Steri-bottle = Veri-good! (Boots Steri-Bottles)

Member Name: krazykat2005

Product:	Boots Steri-Bottles
Date:	19/02/06 (1857 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenient, recyclable, anti - colic design

Disadvantages: Can leak if not sealed properly

Lets face it… whether you use a cold water steriliser, an electric or microwave steriliser or use the old-fashioned method of boiling the bottles and teats for however long you have to, preparing bottles takes time.

Guidelines now say that it is best to prepare each feed as your baby needs it. So add on top of the sterilising the time it takes for boiled water to cool to the perfect temperature to add the powdered formula milk, then the time it takes to cool the hot water to a temperature suitable for baby and you’ll probably end up with a baby screaming with hunger! Plus sterilising one bottle every time your little one needs a feed can mean you could be sterilising eight or more times a day.

Or lets think about how hard it is to keep a pre-prepared bottle of milk refrigerated when you need to go out shopping for the afternoon. Or about how much trouble it can be taking a bottle and milk powder and then making it up around your friends or relatives house when you go visiting.

Steribottle is the answer!

The website says:
“this is the exciting new disposable, affordable single-use feeding bottle. Convenient anytime, at home or on the move, there is literally nothing like it for taking the time and stress out of bottle-preparation and giving you an extra bit of your life back...”

-- PRODUCT DESCRIPTION --

These are sterile single-use baby bottles. They are made of ‘safe plastic’ and come complete with a lid, teat and bottle. Steribottles are endorsed by the well-known name of Tommee Tippee – one of the most popular producers of baby product in the UK.

You can get them with medium teats, which are apparently suitable from birth, or with fast flow teats, which are suitable for a hungrier baby or from three months plus.

The products in this range are as follows:
- four pack of 250ml bottles with medium flow teats
- twelve pack of 250ml bottles with medium flow teats
- four pack of 250ml bottles with fast flow teats
- twelve pack of 250ml bottles with fast flow teats

The website says that they do a smaller 125ml bottle, but I haven’t seen them for sale anywhere so I’m not sure if this is old information and the smaller bottles have been discontinued or if they are just harder to get hold of.

-- PRICE --

I usually get these for £1.99 out of Boots (you can also get them off of the Boots.com website). This appears to be the best price I can find anywhere. This is fine by me as it still works out at less than fifty pence per bottle – a great price to pay for the convenience and ease of use!

They are also available in the larger branches of the supermarket stores – Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons – or in Vantage Chemists or Baby’R’Us stores. They are currently only available for purchase in the UK, but I believe that they are signing deals and that these may also soon become available in the USA, Australasia and Asia too.

-- PACKAGING --

These come in a blue cardboard box, which is easy to open and is fully recyclable.

There is lots of information on the back including comprehensive directions for use – with illustrations no less!

On the front there is a picture of what the bottle looks like alongside the picture of a very cute baby (although not as cute as my baby!).

When you get inside the box you will find that each of the four bottles is individually wrapped in cellophane, which has those easy open ‘jagged’ ends.

-- WHAT I THOUGHT --

I like to get out of the house for a bit of fresh air and exercise every day, but was finding it difficult having to fit my excursions in around Oliver’s feeding schedule.

If you have kids you’ll understand how difficult it can be to have a bottle of milk ready for your little one when you are out and about.

For those who don’t, let me explain. When you make up formula milk the water needs to be at least seventy degrees so that the powder completely dissolves – yes, you can use cooler water but I have found that it gave Oliver an upset tummy! Then you have to cool the made up milk rapidly and keep it in the fridge until you need it or use it up within one hour. This is to keep the bad bacteria which can cause upset tummies to a minimum. When your baby needs a feed you then need to heat the chilled bottle up as most babies like their milk at room temperature at least – this requires boiled water in a jug or (naughty, naughty) a blast in the microwave. So you can see where the problem of feeding your baby when out and about – either you take water and milk powder out and mix it up when you need it, but how do you heat the water up to completely dissolve the powder, or you take out a bottle that you made earlier, but how do you keep it cool enough to prevent bacteria multiplying and then how do you warm it up so your baby will drink it.

Finally I found a solution to this problem! I picked a box of these Steribottles up at Boots after another mother recommended them to me and I also got a couple of the readymade cartons of milk, which don’t need refrigerated and keep in the carton for a few months rather than a few minutes. I now keep one sealed bottle and one carton of milk in my changing bag so that whenever I go anywhere I know I can feed Oliver no matter where I am.

The first time I used one I have to admit I didn’t read the instructions and very quickly found out that if you don’t twist them until you hear four or five clicks that they leak all over the place because they aren’t properly closed. Be warned that once the bottle is closed you won’t be able to open it again! Not sure whether this is a good point or a bad point – it’s not like someone is going to spike your baby’s drink.

Once you have used these bottles they are completely recyclable which is a very big plus point in my books because I love doing my bit for the environment. If there is any milk left in the bottle then you can just snip the tip of the teat off and empty the milk out.

The bottle is safe to put in the freezer for mothers who are expressing breastmilk and it has a nifty anti-colic valve which allows air to get into the bottle which allows baby to “feed comfortably without accumulating excess wind”.

-- CONCLUSION --

I am giving this product a whopping five out of five because apart from the problem I have had with them not sealing them properly, I can’t think of any other negative points that would affect my rating.

- Good Points -
- very convenient
- value for money if only using occasionally
- recyclable
- anti-colic design

- Bad Points -
- leak if not sealed correctly
- expensive if being used as an alternative to sterilising own bottles

Summary: These come highly recommended!