Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer for Baby Bottles, Pacifiers, Cups and More (model SCF281/02)

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When your child's outgrown the bottle stage, this device works well to heat up baby food jars on the go, too. For Mumsnetters who want to avoid buying a steriliser altogether, these MAM self-sterilising bottles are a great option. The bottle comes apart and can be assembled in such a way that they work as their own steam steriliser in the microwave, making keeping them hygienic a doddle. The disadvantages are the smell, the need to continually buy new tablets and the inconvenience of keeping a large container full of water in a corner of your kitchen – especially relevant if you have other small children. 2. Electric steriliser

Have multiple babies, use a lot of bottles per day or want to sterilise a variety of items including breast pumps, toys and dummies I use the Dr. Browns bottle warmer. It works great with other bottles other than dr.browns. I also use it to thaw out breastmilk." Our tester, Maisie, is a mum of three with a six-year-old, four-year-old and an 11-month-old baby. She spent six months testing the shortlisted products with her own bottles and breast pump parts, each for a minimum of 10 days. Since steam bottle sterilizers require water, you'll need to add some to yours before using. Many recommend using distilled water; make sure what yours requires and have distilled water ready if needed. Fans say that the Baby Brezza One Step is ridiculously easy to use, an important quality for tired new parents. "I did the boiling pot sterilizing for the first two weeks, but I was doing combo-feeding (pumping and formula) and it just became too much," says Melissa Bykofsky, Everyday Health's Executive Editor, Editorial Strategy & Growth. "I ran this sterilizer two to three times a day at the beginning and it just made everything so much easier. It gave me peace of mind knowing everything was sterilized and I didn't have a hot pot boiling in my sleep-deprived state."

Electric steamer sterilizer: Simply plug it in and let the machine do all the work. In an electric sterilizer, the bottles and parts are cleaned at a high temperature to produce steam. Electric sterilizers come in many shapes and sizes, depending on your needs and countertop real-estate. Babies and germs go together like peanut butter and jelly. But when it comes to bottles, pacifiers, and pump parts, germs are an unwelcome guest. That's where a bottle sterilizer can help. Although sterilizing bottles Opens a new window fell out of favor for some time, parents and doctors are reconsidering it due to increased concerns about contamination in water supplies and food, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). If you use bottles with extra parts, like Dr. Brown's, you'll wish there was a place to put smaller parts. While it is a personal choice for your family, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends sterilizing bottles and parts once a day, especially for babies younger than three months, born prematurely, or have a weakened immune system. Although not mandatory, it is recommended to always sterilize new bottles before using them and if your doctor has recommended sterilizing bottles between feedings, you might like the convenience of being able to load and run a sterilizer without needing to boil water every time, especially if you have multiple babies.

But if you’re bottle-feeding full time or expressing breastmilk regularly, you should find each of the different modes very helpful – and the fact that the warming unit handles food as well as milk means it should continue to be useful, even once you’re done with sterilising completely. Clean bottles one of two ways: In the dishwasher using hot water and a heated drying cycle or sanitizing setting. Or hand-wash with hot water and soap, using a scrub or bottle brush only used to clean baby feeding items and a water basin only used for your baby's feeding gear. Baby plates and bowls, cutlery and sippy cups will also need to be sterilised if they’re used before six months but, after that, washing in hot soapy water should be sufficient. Should you sterilise baby bottles every time? However, Kate says, “It is always recommended to sterilise your baby’s bottles and teats for as long as you continue using them. This is because milk and milk curds can remain in small amounts in the teat and bottle, and the bugs that feed on them can cause stomach upsets.” How do I sterilise baby equipment?

While they tend to take longer to sterilise things than a steam steriliser, the advantage of a UV steriliser is that you don't have to contend with equipment that's hot to the touch after sterilisation, making them a safer option for most households. You also won't need to do any descaling after use. What makes a steriliser safe? Capacity: Four bottles | Materials: BPA-free plastic | Included: Steriliser and heat-safe tongs Good for parents who Can only sterilise two bottles per cycle – so if you’re getting through more than four bottles a day it’s fairly labour-intensive

Last year’s Mumsnet Best winner is a spacious, professional-looking steriliser with a main compartment for six bottles and a top compartment for smaller items like dummies and teats. The one notable downside is that you can only sterilize or warm one bottle at a time. If you’re solely bottle feeding, then this may not be the right option for you. While obviously larger than a travel model, the Philips Avent Microwave Steam Steriliser is still smaller than an electric unit and therefore easier to store when not in use, in a cupboard or in the microwave itself. Philips’s ubiquitous Avent brand includes a microwave steam steriliser that is robust, roomy, safe and straightforward to use – though, like our tester, you’ll need to measure your microwave first as it won’t fit in especially compact appliances (it’s 16.6 × 28 × 28cm, for reference). Capacity: Five bottles | Materials: BPA-free plastics and metal electrical components | Included: Sterilisation unit, one Nuby Combat Colic 180ml bottle and a dummy Good for parents who

Tommee Tippee has put a great deal of thought into the redesign of their electric steam steriliser and it really shows. The Tommee Tippee Super-Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser is made from tough BPA-free plastics and is exceptionally straightforward to use, with plenty of room for bottles and breast pump parts over two tiers. Plus, they’re usually more expensive to run than electric sterilisers as they have a smaller capacity (so you’ll be running more cycles) and microwaves ultimately use more energy. 4. Travel steriliser It’s not as roomy as the microwave steriliser bags like the ones made by Philips or Medela, which can usually fit two bottles or a bottle and a breast pump – this fits one or the other