April 2019 Moms
lyse01
member
Product Spotlight: Bottle Warmers/ Sanitizers/ Dryers/ Accessories
lyse01
member
Because they are on all the registry lists, let’s look at getting and keeping bottles clean and well prepared.
Warmers: Did you use? For thawing or for bringing milk to a temp that baby liked? For every bottle? Where did you keep the warmer? Pros/cons of specific brands? Do you have other relevant info I’m forgetting?
Sanitizers: did you have a stand-alone sanitizer or some disposable sanitizing bags to pop in the microwave? Pros/cons? How many bottles would it fit and how long did it take - Ie was it worth it on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to run that number of loads? Pros/cons of specific brands?
Dryers/Drying Racks: anything special? What was the advantage over what you normally use for drying dishes?
Bottle and nipple brushes: what did you use? Bristle, bristle/foam, foam only? Pros/cons? How often did you need to replace?
Other: what did you find you needed and why?
Bottles themselves: see dedicated product spotlight! https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734954/product-spotlight-bottles
FTMs: when you look at bottle cleaning accessories, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Warmers: Did you use? For thawing or for bringing milk to a temp that baby liked? For every bottle? Where did you keep the warmer? Pros/cons of specific brands? Do you have other relevant info I’m forgetting?
Sanitizers: did you have a stand-alone sanitizer or some disposable sanitizing bags to pop in the microwave? Pros/cons? How many bottles would it fit and how long did it take - Ie was it worth it on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to run that number of loads? Pros/cons of specific brands?
Dryers/Drying Racks: anything special? What was the advantage over what you normally use for drying dishes?
Bottle and nipple brushes: what did you use? Bristle, bristle/foam, foam only? Pros/cons? How often did you need to replace?
Other: what did you find you needed and why?
Bottles themselves: see dedicated product spotlight! https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734954/product-spotlight-bottles
FTMs: when you look at bottle cleaning accessories, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Re: Product Spotlight: Bottle Warmers/ Sanitizers/ Dryers/ Accessories
The nurses then taught me to use a mug and zap in a microwave for a minute, and thaw a bottle in that (works best for 2 oz or 4 oz bottles, which most of my expresses milk was in because free! Not very space efficient though and adapting that technique to a shallow bowl for bags frozen flat was more awkward...I’d probably find an 8x8 cake pan next time). I much preferred not having a one-function appliance on my already cluttered counter.
Sanitizers: I boiled in a pot on the stove upon first use and subsequent “this is getting icky” moments but didn’t use a dedicated sanitizer. I was given some sanitizing bags that I found difficult to store.
Dryers/Drying Racks: normal dish drainer after hand wash (no dishwasher).
Bottle and nipple brushes: So, I use Comotomo bottles in part because all I need is a normal sponge, BUT in moving to sippy cups I find I need some nipple brushes to get the crud out of an inflexible spout. And I can’t find them anywhere but Amazon. WHY. I’ve actually switched all our sippy cups to Muchkin 360s so I don’t have to deal with that, but still want nipple brushes to clean other crevices in my house (eg the crud on my shower head). Other item to note while pumping: my milk was pretty fatty early on, and if I didn’t rinse right away, the grease was impossible to cut with a bristle-only brush. I never found a satisfactory solution for lazy rinsing.
We boiled and hand washed to sanitize but eventually just used the dishwasher. We had a boon container for the dishwasher and a boon drying rack for when we hand washed. It worked well as long as you remember to pull it apart and sanitize the bottom every now and then. I think we had a combo bristle/foam brush don’t remember what brand. munchkin maybe?
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
When I quit pumping other than once in awhile, I just used medela steam microwave bags.
Never used a warmer.
I did have a bottle brush for cleaning. I never bought a drying rack. But again, I was an EBFer after the first few months so I didn’t need much.
I like the foam/bristle brushes. I think the munchkins brand has a built nipple brush in the handle which is helpful.
Our Boon drying rack has held up for two babies now.
I never used a separate sanitizer.
Sanitizers: We had sanitizing bags but truthfully, boil a pot of water and put them in there to sanitize. And TBH, we didn't sanitize much after the first couple months. We wash in hot water with soap, so meh.
Dryers/Drying Racks: Get the BOON drying rack and a couple accessories. That thing is by far one of my favorite baby items, it's a lifesaver.
Bottle and nipple brushes: I preferred the bristle brush with the foam on top to get it soapy but then the bristles really cleaned it.
Other: I can't say enough to get BOON drying rack
Sanitizers: Nope. We sanitized everything exactly once when we first brought all the bottles home. We did a few as needed sanitizing runs (think moldy bottle found behind the couch...). We simply filled a stock pot with boiling water and boiled all of the bottles, pacifiers, and parts.
Dryers/Drying Racks: We used the Boon Lawn drying rack (make sure to get the bigger size!) and really liked that it securely held the bottles while keeping the rims from coming into direct contact with the drying surface. It is super flexible and you can add "flowers" that hold nipples and rings. Plus it is cute.
Bottle and nipple brushes: what did you use? We really liked the bristle bottle brushes with the foam tip. Munchkin, OXO, and Dr Browns all worked well for us. Just make sure that the bristles aren't too firm otherwise you end up getting sprayed every time you pull the brush out. We probably went through a new brush every 3 months or so. The foam gets pretty beat up and the bristles would start to fall out.