Baby bottles
Nanobebe vs Philips Avent: which bottle wins?
One of these publishes a flow rate in ml/min for every nipple it sells. The other lets you screw a sippy top onto the same bottle a year later. That is the trade.
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The short answer
Buy the Nanobebe Flexy if flow rate is your problem. It is the one bottle here that publishes an actual flow rate for every nipple it sells — 13 ml/min preemie, 24 slow, 38 medium, 60 fast, plus a Y-cut — so you can step the flow deliberately instead of guessing at a label. Buy the Philips Avent Natural Response for everything else: a nipple that releases milk only while the baby is actively drinking, three body materials sharing one nipple range, and sippy tops and pump parts that thread onto the same bottles.
Quick picks
Our ranking, with the reasoning underneath. Tap any row to jump to the full write-up.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Philips Avent Natural Response The safest default buy: a wide nipple that only releases milk when the baby actively drinks, inside the biggest parts ecosystem on the shelf. | Most babies | 8.9 | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live |
| 2 |  Nanobebe Flexy Silicone Bottle A soft silicone bottle shaped to sit against the body, and one of the easier first bottles for a newborn to accept. | Newborns | 8.2 | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live |
| 3 | Comotomo Natural Feel Baby Bottle The bottle babies take when they have refused everything else: a soft squeezable silicone body and a wide, breast-shaped nipple. | Breastfed babies | 8.8 | Check price on Amazon #ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live |
Scores are our own research scores on the rubric published at how we choose. They are not star ratings from customers, and we do not show a price we cannot verify live.
Side by side
| What matters | Nanobebe Flexy | Philips Avent Natural Response |
|---|---|---|
| Flow levels | Five — preemie, slow, medium, fast and Y-cut, with rates published as 13, 24, 38 and 60 ml/min | A full ladder, but no published ml/min figure per level |
| Nipple in the box | Slow flow | Varies by pack |
| How milk is released | Conventional — flow follows suction | Only while the baby actively drinks |
| Body | Soft squeezable silicone, tall and slim, holds up to 9 oz | Rigid polypropylene, glass or PPSU |
| Venting | Three-vent nipple, described as non-collapsible | Valve in the nipple base |
| Parts to wash | Three, plus a slimmer neck to brush | Three |
| Grows with the child | Bottle only | Sippy tops and pump parts thread onto the same bodies |
| Price tier | Mid-range | Mid-range |
The first row is worth more than the rest combined, and not because Nanobebe's nipples are better. It is because published numbers let you reason. Flow-level names are not standardized between brands — one company's "medium" is another's "slow" — and a parent trying to fix a feed is usually adjusting blind.
Why a published flow rate is the useful spec
Gulping, coughing, pulling off, swallowing air, draining 4 oz in four minutes, or giving up before the bottle is finished: most of what gets blamed on a bottle is flow rate. Fixing it costs a few dollars if you can change one variable at a time, and nothing works if you cannot tell which direction you just moved.
Nanobebe's Flexy specification lists five nipples with four published rates, and ships the slow flow in the box. The preemie level at 13 ml/min is the one that occasionally matters enormously: a baby who tires before they are full needs a slower flow, not a faster one. If that is your situation, read best bottles for preemies before buying anything. The signs that mean move up, and the ones that mean move down, are in bottle nipple flow sizes.
Honest cons: a tall, slim soft-silicone body is floppy to fill — stand it in something while you pour — a 9 oz soft bottle is unwieldy for a newborn taking 2 oz, the three-vent nipple is a little more to rinse, and the slimmer neck is harder to get into than a Comotomo's. The bottle also stops being a bottle at the end: there is no sippy stage, no pump thread, no onward path.
Avent's answer: pacing, and a path out
Philips Avent does not publish ml/min figures, which is a fair criticism. What it sells instead is a different mechanism — the nipple only releases milk while the baby is actively drinking, so a pause stops the flow rather than letting gravity keep working. For a baby who gulps, that is arguably a better answer than a slower nipple, because it responds to the baby in real time rather than being set in advance.
Then there is the thing nobody thinks about until month ten: the same bottles take sippy tops, the same nipples fit the plastic, glass and PPSU bodies, and Avent pump parts thread straight onto them, so you can pump into the bottle you will feed from. If you are exclusively pumping or combination feeding, that thread saves a wash every session.
Honest cons: milder venting than Dr. Brown's for a windy baby, flow numbering that confuses first-time buyers, a wide base that does not drop into narrow warmer wells, and no published flow rates to reason with.
The verdict
Buy the Nanobebe Flexy if feeds are going badly and you want to run a proper experiment: five levels, four published rates, one variable at a time.
Buy the Philips Avent Natural Response if feeds are going fine, or you have not started yet. It paces well, it adapts, and it has somewhere to go next.
Buy the Comotomo if the washing up is what you actually care about — its hand-width opening beats both. The silicone-on-silicone contest is Comotomo vs Nanobebe Flexy, the full ranking is the best baby bottles, and whatever you buy, buy one, not a set.
Worth saying plainly
Never enlarge a nipple hole to speed a feed up, and replace any nipple that is thinning, sticky, swollen, torn or streaming — when to replace baby bottles and nipples has the checks. Only microwave an item the manufacturer states is microwave safe, and never warm milk in a microwave. Clean feeding items after every use and sanitize per CDC guidance. We are not clinicians and nothing here is medical advice.
How we chose
Researched, not hands-on. Flow levels, published ml/min rates, venting, capacity and material claims come from Nanobebe's Flexy specification and Philips Avent's published specifications, both confirmed currently sold. Where Avent publishes no per-level flow rate, the table says so rather than inventing one. Independent testing from Mommyhood101, hygiene from the CDC. Flow-range breadth and onward path are weighted heaviest. Rubric: how we choose.
What we would buy
Now that the decision is made, these are the products we would actually put in the basket, and why.
Photo for illustration, not a photograph of our own unit.
Philips Avent Natural Response
Philips Avent
The safest default buy: a wide nipple that only releases milk when the baby actively drinks, inside the biggest parts ecosystem on the shelf.
- Latch
- 9
- Colic control
- 8
- Cleaning
- 9
- Durability
- 9
- Value
- 9
- Material:
- Polypropylene, glass and PPSU versions
- Parts to wash:
- Three
- Nipple shape:
- Wide
- Price tier:
- Mid-range
What works
- Flow-on-demand nipple paces the feed more like nursing
- Bottles, nipples, sippy tops and pump parts all interchange
- Available in plastic, glass and PPSU with the same nipples
What to know first
- Venting is milder than Dr. Brown's for a severely windy baby
- Nipple flow numbering confuses first-time buyers
- Wide base does not fit narrow warmer wells
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live
Photo for illustration, not a photograph of our own unit.
Nanobebe Flexy Silicone Bottle
Nanobebe
A soft silicone bottle shaped to sit against the body, and one of the easier first bottles for a newborn to accept.
- Latch
- 9
- Colic control
- 7
- Cleaning
- 9
- Durability
- 7
- Value
- 7
- Material:
- Silicone
- Parts to wash:
- Three
- Nipple shape:
- Wide, breast-like
- Price tier:
- Mid-range
What works
- Frequently named a best newborn bottle by review outlets
- Soft body squeezes, which some newborns prefer
- Wide neck is simple to clean
What to know first
- Unusual shape does not fit all sterilizer racks
- No internal vent
- Pricier per bottle than plastic
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live
Photo for illustration, not a photograph of our own unit.
Comotomo Natural Feel Baby Bottle
Comotomo
The bottle babies take when they have refused everything else: a soft squeezable silicone body and a wide, breast-shaped nipple.
- Latch
- 10
- Colic control
- 7
- Cleaning
- 9
- Durability
- 7
- Value
- 7
- Material:
- Silicone body, silicone nipple
- Parts to wash:
- Three
- Nipple shape:
- Wide, breast-like
- Price tier:
- Mid-range
What works
- The most widely recommended bottle for bottle-refusing breastfed babies
- Only three parts, and the wide mouth washes by hand easily
- Soft body is easy for small hands to hold later on
What to know first
- Squat shape does not fit every bottle warmer or sterilizer rack
- No internal venting system, so it is not the anti-colic specialist
- Nipples wear faster than hard plastic ones
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price until we can verify it live
Common questions
Is Nanobebe better than Philips Avent?
On flow control, yes — Nanobebe publishes five flow levels with rates in ml/min, so you can adjust a feed deliberately. On everything else Avent is ahead: a flow-on-demand nipple, three body materials sharing one nipple range, and sippy tops and pump parts that fit the same bottles.
What flow rates does the Nanobebe Flexy come in?
Five levels per Nanobebe's own specification: preemie at 13 ml/min, slow at 24 ml/min, medium at 38 ml/min, fast at 60 ml/min, and a Y-cut. The slow flow ships in the box.
Does Philips Avent publish nipple flow rates?
Not in ml/min. It numbers its flow levels and matches them to rough age ranges, which is the industry norm and part of why first-time buyers find the range confusing. Use your baby's behaviour rather than the number on the pack — bottle nipple flow sizes explains the signs.
Which bottle is better for a newborn?
Either, at the slowest flow available, in the smallest size you can buy. A 9 oz soft bottle is awkward for a baby taking 2 oz, so if you go Nanobebe expect to grow into it. The full shortlist is best bottles for newborns.