Any experienced moms ever use a bottle warmer with breast milk?

EC2016 · August 2015

I didn't find any other threads on this so I was looking for first hand advice.
I have read most bottle warmers can make the milk too hot, which can lose the nutrients of the breast milk. The only warmer I've found specifically for breast milk is the kiinde kozii. Any advice or should I just stick with warm water?

ainverso · August 2015

We just microwaved a mug of water or bowl of water and defrosted the mil or warmed the bottle that way. It was fast and easy and didn't require another "thing". Never used a bottle warmer though so not sure if it is nice or not

MommyAlexia · August 2015

We used a bottle warmer with breastfeeding. Never used formula. We just didn't use the high heat setting and warmed it with enough water in the warmer so the bottle was in a water bath. Not really sure if it affected the nutrients but my son was a very big baby. We really didn't bottle feed that much at home. Only on occasion.

apinkpelican · August 2015

We have the dr. Browns bottle warmer and you can set the timer to your comfort level. We love it and still use it every day

blue**eyes · August 2015

We used a regular bottle warmer for breastmilk. I didn't even realize there would be one made specifically for breastmilk. Here's what we used last time around and will be buying again: The First Years Quick Serve Bottle Warmer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005BXKM/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_.t.XvbHW4XRK0

OrangeFox · August 2015

we didn't have one. friends who have them say they are great. but to me it seemed like just another thing to take up counter space and spend money on. I never felt like i was missing out.

mamaksweez · August 2015

We just ran hot water in the sink over the bottle/frozen milk bag. I had never heard of a bottle warmer, but if it works well, it sounds less wasteful.

EC2016 · August 2015

Do you know if regular warmers fit the tippy Tommy bottles?

62406 · August 2015

We used a bottler warmer with DD for her bottles as I exclusively pumped. During the middle of the night it was so nice to just grab a bottle out of the fridge, pour pre-measured water into the warmer and warm the bottle. We'd set everything up before going to bed so it was all ready when she'd wake up. It was so quick to warm a bottle when you have a hungry baby.

RunnerMeg · August 2015

We never used a bottle warmer. My Mom/babysitter would just run the frozen milk bag under hot water to defrost it and if it still needed a bit of warming, she would place the bag in a mug of warm water, then pour it into the bottle.

EC2016 · August 2015

The kiinde kozii warmer is supposed to use low heat water to warm the bottle instead of hot steam like most warmers. The steam is supposed to mess up the nutrients in the milk. At least that's what I read...uhh so many choices. I think it'll be one of those things that go on the registry and if I don't get it I won't be too upset.

mg137 · August 2015

I have the kiindle kozi. (I'm just going off pp's spelling. I have no clue). Husband bought it in the early days and it was great. Definitely keep the receipt on that because you might not find it necessary. I definitely did with twins. I had supply issues for a long time (eventually overcame them and just weaned last month!) and would pump after every feeding so we were constantly warming top off bottles and knowing the warmer wouldn't burn the milk was great. This warmer is made for breast milk and supposed to help it retain nutrients.

We were using dr brown glass bottles.

jezygal · August 2015

I just stuck the frozen bag in a bowl of hot water. It warmed really quickly

MommyAlexia · August 2015

I should also add that we never put frozen milk in the warmer. Defrosted my milk overnight in the fridge first. I had all the breastmilk fridge and freezer storage guidelines on the fridge. I'm interested in this kindii kozi warmer now - going to look it up!

ashs88 · August 2015

We had a normal bottle warmer that we used for breastmilk. We would thaw the frozen milk in the fridge, but DS had issues drinking cold milk so we would warm it up just to body temp. Most warmers have different settings on them so you can control how warm the milk gets. As long as the milk doesn't actually get hot, which you wouldn't want anyway, then the nutrients should not be impacted. We tried just using hot water to warm the bottle before we got a warmer, but that just took way too much time when we had a hungry baby wanting to eat. It also doesn't use up nearly as much water.

CBWifey · August 2015

ainverso said:
We just microwaved a mug of water or bowl of water and defrosted the mil or warmed the bottle that way. It was fast and easy and didn't require another "thing". Never used a bottle warmer though so not sure if it is nice or not

This is what my hubby did, it's quick, and a reliable way to warm all the milk. Of course you still need to shake it and test. But you can save that money to buy something else you need!

ChipMonster · August 2015

CBWifey said:

ainverso said:
We just microwaved a mug of water or bowl of water and defrosted the mil or warmed the bottle that way. It was fast and easy and didn't require another "thing". Never used a bottle warmer though so not sure if it is nice or not

This is what my hubby did, it's quick, and a reliable way to warm all the milk. Of course you still need to shake it and test. But you can save that money to buy something else you need!

Microwaving water can be very dangerous, you should be very careful when doing this.

For the very few times I gave DS a bottle we used a cheap bottle warmer from BRU. It served its purpose and wasn't wasteful with water. I did it a couple of times when out but I hated the idea of running hot water and being wasteful.

CBWifey · August 2015

@ChipMonster you are right there are concerns for how to thaw the milk to preserve it qualities and for safety.

We didn't thaw in a bottle, rather, in the freezer milk bag in a bowl of warm water. Here is what I found on the CDC page:

As time permits, thaw frozen breast milk by transferring it to the refrigerator for thawing or by swirling it in a bowl of warm water.
Avoid using a microwave oven to thaw or heat bottles of breast milk

They are concerned about people putting bottles in the microwave to thaw.

As far as conserving water, as you have suggested rather than running water till it gets warmer, we would heat the water in a bowl till it was warmed, and as the description above says, swirl it in the bowl of water till thaw.

And if you really want to conserve, you can pour into your house plants once cooled, or I pour on to soaking dishes in sink.

And there's actually a thermos out there that you can put hot water into, and it keeps it warm for a long time, again, take your frozen milk and swirl in this. We did this while out. It's made by Tommy Tippee and available on Amazon, pretty cool technology nowadays.

ChipMonster · August 2015

@CBWifey my concern is with microwaving a bowl or cup of water. Water doesn't boil in the microwave and will boil/burst once you move the container. It can be dangerous.

mvhyde · August 2015

We just put the freezer bag in a bowl of hot tap water. I froze my milk flat so the freezer bags were really skinny. The milk defrosted in just a few minutes. Definitely didn't have the counter space or money to spend on another device when the alternative is so easy.

MrsB915 · August 2015

We didn't use a bottle warmer either. I always froze my milk flat, easier to store and defrosted quickly. We usually defrosted the milk in the fridge overnight or in a bowl of warm water. I just microwaved a large mug for a min, not enough to boil it in ours (ours takes 2:30 to heat water for tea). Once the milk was defrosted but cool I'd pour it into the glass dr. Browns bottle, reward the water and put the bottle in til it came to temp. I didn't like the idea of warming the milk in the plastic bag.

I bf in the motn during the week and dh did bottles on weekends to let me catch up on sleep. For weekend motn feedings I'd have the mug of water waiting in the microwave and the milk already defrosted before bed. All dh had to do was put the bottle in the warm water before getting ds. By the time he changed his diaper the milk was warm. Planning ahead of time really helped us to streamline the process.

Sorry that was so long!

CBWifey · August 2015

@ChipMonster, I get what you're saying. We never did water to boiling point. But I can see why that would be a concern. Honestly, when I cook food in water in microwave once it's boiling I can't handle it without gloves. I can't imagine trying to put a milk bag in that.

cerafina205 · August 2015

Defrosted BM in the fridge if it was frozen then used bottle warmer to warm the milk. I didn't use a special bottle warmer for BM. I execlusivly pumped for a year and this method worked fine. Don't over think it.

NillaWafers · August 2015

I don't think we did. I had to fortify my BM though, I am pretty sure we warmed it with a pan on a stove. You can't microwave, overheat, or shake BM or it will lose a lot of the good stuff!

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