A few weeks ago we purchsed 6 BornFree Glass Baby Bottles. BornFree actually makes 2 different kinds of bottles. A glass bottle, which is what we bought, and they make a plastic bottle, which is manufactured without Bisphenol-A, one of the chemicals in plastic that is being linked to so many bad things which i cover in here.
Being that plastic with food is turning out to be an all around bad idea, we decided to err on the side of caution and get the BornFree glass bottles. We could have gotten the EvenFlo glass bottles, but the nipple size is not wide-mouth, and there is no real venting system that would fit those bottles from what I could tell.
We have tried a few different bottles, mostly in an effort to find a good vent that works for Ashley. We have tried Avent, which is a plastic bottle, but the venting didnt seem to work for us. We tried Dr. Browns, but again, they are plastic, though the venting system did seem to work pretty well. The only real downside other than being plastic is that the vent structure is a pain in the ass to clean.
Because we wanted to switch to glass bottles and were willing to try a new vent anyway, we went for it and bought 6 BornFree Glass bottles. When you open the package, the bottle is completely assembled. Here is everything that comes in the package.
Immediately, I noticed something. Some parts looked suspiciously familiar, like the nipple and collar. I went into the kitchen, grabbed one of the wide-mouth Dr Browns bottles, unscrewed the collar, pulled out the vent, and stuffed the whole thing onto the BornFree bottle.
Low and behold, the Wide-Mouth Dr Browns parts all fit the BornFree Glass Bottle, PERFECTLY. They are the same exact threading, they same exact mouth width, and the same exact height. You dont have to cut the tube of the Dr Browns vent like you might for some other “hacks” I have seen.
Here is what each set of “guts” looks like put into the BornFree glass bottle. Normal BornFree is on the left, Dr Browns “guts” in the Born Free bottle is on the right.
Why would you care that the Dr Browns stuff fit into the BornFree bottle? Many reasons actually.
For one, the first and most important reason is availability. The BornFree stuff is still pretty hard to come by, and when it is delivered to a store, like BabiesRus (which now carries the Born Free bottles), it sells out in record time. So finding the more advanced nipples (higher level number) is actually turning out to be pretty hard. But since the Dr Browns stuff is so prevalent, you almost always have a decent selection of nipple levels in your major stores. This means, you dont have to be tied to the nipples of just BornFree.
Another reason is the vent. Although the BornFree vent works very well and it seems to be a smarter design, it is prone to some problems from our experience so far. The Dr Browns vent also tends to have an almost cult-like following, which means many Dr Browns users would never give up the vent, even for the health of their baby. Which I fully understand since a gassy vomit satan baby is not healthy either, for anyone, parent or baby. However, since the Dr browns vent and parts fit the BornFree bottles perfectly, you now have no excuse (other than cost or course).
Another reason is, that if you were to break a bottle, while traveling, you can still use the BornFree guts on a Dr Browns bottle, which you can of course just run out and buy if you need to.
In case you were wondering about if the Avent stuff, it doesn’t fit. HOWEVER, it does seem you can frankenstein the whole thing up if you want, and it seems to work, sort of. The Avent nipple fits into the BornFree collar. So you can stuff an Avent nipple into the BornFree collar and then screw the BornFree Collar/Avent nipple hybrid onto the glass bottle without the bornfree vent. The nipple rim/vent/edge does NOT actually fit over the lip of the bottle like it is supposed to, so realistically, it probably doesn’t work the way it is supposed to. But it did “seem” to work in my brief testing of it. Probably leaks like a sieve though.
Back to the BornFree Bottles. The vent works, however, it does tend to get stuck sometimes. Basically its a silicone gasket device that has a cone in the middle of it. That cone has a slit that allows air, sucked from the outside of the bottle, into the bottle, equalizing the pressure. Because of some basic physics, even if the slit leaks a little fluid into the cone, it wont affect anything as long as the baby is eating and maintaining pressure. It works in a similar manner to the Dr Browns vent, but BornFree uses physics to its advantage where Dr Brown’s uses the “duh” idea of a big long tube acting like a snorkel. The glitch with the BornFree vent is that the sugar in the milk/formula, seems to glue the slit shut every once in a while, blocking airflow, causing the nipple to start collapsing, and resulting in angry-baby-syndrome. But this is rare so far.
The Born Free vent is also 2 parts, like the DrBrowns vent, however, it is silicone and a PVC frame that briefly contacts the milk(as best I can tell, its PVC which is what your water pipes are made out of), whereas the Dr Brown’s is some kind of rubber and I think HDPE (what your milk jug is made out of - ie. safe plastic for now).
I have read complaints about the markings on the bottle washing off in the dishwasher, so, I have a solution for that… Don’t wash them every single time in the dishwasher. We actually sterilize every time. Quick rinse, throw into a sterilizer bag, nuke it in the microwave, and be done with it. Because of that, we have seen absolutely no fading at all. But, we also have only been using them for a few weeks, so who knows. I guess if they start to fade I will just scratch in some marks with my dremel or a screwdriver.
Another change that we had to get used to is when we are heating formula/milk. We have a small little Munchkin Bottle Warmer
A downside the to BornFree bottles is something that was expected. Weight. They are glass, so they are heavy. A little tiring to hold sometimes during an extended feeding in an awkward position.
Frankly, the bottles are the same as any other bottle, except they are glass. Similar shape, similar size, etc. The vent works. The nipples are almost exactly the same as the Dr Browns nipples, so if your baby is used to those, the change will be easy. Cleanup is a little easier in my opinion.
So to summarize the frankenstein parts for quick reference.
Wide-Mouth Dr Browns bottles, vents, nipples and collars fit the BornFree Glass bottles perfectly, and vice versa.
Avent Nipples work with the born free collar and bottle, but not sure how well, and you can’t use the born free vent in that case.
You can get the BornFree Glass bottles as well as Dr Browns bottles and parts here for a pretty good price:
If you have any questions just ask and I hope I can help.
Posted in baby bottle, bisphenol, bisphenol-a, born free, bornfree, bottle vent, glass baby bottle, glass bottle, plastic
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9:57 pm
[…] I have written an article about the BornFree Glass Bottles and have found some interesting things about parts from assorted companies and how they can all fit […]
10:52 pm
[…] wife reads BabyCenter forums quite a bit, and coincidentally to my posting about BornFree Glass Baby Bottles, there is a discussion about the “plastic scare”. Although I covered some of the facts […]
6:09 pm
I’m a new mom and this might seem like a ridiculous question but we’d like to use glass bottles and I’m wondering how to warm glass bottles as well as sanitize them - are they treated the same as regular plastic bottles with avent products, etc? thanks for any help!!
8:47 pm
Hi Judy. It’s not ridiculous at all, we had the same concern. We have just been washing them with soapy water, then sanitizing in the Philips / Avent Express II Microwave Steam Sterilizer that we had bought when we first got some Avent bottles. The born free bottles ALMOST fit, so as long as you are not dopey about it when you take the steamer out of the microwave trying not to burn yourself because there is a gap for the steam to come out, then you would be fine.
The bottles are dishwasher safe, though Mom has found that some people have complained that the lines fade away in that case. Our lines are still just like the day we bought them, but then again, we have never dishwashed them.
We also use the Munchkin Deluxe Bottle & Food Warmer w/ Pacifier Cleaner which the Born Free glass bottles fit into perfectly. Again though, the glass gets kind of hot sometimes, and you need to experiment with how much water is actually needed to heat the formula. What they recommend is wrong.
Basically, treat the bottles just like you would a glass in the dishwasher. If the dishwasher just finished, you know those glasses are hot. Same thing with the born free bottle coming out of the steamer or bottle warmer. But for the most part, anything that fits the other brands of “wide mouth” bottles, will fit the born free bottles from what we have found.
10:30 am
I’ve bought a dozen of their bottles and the text and lines have completely faded in the dishwasher. Since I have 12 it took about three months since we don’t have to constantly wash the same bottle. I also have a couple of their plastic bottles and those do not fade. Mind you they explicitly state the bottles are dishwasher proof.
What I find troubling about this company is that their customer service is very bad: they just ignore you. I’ve emailed them directly and via their site and only after repeated attempts I got one reply stating that they would get in touch but that it was very busy time for them. One month later still no reply of course let alone a resolution of the issue.
So be warned, this company might look nice and friendly but in the end when there are issues with their goods and you try to get things solved you’ll just be ignored. I guess the company is not mature enough to take customer service and after sales seriously.
Ironicly on their contact webpage their tag-line is:
“Try us out. You will not be disappointed.”
Well I did and I am completely disappointed. I would think replying on emails, especially when your customers have legitimate complaints is the bare minimum you should do. Clearly they have no problem offending honest people who spend on their products.
6:22 pm
Good to know stephan and thanks for the post. I will say that I have read a lot of people having the lines fade when dishwashing, which frankly is not at all surprising. Glass, by nature, does not want stuff to stick to it (except baby formula it seems…) and as such, the ink they use is never going to survive the scouring action of a dish washer. I really don’t know why they can say that it would, and what dumb ass thought it was a good idea to make that claim.
A simple solution would have been raised markers, or etched markers. However, a quick handwash and toss into the sterilizer, and the lines are still on ours, like brand new, 9 months later.
I also am not really surprised about the lack of customer service. Manufacturers always suck at customer service, because they generally dont deal with individual customers. Their customer is usually the retailer. It is disappointing to hear though, especially with the claim they make.
There is 1 thing I will add about these bottles though. They are freaking hard. Having dropped 1 onto a hard tile floor, and it just bounced, i was surprised. Many times dropping them into the sink as well with no breakage. Of course it may just be luck, but they do seem quite tough.
8:47 am
Do you know if Avent conversion kits for pumping work with BornFree bottles and Medela Pump In Style?
12:08 pm
Hi Melissa, you know, im not really sure. The key would be the collar fitting on the screw threads of the bottle. The bornfree bottle mouth is just slightly bigger than the avent bottle mouth. So, the avent tops fit on born free bottles (sort of), but the born free tops do NOT fit on avent bottles. weird I know.
My only suggestion is to go to babysrus and get 1 bottle and try it, if you already have a bunch of other parts like the conversion kit and such. Chances are, something will match up, at least close enough. For the pump, the only part that matters for a perfect fit is the vacuum shield against your breast and the tubing. The milk just drips/sputters out into whatever container you want. of course the balancing act that would involve is probably a little precarious… lol
1:34 am
Hi, I stumbled across this blog and found it really interesting so thanks for posting it!
I am over the pond from you in the UK and have the Born Free BPA-free plastic bottles. My little lad is still suffering with wind problems so have ordered the Dr Brown “guts” as you call them, to see if it improves things. Just hoping that the plastic Born Free bottles are the same as the glass version and all fits ok.
Cheers, Jen x
7:43 am
Hey jen, thanks for the comment.
I never checked the plastic bottles, because the bornfree vent was working fine for us. But we do have a plastic bottle, which was sold a sippy cup. The vent fits!
So the born free plastic bottles can be fitted with the Dr Browns vents (wide mouth). The only thing was the tube, which you can just cut a bit shorter to fit. looks like about half an inch.
Anyway, I’m curious how it works for you, so I hope you return and post!
6:16 pm
Does anyone know if the Breastflow bottle top (nipples & collar) will fit on the Born Free bottles?
7:44 pm
Hi Hannah.
I am not sure if they do. But, what I can suggest is if you have the nipple and collar of the Breastflow brand you can do a cheaper test. Buy a born free sippy cup at Babies-r-us. It’s a BPA free plastic bottle, which you will eventually use anyway
It’s the same exact thread as the glass bottle, because all the parts are interchangeable. Also the Dr. Brown’s bottles would be a good test, but I am pretty sure they are more expensive.
If you do find out though, i’m sure other moms and dads would love to know, so I’d appreciate a post back.