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Bottle warmer basics explained. Bottle warmer features and limitations. How bottle warmers work: steam, hot water and warm water models.

We personally love our Ventaire Bottle Warmer!

Baby bottle warmers quickly and conveniently warm up bottles of milk. Parents don’t need to bump around the kitchen and wake up the rest of the family, or stumble up and down stairs in the middle of the night. The bottle warmer can be placed in the bedroom, together with a drinks cooler containing a few bottles of premixed formula.

Using a bottle warmer can be faster and more accurate than warming a bottle under a hot tap: important for bleary-eyed parents with a crying baby at 3 a.m.

Prices can be as low as $10 and as high as over $50. Popular brands include Ventaire Bottle Warmer, Philips (Avent) and First Years (Quick Serve, Night & Day).

Bottle Warmer Basics

Some bottle warmers are not designed to be used with certain types of bottles:

• Wide-neck bottles.
• Angled bottles.
• Disposable bottles.
• Glass bottles.

Parents should check before purchasing, or warm the milk in one bottle and transfer the milk to another for feeding.

All bottle warmers should be able to warm up chilled or room-temperature milk. However some don’t work well with frozen milk. Many are designed for warming one bottle at a time, needing up to 10 minutes to cool down before they can be used again.

Most can also be used to warm up bottled baby food, allowing the unit to be used even after the baby has been weaned. An immersible basket should be supplied with the warmer to easily lift the bottles out.

For safety, bottle warmers should automatically switch off. They should also flash a light or beep when the bottle is ready. At the minimum, they should have a power on/off switch and not require the unit to be unplugged to cut off the power. Some will boil-dry if not switched off, creating a fire hazard.

The bottle warmer should be easy to use, requiring only simple button pushes (not confusing press-and-hold multi-mode buttons) and remembering the previous settings. Some units need to be set with:

• Quantity of milk (ounces).
• Original temperature of the milk (room temperature, refrigerated, frozen).

Other units have no controls, being nothing more than a simple water heater. Parents need to time the number of minutes the bottle has been warmed up to get the right temperature.

One-handed operation is useful because the other hand could be holding a crying baby. Some units need to be held with one hand while the other hand pushes the buttons.

Tips and Precautions:

• After warming, the bottle should be shaken to prevent hot spots.
• Milk temperature should always be tested by dripping a few drops on the arm.
• Bottle caps might need to be loosened or removed before warming, to prevent milk overflow.

Steam Bottle Warmers

Steam warmers heat up a small amount of water, turning all of it into steam. When all the water has boiled off, the warmer switches off.

Advantages:

• Fast.
• Usually comes with automatic power off.
• Will not overheat milk if the bottle is left in the warmer too long.

Disadvantages:

• Parents need to remember to keep clear of the unit or risk getting scalded by the steam.
• Outside of bottle can get uncomfortably hot immediately after warming up.
• Requires precise measurement of water (amount of heating depends on the amount of water). Measuring out the
• Correct quantity of water ahead of time can reduce middle-of-the-night mistakes.
• Usually doesn’t work well with frozen milk.

Hot Water Bottle Warmers

These are like steam warmers, but more water is used, immersing the bottle in a jacket of hot (boiling) water. The water is not completely boiled off and remains in the unit.

Advantage:

• If the milk is still too cold, the bottle can be re-inserted and warmed up again.

Disadvantages:

• Milk can overheat if left in too long (even with automatic power off).
• Bottle can drip hot water when removed.

Warm Water Bottle Warmers

Some bottle warmers don’t steam or even boil the water. The water is only warmed up to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Advantage:

• Safer, no steam and the bottle doesn’t get uncomfortably hot.

Disadvantage:

• Lower water temperature means more time is needed to warm up a bottle.

Parents can report different results with the same model of bottle warmer, possibly because different bottles are used. Some get inconsistent results: sometimes the bottle is too cold, other times too hot.

Steam warmers are convenient when they work, less convenient if the results are inconsistent.

Hot and warm water units are more forgiving. Even if they warm inconsistently, parents can compensate by checking the milk temperature with a few drops of milk on their arm every minute.

Parents might need to spend money on a few different models before finding the right one. They might also prefer a cheap and simple DIY solution such as pouring a flask of hot water into a bowl.

Travel bottle warmers are available for use in cars, airplanes: anywhere on the move.