Life before plastic??? What??!!!

Have you ever wondered how babies drank milk and juice before the advent of modern-day bottles*?

Of course you have. This picture is an example of a terra-cotta baby bottle from 450 b.c. Parents of ancient Greece served a mixture of wine and honey from this hanging shrew-shaped vessel.

Romans figured out how to blow clear glass around the beginning of the first millennium, A.D., but glass went out of style and didn't regain popularity until the 20th century.

During the 13th through 16th centuries (and possibly others), it was common throughout Europe for babies to be fed from cow horns to which nipples (made from cloth-filled leather or dried cow teats) were affixed.

Around the end of the 16th century, Germany and Italy started using bottles of wood or leather, which quickly were replaced in favor of pewter. Why would anyone want to drink out of metal? Ew.

Banjo-shaped glass bottles were pretty popular at the end of the 19th century, but they were impossible to keep clean and posed grave hygiene risks.

Emerging around the same period, banana bottles saved the day with their easy-to-clean design.

In the early 20th century the upright bottle came into style, but it was narrow-necked and far more difficult to clean than the banana. The neck was later widened, retaining the pull-over nipple feature.

And then plastic and screw-on tops were invented!

Believe me, the information I have just related is a mere gloss of the bottle information available out there. I love when all the headlines get writ and I have a little time on the computer to explore important subjects.

* Relatedly, please consult these stories for important information about modern baby bottles, drink containers, dental sealants, cans, and various other common, hard plastic apparati.