Tommee Tippee Natural Start vs Dr Brown's Options+: One Hides the Vent in the Teat, the Other in a Tube You Scrub

COMPARISON · FEEDING TIME

Every anti-colic bottle is trying to solve the same problem: as your baby drinks, a vacuum builds inside the bottle, the teat flattens, and they start gulping air to keep the milk coming. Where the two bottles in this comparison differ is how they let air back in, and that one design choice decides how many parts you wash at 3am, whether you need a steriliser at all, and how the bottle behaves in a changing bag.

Tommee Tippee's Natural Start range puts the anti-colic valve in the base of the teat itself. There is no tube, no insert, nothing extra to lose down the back of the sink. It also self-sterilises in the microwave, which is unusual at this price. Dr Brown's Options+ takes the opposite route: a two-piece internal vent runs down the middle of the bottle, channelling air to the back so the milk stays free of bubbles. It is the bottle many feeding specialists reach for when a baby is visibly windy, and the "Options" name comes from the fact that you can take the vent out as feeding settles down.

Both are sold in their most popular pack sizes at roughly the same headline price, but you get three 150ml Natural Start bottles for around £12 to £14, against two 270ml Dr Brown's for about £17. Per bottle, that is roughly £4.50 versus £8.50.

We pulled together the specs from both brands, checked live pricing across UK retailers, and read through what parents tell us after the first few weeks of real use. Here is where each one earns its place.

Lil' Bubba's verdicts

• Best Overall: Tommee Tippee Natural Start Anti-Colic Bottles · 8.5/10 - four parts, a built-in valve and microwave self-sterilising make it the easiest bottle to live with
• Best for Windy Babies: Dr Brown's Options+ Wide-Neck Anti-Colic Bottle · 8.0/10 - the internal vent is the most thorough fix for air swallowing, at the cost of extra washing up

Quick comparison

	Tommee Tippee Natural Start	Dr Brown's Options+ Wide-Neck
Our rating
Typical UK price	About £12 to £14 for 3 x 150ml	About £17 for 2 x 270ml
Cost per bottle	Roughly £4.50	Roughly £8.50
Anti-colic system	Valve built into the teat base	Two-piece internal vent (insert + reservoir)
Parts to wash per bottle	4 (bottle, teat, collar, cap)	6 (bottle, teat, collar, cap, vent insert, reservoir)
Sterilising	Self-sterilises in the microwave in about 3 minutes	Needs a steriliser or boiling water
Can drop the vent later?	No, valve is part of the teat	Yes, use without the vent once feeds settle
Sizes	150ml, 260ml, 340ml	150ml, 270ml
Best for	Combination feeding, busy nights, travel	Babies who struggle with wind and spit-up

How we picked these two

We started with the bottle brands parents add to their BubsNest registries most often and narrowed it to the two anti-colic designs that work in genuinely different ways. A valve-in-the-teat bottle and a vent-tube bottle are the two main schools of thought, so putting one of each side by side answers the question most parents are actually asking: is the extra cleaning of a vent system worth it for my baby? We compared brand specs, checked current prices and stock across UK retailers, and weighed up the patterns we hear repeatedly from parents once the newborn fog lifts.

What to look for in an anti-colic bottle

How the air gets back in. A valve in the teat (Tommee Tippee, Philips Avent Natural Response) is simple and quick to clean. A vent tube (Dr Brown's) moves air away from the milk completely, which can help babies who gulp, but adds parts. Neither approach cures colic, and plenty of babies are perfectly happy on either.

Teat shape and flow. If you are combination feeding, a wide, soft teat that your baby has to work a little to draw milk from tends to cause fewer breast refusals. Start on the slowest flow and move up only when your baby gets frustrated or feeds take far longer than they used to.

Your sterilising setup. If you already own a steam steriliser, self-sterilising is a nice bonus. If you don't, a bottle that sterilises itself saves both money and counter space, especially in the early weeks.

Number of parts. Multiply the parts by six or eight feeds a day. Two extra pieces per bottle is a lot of extra pieces by the end of the week, and small vent parts are the ones that go missing.

Buy one before you buy six. Babies have opinions. A single bottle or a small pack lets you test the teat before committing to a whole set.

1. Tommee Tippee Natural Start Anti-Colic Bottles / 10 · Best overall

Natural Start is Tommee Tippee's newer take on its long-running breast-like bottle. The soft silicone teat is wide and flexes as your baby feeds, and the anti-colic valve sits in the teat's base, so the whole thing goes together from just four pieces: bottle, teat, screw ring and cap. Once assembled with the cap on, the bottle is designed to be leakproof even when tipped upside down in a bag.

The headline feature is self-sterilising. Add a little water, assemble the bottle, and microwave it for around three minutes (the brand quotes this for one bottle in a 700 to 1000W microwave). For parents who are only giving the odd bottle of expressed milk, that can mean skipping a steriliser entirely. The 150ml three-pack comes with extra-slow flow teats, which is the right place to start for a newborn.

What parents love

• No steriliser needed. This comes up again and again. One parent told us: 'Self sterilising bottles meant I didn't also need to purchase a steriliser or anything like tablets or solution.'
• Breast-to-bottle switching. The teat is soft and stretchy. A parent shared: 'It closely mimics breastfeeding, which made the transition between breast and bottle so easy for my baby.'
• Fewer parts. With the valve in the teat, there is nothing to fish out of the bottle and nothing small to lose. Washing up is noticeably quicker than any vented bottle.
• Price. At around £4.50 a bottle, it is easy to buy a spare set for nursery or grandparents.

What to know before you buy

• Not every baby takes to the teat shape. We hear repeatedly from parents that most babies latch happily, but a minority fight the wide teat and do better on a narrower one.
• Keep the valve clear. The valve needs a quick check and pinch before each feed. If milk residue blocks it, the teat can collapse and the anti-colic benefit disappears.
• Microwave sterilising is one bottle at a time. The three-minute figure is per bottle, so sterilising a whole day's set is slower than a steam steriliser that holds six.

Best for

• Combination feeding parents who want an easy switch between breast and bottle
• Families who don't want to buy or store a steriliser
• Travel, nursery bags and grandparents' houses
• Parents who want the fewest parts to wash

2. Dr Brown's Options+ Wide-Neck Anti-Colic Bottle / 10 · Best for windy babies

Dr Brown's has built its reputation on one idea: a vent that runs through the middle of the bottle, carrying air to the back so milk flows without vacuum or bubbles. On the Options+ Wide-Neck, that vent is two pieces, an insert and a reservoir, and it is fully removable. Many parents use it with the vent in for the windy early months, then take it out once their baby feeds more efficiently, which turns it into a simpler three-part bottle.

This two-pack gives you a pair of 270ml bottles with Level 1 (slow) teats, so they will see you from early weeks through to bigger feeds without upsizing. The bottle is top-rack dishwasher safe and works in electric, microwave or boiling-water sterilising, but it does not sterilise itself.

What parents love

• Calmer feeds for windy babies. Parents we hear from regularly say this is the bottle that finally cut down the burping, spit-up and post-feed crying when other bottles hadn't.
• The vent is optional. You are not locked into the extra parts forever. Once feeds settle, drop the vent and keep the bottle.
• Easy to strip down properly. A parent shared that the bottles are 'easy to take apart for thorough cleaning', which matters when you want to see every surface is clean.
• 270ml from day one. The bigger size means one set can last well past the newborn stage.

What to know before you buy

• More washing up. Six parts per bottle with the vent in, and the vent needs a thin brush. One parent put it bluntly: these bottles 'add too many parts to clean'.
• Leaks if overfilled. Filling past the marked line or warming the bottle with the vent in can push milk out through the vent. Following the fill line fixes most of it, but it catches tired parents out.
• Higher cost per bottle. At roughly £8.50 each, building a full set costs nearly twice as much, and you will want to budget for replacement vent kits over time.

Best for

• Babies who are visibly windy, gulp air or spit up a lot after feeds
• Parents who already own a steam steriliser or bottle-friendly dishwasher
• Families who want a bottle that simplifies once the windy phase passes
• Formula-fed babies moving quickly to bigger feeds

How to choose

Choose the Tommee Tippee Natural Start if you want the simplest bottle to live with. Four parts, a valve you never have to remove, and microwave self-sterilising make it the easier everyday choice, especially if you are combination feeding or only giving the occasional bottle. It is also the cheaper way to build a full set.

Choose the Dr Brown's Options+ Wide-Neck if wind is the problem you are actually trying to solve. If your baby is already struggling with gas, spit-up or unsettled feeds, the internal vent is worth the extra washing up, and you can always take it out later once things settle. Just make sure you have a steriliser and a slim brush ready.

Not sure yet? Buy the smallest pack of one, see how your baby takes the teat for a week, and only then commit to more. Bottle preference is one of the few baby decisions your baby makes for you.

Add it to your Nest

Adding bottles to your free BubsNest registry lets family chip in on the bits you'll use eight times a day, and you can add a steriliser, bottle brush and spare teats to the same list so nothing is missing when the first night feeds arrive.