The 5 Best Bottle Warmer For Heating Baby’s Milk
Bottle Warmer Reviews – Which Is The Best Bottle Warmer?
While a baby bottle warmer may not be a “must have” appliance in your “already cluttered” counter top as a new parent, it is one which will make your life easier by making it that much more convenient to warm up baby’s milk.
In our previous article, we had shared several reasons why you would want to get a bottle warmer, what are some points of consideration when making your decision on the type of bottle warmer to purchase, as well as how to set up a bottle warmer, and how to use and maintain it.
If you are wondering which brand and model to get, read on to find out what are some of the top recommended bottle warmers available for purchase today (in no particular order of rating):
Top Recommended Bottle Warmers
Kiinde Kozii Bottle Warmer
The Kiinde Kozii Bottle Warmer has been touted as the best bottle warmer for heating up breast milk. It uses a patent pending technology which they call their "SAFEheat" technology to create a constant circulation of warm water to heat up the bottle at a lower temperature rather than with hot water or steam.
The SAFEHeat technology reduces the risk of hot spots in the milk or in loss of nutrients. Since its operating temperature is not so high, water does not evaporate as quickly in the Kiinde Kozii.
However, this does mean that it takes a slightly longer time than most other bottle warmers to warm up the milk.
This bottle warmer is simple to use, safe and efficient. It has an opening that is wide enough to easily to accommodate even the extra-wide based Tommee Tippee or Comotomo bottles. Although it does not beep when the bottle is heated, it does somewhat alert you with a clicking sound when it is done.
When the time is up, the warmer stops heating the water and drains the heating chamber, preventing it from overheating.
The Good Stuff
- Compact design.
- Easy to use.
- Safe and consistent warming.
- Has an auto shut-off and water draining function to avoid overheating.
- Compatible with all bottle sizes.
The Cons
- Bottle warming is slower than others.
- The clicking sound (signaling that the bottle warming is done) may not be audible enough.
- Price is slightly higher than other brands.
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Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Warmer
Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Warmer is another best bottle warmer used by many parents. It's sleek, compact unit which comes with a lid that contains the steam used to warm up baby’s bottle. It is simple to use, but the heating temperature is reportedly high, risking degradation in breast milk quality.
The Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Warmer come with a “basket” in the chamber to help make removing the bottle easier in case it becomes too hot to handle. Since it uses a reservoir that is narrow, it is a little inconvenient to clean and may take a longer time than most to do so. The reservoir is, however, able to hold more water, so you can heat up multiple bottles before the water requires a refill.
This bottle warmer comes with a digital timer that enables you to save the previous warming settings. The recommended time in the user manual did not work well for us, though, so you may expect to do some time adjustments until you get one that works right for you and saving that into the settings. At the end of a heating cycle, there is a distinct beep to signal you that your bottle is ready.
Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Warmer can accommodate plastic or glass bottles, as well as baby food jars. It can also be used to sterilize small items like pacifiers. The warmer’s opening is not very wide, though, hence, it will not fit the wider bottles such as the ones from Tommee Tippee or Comotomo (which are brands typically recommended for bottle fed breastfeeding babies).
The Good Stuff
- Space-saving design with a lid to prevent water evaporation
- Audible signal when the bottle is done warming.
- Digital timer and settings feature.
- Reasonably priced
The Cons
- High heating temperature (destroys quality nutrients in breast milk).
- Will not fit wider bottles (such as the Tommee Tippee or Comotomo bottles).
Water chamber is narrow, making it difficult to clean and may develop mold and foul smell inside.
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Philips AVENT Bottle Warmer
The Philips AVENT Express Bottle Warmer uses a warm water bath instead of steam to heat the bottles and is compatible with most baby bottles in the market. This bottle warmer is the face-lift of the discontinued Philips AVENT Express Food and Bottle Warmer.
I personally own a Philips AVENT Express Food and Bottle Warmer before the manufacturer discontinues the model, and it's the best bottle warmers I have ever use! In fact, I am still using it for my daughter, and I have no complained, but the downside is that its lack of a timer feature.
To ensure I do not overheat my daughter milk, I place a count-down digital timer and set it to 5 minutes to warm up a 6oz milk out from the chiller. For frozen milk, I usually leave it for 15 minutes and adjust the temperature at level 2.
The new Philips AVENT Express Bottle Warmer itself is compact; however, it comes with a cord that is quite stiff and cumbersome. The power switch is at the front of the unit, and it has a turn dial to set the warming temperature/level.
There is not much space left between the wall of the chamber and your milk bottle, making it difficult to pour the water in, so it is best that you fill up some water in the chamber first, put in the bottle and then top up the water until just above the milk level. (Tips: Use a funnel to top up water, so you do not accidentally spill over the unit.)
This stylishly designed Philips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer heats up bottles quickly and evenly. Easy to operate, it features a handy defrost setting and can also be used to warm baby food. The warmer's compact size makes it easy to store on a kitchen countertop or bedside table for nighttime feedings.
Overall the Philips AVENT Express Bottle Warmer is an all-rounder bottle warmer with a reasonable price. However, some parents complain that the heating can be a bit slow sometimes. This issue is even more common for the premium model.
The Good Stuff
- Compact design that fits even the wider bottles.
- Quick warming. Warm up a 5oz cold milk in just a short 3 minutes.
The Cons
- Do not maintain a safe milk temperatures after heating the milk.
- No keep warm function.
- No automatic shut-off. The bottle warmer will keep warming until the unit is dried out and this can damage the heating layer and cause the unit to break down.
- No progress indicator visual alert when food is ready, unlike the Premium model that has a progress indicator.
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Born Free Tru-Temp Bottle Warming System
The Born Free Tru-Temp Bottle Warming System comes with a cooling chamber. It includes two ice packs and can accommodate two baby bottles, keeping them chilled for up to 8 hours.
This handy feature means that this bottle warmer comes with a higher price tag, though. If your baby usually wakes up no more than twice at night for feedings, then this is the best bottle warmer to placed in the room where baby sleeps and feeds.
Born Free bottle warmer has a built-in water reservoir that only needs to be filled up once a day or every alternate day. It automatically adjusts the amount of water needed based on the size of your milk bottle.
When using it, you will need to select the size of your bottle and the desired heating temperature. The bottle warming is consistent, though some have reported that the heating temperature could be quite high and may overheat breast milk, causing a loss of nutrients.
The Good Stuff
- Includes a cooler that can keep 2 bottles – handy for night time feedings.
- Easy to use and provides consistent heating.
- Has an automatic shut off feature.
The Cons
- Higher price.
- Heating temperature is high (detrimental to breast milk quality).
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Munchkin Time Saver Bottle Warmer
The Munchkin Time Saver Bottle Warmer is a compact model that provides the basic functionalities of a bottle warmer. Like all the best bottle warmers listed above, the Munchkin Time Saver Bottle Warmer is easy to use and uses steam to heat the bottle.
Heating is consistent; however, it tends to overheat the baby bottle, making it difficult for you to remove it from the warmer. The overheating is also a concern if you are heating breast milk as excessive heat will degrade the breast milk’s nutritional value.
There have also been reports of water leakage from the reservoir, but presumably, that happens only if the water tank was not mounted correctly as not all user experienced a similar issue.
In any case, the possibility of that happening poses a safety hazard. The reservoir holds enough water for you to heat up about 5 bottles before requiring a refill.
However, it is best that you clean it frequently to avoid any mold from growing. The Munchkin Time Saver Bottle Warmer comes with an automatic shut-off feature and an audible beep when the heating is done.
The Good Stuff
- Compact design.
- Easy-to-use. No complicated steps to follow.
- Automatic shut-off feature.
- Audible signal once heating is done.
The Cons
- Bottle overheating, causing potential loss of breast milk nutrition.
- Water leakage from reservoir reported (safety hazard).
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Conclusion
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to most baby products, and the same applies in the case of bottle warmers. One parent’s choice may not work for you, for example, if you’re going to be using the bottle warmer mostly at home while for the other parent, they’ll be using it more on the road.
Armed with the knowledge shared here, you should be in a better position to make your bottle warmer selection now and pick the best bottle warmer for yourself ☺.
