Boots sterilising tablets were something I tried when they had run out of my normal Milton brand. I use cold water sterilising tablets to sterilise some teething rings and a few other small items that won't go into the microwave sterilising bags that I now use. I also used them 4 years ago to sterilise nipple shields and breast pumping equipment with my first son before I realised that sterilising bags existed.

The tablets come in a small cardboard box that contains 64 tablets compared to a packet of 28 tablets in a Milton pack. They are priced at £1.45 for the box compared to an average price of £2.45 for the Milton brand. The tablets are in small strips that are nice and easy to rip open so you can take a tablet out. The tablets are in foil lined strips and this seems to keep them in a good condition as I have rarely had one that has become so hugely broken that it is hard to put into the water.

You need one tablet for 2.3 litres/ 4pints of water now whilst this was great for my small travel cold water steriliser it does mean for my large Tommee Tippee one I need to use 2 tablets. This then reduces the savings I make by using this compared with Milton where I just need one tablet for the same process. The tablets take 30 minutes to work by dispersing the chemicals and to then sterilise items. Whilst this is only a short amount of time and I generally time it for an evening when I have less need to get items out it is twice the length of time that the Milton tablets take. This occasionally would be awkward with my first son as the nipple shields would not be ready when I needed them to be.

The tablets I find seem to dissolve fairly quickly well within a minute and there never seems to be any residue at the bottom of the steriliser giving me confidence that the tablets are dispersing well and all items in the steriliser with have been sterilised.

I have noticed if you just keep some items in the steriliser and don't wash them because they haven't been use e.g. a least favourite teething ring or toy after a about 4 or 5 days there is a build up on them and I would suggest that you don't do this and wash the items each day as well as sterilising them to stop chemical build up I haven't noticed this build up with the Milton tablets. I have noticed and checked and there doesn't appear to be any chemical taste to the items after normal daily use which I think is great and reduces I am sure the risk of my son rejecting an item due to a chemical taste.

Overall these are a great item and do what you need them to do they do take longer to be ready for use compared to Milton tablets but even using two tablets at a time they are still around £1 a box cheaper for the same usage and are hence better value for money.