals to you, which seems right to you, but eventually it will be your baby who decides which bottle you will use. If he is happy with what he is given, it is better to stick to that. Otherwise, you will have to keep trying till baby (and you) are happy with the bottle. Sometimes, some kind of bottles may cause problems to baby if they take in too much air, or sometimes they suffer from colic or spit-ups, which may be not just due to the formula but due to the bottle as the newer bottles are supposed to help prevent such problems.