Wot no Steriliser? (Mothercare Steriliser Bottles)

Member Name: JammyJo

Product:	Mothercare Steriliser Bottles
Date:	16/01/02 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No clutter, Quick to Sterilise

Disadvantages: Tong breaks easily

Babies are great – cute and cuddly and all that … but they do a great job accumulating clutter! A great achievement for one so young!! If you were to walk in my house it would be immediately evident that at least one person under two foot tall resides here! You could almost be mistaken in thinking you had walked into Mothercare, with all the baby things around! I HATE clutter, but with all the equipment that is necessary it is just unavoidable. However, were you to walk into my kitchen ..(which believe me would not be smelling nicely of freshly baked cakes … how some mothers find time to bake I do not know!) you would either think I have hidden everything in my cupboards …(nope .. no room in them!!) or I don’t feed my children!! Actually both accounts are wrong … (really?!!) I just don’t have a lot of baby equipment that needs to stay out. I have a five month old baby, who has just started to have a couple of bottles a day, and I do not have a steriliser out! The reason? I have invested in Mothercares new range of bottles … The Steriliser Bottle.

~~ What is The Steriliser Bottle?

Imagine a bottle that doesn’t have to be soaked in a big bucket of Milton, boiled in a saucepan, or put in a steam steriliser … and still have a sterile bottle for your little ones gentle stomach. Yep .. it is possible. The Steriliser Bottle is unique to Mothercare, and along with your microwave (probably not the best bottle to go for if you don’t have one of these, although they can still be sterilised using all other methods) kills all those nasty bugs that might be lurking about! You can sterilise the bottle without the need of extra equipment.

~~ How?

This is quite simple. After you have washed the bottle and teat out thoroughly using warm soapy water and a bottle brush and rinsed, you simply put some water in the cap of the bottle (30 mls .. 2 tablespoons) put the screw ring
and disc in the bottom of the cap, put the teat in, and put the main bottle part upside down on the cap. Place in the microwave for recommended time …(read on!) and there you have it … a sterilised bottle with minimal effort and clutter.


~~ Features

The bottle is an easy grip shape (like that of the popular Avent Bottle)

Has a wide neck making cleaning a lot easier.

Comes with a slow feeding teat (more suited for Newborns … faster ones can be purchased separately

Suitable for use in a freezer

Dishwasher safe

Conforms to BS 7368 ..(whatever that might be!)


~~ How long does it take?

Apart from the fact that it doesn’t clutter my kitchen up this is the best thing about this method of sterilising for me. One bottle needs 1 ½ minutes at full power in the microwave, and then 2 minutes of standing time before you can put cool boiled water into it ready to make the feed up. You can sterilise up to 6 bottles at once though and microwave times are as follows:

1 Bottle – 1 ½ mins
2 Bottles – 2 ½ mins
3 Bottles – 3 ½ mins
4 Bottles – 4 ½ mins … you get the idea!


~~ Keeping the bottle sterile whilst assembling

The bottle comes with a double functioning plastic tong. This gets clipped over the teat before being microwaved which allows you to take the teat out afterwards without having to touch it and ruining the whole point of sterilising! The bottle can be assembled totally using this tong, which has a wide grip and a narrow grip. The wide grip is used for assembling the screw ring and cap and the narrow grip for pulling the teat through the screw ring. Sorted!


~~ Price and Availability

Obviously from Mothercare, these bottles come in either a twin pack at £6.99 or a pack of six for £19.95. These are widely available in their stores as are extra teats that will
be needed after sometime of use, or if you want a faster flowing teat. (Pack of 6 teats between £2-4 depending on the type you want.)


~~ Tried and Tested

Have I been pleased with the bottles? In a word YES! I find them easy to clean, simple to sterilise, no leakage …(which is a must as my son has soya milk and that smells disgusting!!)


~~ Any disadvantages or problems?

Yup .. afraid so! However this is not with the bottles, but with the tongs provided. Two out of four tongs we have have already split. These are obviously important in keeping the bottle sterile so is a bit of a big problem. We have contacted Mothercare about this and very promptly received an extra 8 tongs and an apology! Hopefully they will find a way of making these tongs stronger.


~~ So for a clutter free kitchen I would recommend either using these bottles and doing away with a clumply looking sterilisers or get rid of all cooking utensils, give up cooking and eat out permanently!!

Summary: