How I saved money on bottles

My daughter hates the bottle. I can count on one hand how many times she willingly drank from it. I tried her on the bottle when she was two months old and by the time she was six months, I just gave up. She started solids at four months old anyway, so she she was nursing less and less. Overall, my husband and I tried many brands on her: Medella, Nuby, Nuk, Born Free, all the types of bottles Playtex had available. I thought she was doing okay with the Playtex latex bottle, so I stupidly bought the feeding kit. (Luckily, I had a $2 off coupon for it, haha!) But in the end, she was better with the sippy cup.

So where did the money-saving technique happen here? Well, I didn't have to buy any sample bottles. (Oh wait, I bought the bottles for the Medella breast pump, but I needed those anyway.) I ended up getting Nuby, Nuk and one Playtex bottle from the Babies R Us gift registry; Born Free was a gift; and the other Playtex bottles were free at the Baby Time Show in April 2011. So here's what I've learned from this experience:

• Gift registries can offer you goodies that'll be useful for months to come —don't throw samples away, especially if they are bottles!
• Accept bottles as gifts so that you won't have to pay for trial/sample ones in the future.
• Don't get too excited! Honestly, thinking back, my daughter barely took to that Playtex bottle before I bought the kit. I probably should have tried it a few more weeks before making up my mind!

Thoughts?