Customer Reviews

Microwave Steam Sterilizer

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Even with the mixed reviews of this item, I put it on my baby registry. Granted, at the time... I was not completely certain how much use I would get out of it. Well now that my son is 4 months old, let me tell you... I use this item EVERY day (and sometimes multiple times a day)! Let me explain why I think this simple piece of plastic is worth the $13... even if you have a dishwasher and even if you use Avent bottles (or Platex, or Second Nature, etc.):

1. It is simple to use. Wash bottles (or if you are like me and are expressing breastmilk too... then wash all your pump paraphernalia) and put them in unit... add some water... put in microwave and "cook" for 5 minutes... let stand (to steam) for an extra 2 minutes... remove items and sit them on rack to dry. That is it... very simple.

2. I personally think this is a cleaner way to go than the dishwasher. Why? Well, if your dishwasher is like mine then you often find food particles still caught on dishes or utensils. Hardly a sterile environment... even after going through the heated dry cycle. I may be super cautious with my bottles and breastpump equipment, but I'd rather wash them by hand and then sterilze them cleanly using steam.

(Side note: for the reviewer who thought she didn't have to CLEAN her bottles before using this sterilizer... honey, please... use some common sense! YES, you need to wash the bottles to get the milk film out. This unit is used to kill bacteria, etc on your baby's bottles by way of steam. It is not a dishwasher itself. [rolls eyes in disbelief])

3. Who wants to have to run the dishwasher every time a bottle or PACIFIER needs to be sterilized! This unit uses less energy than running the dishwasher all the time (ahem... that means our utility bills don't become any more outrageous than they already are!).

4. When it came to bottles, my son was quite the product tester. We started with Platex Nursers of both 4oz and 8oz size... then tried Avent 6oz... after that didn't work... we tried Second Nature 4oz and 9oz bottles. (My son is breastfed and as it turned out prefered the nipple style of the Second Nature bottles -- more like nursing.) Anyway, the point is... I have SUCCESSFULLY sterilized all these bottle types within this unit. Yes, sometimes you have to be clever at packing them in... and sometimes you have to use the unit twice if you just washed a bunch of bottles... BUT it can be done! While it is true that the lid doesn't lock down, realize that it doesn't need to do so! The engineering here is simple... you boil the water in the unit using microwave *heat*... and then the items in the unit get steam cleaned for a couple of minutes because the lid traps the steam in. All the lid needs to do is keep most of the steam inside the unit. And in my experience, the lid does this without being tightly locked down. (If there is a caution here, it is: use a towel when lifting off the lid as the lid gets hot and the steam sometimes billows out. Ouch!)

5. The plastic spindles do rotate around... so you can fit some pretty unusually shaped items in this unit. (Did I mention all those pesky breastpump parts I have to wash! [wink])

Anyway, I hope this helps people. I would be lost without this sterilizer. In fact, I am buying another one for my daycare provider to use because I feel that strongly about this unit's functionality!

:)

We don't have a dishwasher so we use this every day to sterilize our bottles. It is easy to use and gets the job done quickly.
Be careful taking it out of the microwave though. If the top comes off you could get a steam burn.

I love this sterilizer. It's quick and easy to use. Bottles are sterilized in 5-8 minutes in your microwave. I'm having twins and wanted an easy way to sterilize bottles and pacifiers and I'm so glad I purchased this item. It's definitely worth the money and a definite time saver.

I've used this product everyday for 5 months now and I still love it! It was one of the best purchases I made. I also agree, be careful removing it from the microwave, it can release some steam. But, if you're like me, you don't run the dishwasher everyday so this item saves me time and money on my energy bills. Five minutes and you're done. I've also never found a bottle that didn't fit in it perfect. I use the Dr. Brown's wide neck's and there is 5 pieces to every bottle. I can fit 6 full bottles in at once. Can't beat it!

The 1st week I used it(rite after my bb was born), I hated it for the fact that those blue "stick" stand is really awkward to use and to fit in bottles. The 1st time my husband was helping to wash the bottles, he figured a way to take away the trouble by removing those "sticks" and just left the bottom shelf. That helps a great deal cos now i can fit in as many as 6 Avent 9 oz. bottles and all the nipples! Our son is now 5 months old and he takes only 6 bottles in a day, so it means i just need to wash bottle for 1 time/day!! WOHOO!! After the microwave is done, i will just let it sit for couple mins, then i will just take the bottles out and let it dry on a clean towel, EXCELLENT!!

ONE REMINDER: u need to have a medium sized microwave so that the sterilizer can get in easily!!

I am a brand new mom-to-be, and I registered for this item at the suggestion of veteran moms who had to rely on boiling and other "old" methods to sterilize. I am very happy with this item. As a bottle-feeding mommy, I have a lot of bottles to prepare for use in the very near future. To add to this, I am using Dr. Brown's bottles which, as any Dr. B. user knows, have several parts to clean. I've just finished preparing all my bottles for my soon-to-be bundle of joy, and this sterilizer was terrific. However, I found that the standard 8 oz. Dr. B. bottle is too tall, and keeps the lid from closing completely on the steamer. No worry, though, this is easily solved if you remove the rack and lay the bottles on their side. This way I sterilized as many as five bottles at a time. It takes 5-8 minutes, and you don't have to stand there holding one bottle at a time in boiling water. You can fit many parts, nipples and pacifiers in at once. I took care of 19 bottles, all parts and several binkies in less than an hour. I only took away one star because I had to adapt the process for the tall bottles. I reommend this item. It made getting all those new bottles ready much easier!

I agree that this item is useless if you plan to use a dish washer. But with just 2 adults and 1 baby in the family, we do not run the dishwasher everyday, but need to wash bottles every day. So, in the beginning, this item was very handy. However, now I have decided that sterilizing every item is senseless. I have started just washing and rinsing everything in extremely hot water, and putting the nipples in a coffee mug of water - microwave for 90 seconds or until just boiling. A lot simpler! I will, however, use the sterilizer again during cough, cold, and flu season, or anytime a member of the family has a virus, so for that reason alone, it was a good purchase!

i have the smaller one from avent but this is great for bigger bottles and it hold more.

I bought this after reading the reviews and noticed one person said something about not fitting the Dr. Brown bottles. Everyone else said they did fit. Luckily i saved all the plastic so i could return it if they did not fit. And sure enough the big bottles do not fit. The lid is about 1/2 an inch open.

What a timesaver! My husband and I washed my daughter's bottles everynight with soap and hot water. (We used to play rock, paper, scissors to see who drew the task.) No more of that! Found this shopping for odds and ends when pregnant with my second. This is a great product to sterlize anything that fits in there, not just bottles. Very inexpensive for the use it gets. Highly recommended!