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Whether you're breast- or formula-feeding, baby-led weaning or spoon feeding, choosing the right equipment can make it a much easier, safer and altogether more enjoyable experience. 

We've rounded up our top tips to help you decide which feeding products are best for you and your baby, along with safety advice and a list of popular stores to buy from. 

Shopping for your new arrival? See our round-ups of the best child car seats , top pushchairs  and high-scoring baby monitors . 

Whether you feed your baby expressed milk or formula, choosing the right bottle is important. Finding the best fit for your baby may take some trial and error, though, so be prepared to test different bottles and teats. 

These narrow, cylindrical bottles are a familiar sight. You can buy them plain, or decorated with various designs. They will fit a range of standard teats, and have self-seal lids.

Pros: Most widely available, most likely to fit accessories such as bottle coolers and sterilisers, the least expensive type of bottle. Cons: The narrow neck means they can be trickier to fill than wide-necked versions.

These are shorter and fatter than standard bottles, but take the same amount of milk. They usually take silicone rather than latex teats and will normally have a self-sealing lid.

Pros: Easy to clean and fill, some are designed to have anti-colic properties. Cons: Less versatile, take up more space (you may not be able to fit as many bottles in a steriliser).

Anti-colic bottles are designed to reduce the amount of air a baby takes in while feeding, which is thought to be a possible cause of colic (uncontrollable crying in a healthy baby as a result of wind). This is done through air vents, tubes or collapsible bags for the milk inside the bottle. 

Pros: Reduce the amount of air babies swallow – some parents find this helps to reduce colic. Cons: May not work for all babies, more expensive than other bottles, can be tricky to clean.

These bottles, made by baby feeding brand MAM , don't require any additional equipment for sterilising provided that you have a microwave. You pour water into a chamber in the base of the bottle, arrange the bottle components on top and microwave for three minutes.

Pros: No need for other sterilising equipment, useful for travel. Cons: Only made by one brand.

If you are, or you're planning to express breast milk, see our guide to buying the best breast pump .

Choosing the right teat for your baby's bottle will make for a more comfortable feeding experience for your baby – and you. This is because the teat controls the flow of milk into your baby's mouth. 

The pace at which milk goes into your baby’s mouth, known as the 'flow rate', depends on the number and type of holes in the tip of the teat.

The flow rate suitable for your baby is not necessarily related to his or her age. Change the teat to a slower flow if your baby is spluttering milk out and choking, or to a faster flow if he or she is sucking hard but seems to be getting frustrated.

You can also buy variflow teats, which work either by increasing the flow as the baby's sucking increases, or by you rotating the teat and bottle into different positions.

Read our disposable nappy reviews to see which brands will keep your baby dry.

You'll need to keep sterilising bottles and other feeding equipment that comes into contact with milk until your baby is at least a year old. This is because small babies are especially vulnerable to the bacteria that can develop in them.

You should also wash baby bottles and teats thoroughly before sterilising, either with hot soapy water using a brush, then rinse them under running water, or in a dishwasher.

With this type, you place your washed bottles upside down in the steriliser, add water and switch it on. The water is then heated electrically. When sterilisation is complete, usually after about 10 minutes, the steriliser switches off automatically. Provided the lid isn't opened, the contents will stay sterile for a while (usually about six hours).

Pros: Easy and quick to use, minimum preparation. Cons: Pricier than other types of steriliser, the inside of the unit can get hot enough to burn your hands.

You place the washed bottles in the steriliser with a small amount of water, fasten the lid, place it in the microwave and operate according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sterilisation takes about 10 minutes.

Pros: Convenient, fast and simple, one of the cheapest methods. Cons: Generally these only take four bottles (other types take six or eight), some sterilisers can’t be used in the most powerful modern microwaves, some may not fit in smaller microwaves.

Tablets or liquid containing diluted bleach are placed into a measured amount of cold water inside the steriliser tank. Bottles must then be completely immersed in the solution, making sure there are no air bubbles where bacteria could survive (you need to be especially careful about this if the bottles are sterilised lying on their side).

Sterilisation usually takes around 15 minutes, but bottles also need to be rinsed in recently boiled water before use to completely get rid of the chemical solution.

Pros: Nothing to heat up so no chance of painful accidents, no need for electricity or a microwave so you can use it anywhere. Cons: More fiddly than other methods, solution needs to be changed every 24 hours, relatively slow sterilising process, you have to use separate sterilising tablets.

These types of steriliser use UVC rays. They typically come as boxes with reflective surfaces inside, which allow the UV light to cover all surface areas on the objects where you put it. As with other sterilisers, it's crucial to wash your bottles and teats in warm, soapy water before placing them in. This is because any dirt left on the bottles and teats will make the UVC rays less effective. 

Pros: No water or chemicals used, most come with drying cycles so bottles can be used straight away, don't need to descale. Cons: Tend to be more expensive compared with microwave and steam sterilisers and can have long sterilising cycles (up to one hour).

If your baby has an occasional bottle, and you don’t want any more baby paraphernalia taking up space in your kitchen, boiling bottles in water is a cheap and relatively quick method of sterilisation.

You put the items you want sterilised into a large pan of boiling water. The water should be brought back to the boil, and boiled for 10 minutes before removing the items. A disadvantage with this method is that it can make rubber teats spongy and swollen – check them regularly and discard any that seem damaged.

You should also set aside a pan that is used only for this purpose and not other cooking.

If you are, or you're planning to formula feed, see our guide on buying the best formula milk .

Using a bottle warmer can be a convenient way to make sure your baby’s milk is heated to the right temperature. Most bottle warmers will also be able to fit jars of baby food.

If you're making up formula to feed your baby, you shouldn't need a bottle warmer, as the government advice is to make fresh formula for every feed.

As formula isn't sterile, it’s recommended that you make it as your baby needs it, using water that's at least 70ºC, and to use it within two hours.

However, if you are using ready-to-use formula cartons or expressed milk – which, according to the NHS, can be stored in the fridge for up to eight days at 4°C or lower in a sterilised container or breast-milk storage bag – you might want to warm up the milk before feeding your baby.

Whether or not you need a bottle warmer depends on whether your baby wants heated milk, and how happy you are with just using a jug of hot water to raise the milk temperature.

Most traditional bottle warmers will heat up one bottle of milk (or jar of food). You place the bottle in the central vessel of the warmer, fill around it with water from a jug and switch it on. An element heats the water, which in turn heats the bottle.

These warmers normally have an indicator light that goes off when the milk reaches the right temperature, and a thermostat, which keeps the temperature of the water constant. 

It's useful to buy one with a timer so you know how long the milk has been in and you'll need to descale regularly unless you use softened water.

If you think you'll be using the bottle warmer to heat jars of food as well as milk, choose one that has an adaptor for holding jars at an easily reachable height – otherwise you can end up having to reach down into the hot warmer for your jar. Some warmers have the facility to heat food in a bowl, too.

Find out what essential baby products  you need from day one, so you can stock up before your baby is born.

Once your baby reaches six months, it's recommended that they start to learn how to drink water from a cup. There is a wide range of designs to try with your baby including trainer cups, leak-proof cups, open cups and more. 

These come with grippable handles, which make it easier for your baby to hold, though keep in mind that it could get messy if they use the handles to wave the cup about and it's not leak-proof. 

When your baby is first starting to use a cup, a small cup with a soft plastic spout is ideal as a transition from a bottle. Once your baby has got used to holding it, you can move onto a hard spout or straw cup.

Many parents prefer the security of a leak-proof or ‘no-spill’ cup. These usually have a self-sealing valve so the drink is sealed in after each sip.

However dentists recommend choosing cups that allow liquid to flow freely to avoid prolonged tooth contact with sugary drinks. Therefore these are a good option to use only occasionally or as a transition step to an open cup.

Other issues with leak-proof cups include the fact that the valve can wear out over time, so you’ll need to replace the lid. It's also worth checking that the lid as well as the beaker is dishwasher-proof as some aren't.

Teaching a baby to use an open cup as early as possible is a good idea. 

Doidy cups are a good starting point for some babies. These plastic cups have handles and a slanted side which helps the baby to see the contents of the cup and guide the drink to their mouth. 

Though you should expect the cup's contents to regularly get spilled as part of the learning process.

A compromise is a ‘travelling’ cup, with a spout that you can lift up when your child wants to drink, and put down when he or she has finished. 

The lids to these are often screw-on, so are easy to remove, but don’t come off when the cup is thrown on the floor.

However, this sort of cup may not be completely leak-proof if it gets jiggled around a lot in your bag or in the car.

Ensure your little one is happy and comfortable during mealtimes by choosing one of our best high chairs for babies and toddlers .

Find out which baby food parents rate in our guide to the best baby food brands .

There are a whole host of stores and websites that sell baby feeding products at a range of prices. Wherever you shop, make sure you pay attention to the returns policy and check for warranties.  

Popular online retailers that stock bottles and other baby feeding essentials include: