Philips AVENT Natural Glass Review

Philips is a well-respected provider of quality baby products, ranging from pacifiers to baby monitors. The Philips AVENT Natural Glass bottle is a part of their Natural bottles line and features a wide, breast-shaped nipple with "comfort petals" inside that allow flexibility without the common issue of nipple collapse. The nipple is also designed with a twin valve aimed at reducing colic by venting air into the bottle. The bottle itself is made of borosilicate glass and is BPA free.

Performance Comparison

This comparison chart includes the overall scores for each bottle tested in this review, with the Natural Glass in blue for easier comparison.


The sections below include details on what we liked and disliked about the Natural Glass during testing.

Likes

We liked the nipple on this bottle and it ranked about average compared to the competition. The bottle itself is technically a wide mouth bottle, but the nipple itself is smaller and narrower than some of the competition like the Comotomo or the Tommee Tippee. We did find it was easy enough for baby to latch onto and use with minimal if any leaking from the nipple during feeding. We did like the comfort "petals" on the inside of the nipple that prevented nipple deformation as the manufacturer claimed they would. Much of the competition suffered from inverted or collapsed nipples so it was nice to see a design actively working to prevent this problem.


We also like that this bottle is easy to clean. While it might not be as easy as the Kiinde Squeeze that only has 1 part to clean, it still ranked high in our tests and doesn't have any disposable parts you'll need to replace or stick in a landfill.


This bottle has a wide mouth that makes cleaning with a bottle brush straightforward and efficient. It has no sharp internal edges for food to hide and it only has 4 components so hand washing is quick and fairly painless. Glass also has the advantage over plastic that it doesn't retain any smells and it isn't easily scratched during cleaning or use.


This bottle also scored well in ease of use thanks in part to the wide mouth that makes cleaning and filling very easy. We also liked the petal design in the nipple and appreciated that it was thoughtfully designed, did what it claimed to do, and didn't create other problems with its design. We also liked that the volume markings are clearly printed on the side and are easy to read, even from a distance.

This bottle earned a relatively high score of 8 of 10 in eco-health. It's made from the best materials currently in use in bottles, borosilicate glass bottle, and a silicone nipple, and it is made in France. This means it is free of the usual suspects parents will be looking for and then some, including BPA, Phthalate, Latex, and Lead. Unfortunately, it doesn't include a silicone sleeve for safety, which are used by the more highly rated Lifefactory bottles to help reduce the risk of breakage and make it easier for baby to hold onto.

Dislikes

One of the biggest complaints of any bottle is leakage and we found the Philips to be one of the worst offenders in the bunch. Had it not scored so poorly for leaking it might have been one of our favorites thanks to the eco-healthy glass body and the nipple that retained its shape during feeding. We had difficulty getting a tight seal between the bottle and the nipple with the collar. Our testers noted that it is difficult to thread the collar on just right and that it leaked if it was over or under tightened, leaving only a narrow tightening window where the bottle wouldn't leak.



We didn't necessarily like that this bottle is on the heavier side. While this is expected when considering glass over plastic, many of the other glass options on the market come with silicone sleeves that making holding the heavier body a little easier for little hands.

Conclusion

The Philips AVENT Natural Glass is a well-made, eco-friendly glass bottle that will please parents who are looking to avoid the potential risks associated with plastics. The wide-mouth, ergonomic shape of the bottle and associated nipple are easy for breastfed babies to use who are also using the occasional bottle. This bottle is priced competitively with the Best Value winner, the Tommee Tippee, but just doesn't perform as well overall, due to the problems with leaking and the difficulty we experienced threading the collar over the nipple onto the glass body. It is, however, priced well for a glass bottle, which typically cost twice as much as the advertised cost of the Philips AVENT Natural Glass, and this lower price might make it worthwhile to practice the delicate art of collar threading to avoid leaking. But for most glass bottle fans, we'd recommend the leak-free Editor's Choice winner, the Lifefactory bottle.

Other Versions and Accessories

Although Philips doesn't make its own silicone sleeve for this glass bottle, the Olababy Silicone Sleeve are manufactured specifically for this brand and might be a good addition for this bottle if you are looking for a cheaper glass option.

Philips AVENT also makes the Avent Conversion Kit for Breast Pumps that allows you to use the bottles with most manual and electric breast pumps. This can somewhat allow for using the bottle body as a storage device at least for shorter durations.

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