bottle warmers / bottle sterilizers Necessity or no?

[ctsiouts]

I'm in the process of registering for my baby shower in late June and I was wondering how many of you found bottle warmers and bottle sterilizers necessary items? I do plan to breastfeed if all goes well, I don't know if that even makes a difference. We aren't sure if I'll be returning to work or staying at home with the baby (please please!)
If anyone recommends these products can you suggest any good brands?
Thank you so much!

Christy - daughter due Aug 7, 2002

[jenneric_2000]

Just don't buy/register for the Avent warmer! I have heard the day to night (forget the maker?? first years??) is a good one. We BFed and while I was really impressed with the quality of all Avent products (DD just turned out not to like the nipples!) this warmer was illdesigned adn didn't save that much time. We still use it with all its inadequacies..if I were you check our babiesrus or babycenter.com and see which warmer gets the highest user rating...Good Luck!

Oh, btw, I *love* the Avent micorwave steriliaxer--that's awesome!

[jenneric_2000]

so sorry for the typos!!! sterilaxer--lol!

[suzska]

I know this has been discussed before, but I'm too lazy to look for it. Whether you "need" them or not, is a matter of personal opinion. Having said that, I have the Avent Steam Sterilizer and the First Years Day and Night Warmer (or is it Night and Day?). I like both of them. They will both take "regular" and "Avent" bottles. I wish I had gotten the warmer sooner for those late night feedings. And I wish I had ordered a second "ice pack" for the manufacturer--I would often forget to put mine back in the freezer each morning. You may be lucky and your baby won't mind cold milk, in which case you don't need it. I LOVE the steam sterilizer because I burned myself on the steam taking stuff out of the pot on the stove. That's when I went out and bought the micro sterilizer. Yes, you can just boil the stuff on the stove. But I liked the fact that I could load up the micro sterilizer and put it in the microwave and go to bed for a few hours and not have to watch the stuff on the stove. (It claims that things will remain sterile for 3 hours if you don't open it--so I just left it sit in the microwave until I needed the next round of bottles.) You can just do everything in the dishwasher, but unless you buy a "ton" of bottles, you're running the thing constantly for just a few bottles. I would wash the bottles out every few days or so, but normally I would just rinse them really well and put them in the sterilizer. After my son was around 6 months old or so (once he started picking everything up and putting it in his mouth anyway), I stopped using the sterilizer and just put everything in the dishwasher. I have two of those "cheap" dishwasher baskets for the nipples, rings, etc. FYI, we used regular Gerber bottles and the NUK silicone ortho nipples--that's all my son would accept. I eventually bought 12 of them--he got to the point of 6 feedings a day, so I had two days worth of bottles. Now we have about two days worth of sippy cups--and they all go in the dishwasher. I use the baskets for the lids and valves.

Sorry this got so long, but you did ask! I didn't/couldn't breastfeed, so that might make a difference. But I suppose it also depends on whether anyone will be giving the baby bottles of breastmilk at some point. Otherwise you don't need these things. I never used the bottle warmer to warm baby food--I just put it in a bowl in the microwave for a few seconds.

[m2tandk]

Personally, I have neverused the Avent micro sterilizer or warmer either but I have heard its gotten rave reviews from alot of people. My kids ere born years ago(although I am expecting no) and I used an Evenflo steam sterilizer. I think they still make them. It worked okay. I ended up doing the stove thing more though. When I register, I am going to register for the Avent sterilizer and the Day and Night warmer. Especially since we have stairs and after a scheduled csection I won't want to be running up and down stairs to fetch a bottle! I only sterilized the first 6 months and then just made sure I washed thoroughly in hot soapy water! Good luck to you!

Kelly

[Elaine]

Sterilizer: I used the Avent microwave sterilizer for the first couple of months. I'm not sure how necessary it really was, but it made me feel better. Most people I know just toss everything into the dishwasher; I prefer washing the bottles, nipples, etc. by hand. My daughter is 6 mos. old and I haven't used the sterilizer for probably two or three months now.

Bottle warmer: Scroll through the older posts and you will probably find the huge discussion about this! My response: a waste of money. I tried the Night-n-Day warmer but found it was more trouble than it was worth. For one thing, you are supposed to mix and chill the bottle prior to putting it into the cooler, leading to a very very cold bottle which never heated properly for me. There's no timer to set depending on the size of bottle (# of ounces) you are trying to warm which means guessing how long to keep the bottle in. If you had to re-set it to try again, you had to add more water to the heater (if you forget, the little warming coil "burns" and smells), the bottle would get condensation on it and drip everywhere... I could go on. At 2 or 3 a.m. with a crying baby, this was not what I wanted to deal with. One night out of frustration I just filled a bottle with water and left it on the dresser before going to bed -- when my daughter woke up, I dumped in the formula powder and mixed the bottle with the room temp water. She never complained and that's what I continued to do. My advice: try this first.

[JuliMom]

I loved the Avent Microwave Sterilizer for the first few months especially, and every now and then when I want to do an occasional sterilization just for good measure after the dishwasher - but as a breastfeeding mom I decided to recently return my unused bottle warmer since I never had a true need to use it. Even when my 4 mos old daugther needs to use a bottle when with her grandparents, or with my husband alone, we just thaw and warm in a glass of hot water in minutes.

I did, however, just find a great item by Prince Lionheart that is working wonderfully for trips out - it's a bottle warmer that wraps around the bottle and is heated by snapping a small tube within - kind of like a hand warmer you would purchase in a sporting goods store - but this can be used over and over again! Found it at Babies R Us recently.

Best of luck!

Linda

[hardysmom]

Breastfeeding Point of View-- You really don't need a sterilizer or warmer if you do breastfeed exclusively b/c you are unlikely to go through so many bottles that sterilizing in the dishwasher is too difficult. I work out of my home part-time (Tues/Thurs 9-3). On a typical day, my 6 mo DS's nanny will give him 2 (11am, 2pm) bottles of milk I have pumped. So in a weeks time, he will usually just have 4-5 bottles. Even when you pump and store some milk in the frige/freezer, it is much faster to just run the container under warm water for a minute, even if the milk is frozen. The warmers are really handy for those newborn auto-pilot 3am feedings when you don't want to deal with warming water to mix formula. But if you are breastfreeding, you don't need a warmer. Plus, It is unlikely that you will be able to pump enough in those first weeks for DH to be of much help, even if he is a good sport. Oh well. I didn't know any of this so I got both a sterilizer and the day & night warmer. They both are nice gadgets, but they are gathering dust.

If you plan to BF, most lactation consultants will probably point you to advent bottles, so if you do get the gadgets look for one that will accept wider bottles. Personally, I find breastfeeding an amazing experience and think it is great that you want to try. If I had it to do over, I'd hold off on these purchases. If you want to supplement enough that you need them, they are easy to find. If you don't need them, you have a little extra cash to go towards that perfect crib/stroller/glider

[SylviaC]

I'll agree with everyone on the Avent microwave steam sterilizer. We used this all the time, even on some plastic toys the god licked (LOL!) and it worked great.

We also used the Avent warmer, which I loved, but we only used it when I was breastfeeding. DH would get up in the middle of the night, grab a bottle from the fridge, pop it in, and by the time he finished changing the diaper it was ready to go. I was a great way for me to get some sleep. During the days we'd both do the same routine. I can't imagine having to heat ebm any other way. Once we switched to formula (yes, everyone can chastize me) we just use the microwave for 20 secs but it was great while we we're bf'ing.

Congrats on your baby!
Sylvia

[SylviaC]

oops - that would be toys the "dog" licked. lol