My last few reviews have been covering the baby items we bought when we discovered we were going to be parents for the first time and since the arrival of our son a couple of weeks ago we've now had the opportunity to try out the things we bought. The subject of this review, Tommee Tippee's bottle warmer has been a much-used item that has more than proven itself to have been a worthwhile purchase and as we're bottle feeding our newborn it's certainly been put through its paces with it being used at least 6 times a day.

The bottle warmer's simple design makes this really easy to use, the body of the warmer has a 3 stage dial which controls the temperature of the water and an illuminating light which acts as a visual indicator telling you when the water has heated to the correct temperature for warming up the contents of a nursing bottle. You are supplied with a handy reference book that lists the recommended warming times for different sized bottles and amounts of formula and it's simply a case of adding cold water from the tap into the bowl of the warmer, setting the dial at whatever level you want, waiting for the light to go out and adding your bottle to the water. It doesn't have a timer built in to the machine which I think is a bit of a shame as that would have made for a handy addition so you will need to keep an eye on either a watch or clock though we use a digital timer as I have one already in my kitchen for my cooker which only cost a couple of quid from Asda which makes the timings a lot easier for us.

It doesn't take too long to heat up the water you add, a couple of minutes maybe although I would add here that there's no 'maximum' mark on the interior of the bowl and you are instructed to leave at least 10ml of space from the top. Obviously the amount of water you add will be determined by how heavy your bottle is as there is water displacement so there is a a bit of trial and error in getting the right amount although once you've figured it out you'll know for the next bottle and other than the potential annoyance of spilling water over your worktops it really is as simple as that to use. TT claim that it's suitable for use with any bottle, we've had Tommee Tippee's and Dr Brown's in mine and it's held them both nicely although I do suspect that it has been made more for their own bottles than their rivals but haven't tried other makes so can't say for certain. If you own bottles from other manufacturers then I wouldn't bank on this one holding them so I would suggest either trying one before buying or select something else just to be on the safe side, our 'closer to nature' bottles fit perfectly though so if you do have TT bottles then this would be the obvious choice of warmer.

I like the warmers shape, it has rounded edges and sits firmly on my kitchen counter. It's not terribly heavy but has a decent enough weight to make it sturdy and the plastic construction feels well made and durable. The warmer comes attached to a mains cable that is of good length so it doesn't have to be sat too near to a plug socket and whilst I do think that it's white colour could become a bit grubby looking over time it's easy enough just to wipe over to remove any water marks that may form on the outside walls. Obviously it should be kept out of children's reach, the water does get hot when it's in use and you do need to be careful when removing a bottle as that gets hot too, it doesn't boil the water it holds but care should be given when using it and do remember to turn it off at the wall as there's no on/off switch on the warmer itself (other than the dial starting at '0') either which again is a shame as it would have made it slightly better than it actually is.

For the amount it costs to buy (around £15.00 - £20.00 depending on where you purchase it from) I do think it represents decent value for money, it's certainly a lot safer than using boiling water in a jug although that would be a more inexpensive option so I suppose it comes down to a families budget if they think it's a worthwhile purchase. For us being new parents and going a bit overboard with the things we bought it is a useful item that is used multiple times every day although it could have had a few extra features that would have made it slightly better in my opinion. The lack of an on/off switch and an inbuilt timer prevents me from awarding a five star rating here although its something I would recommend to other parents, it's definitely a useful item for warming bottles and even food jars when you get to the weaning stage and all in all I do like its simple, no-nonsense design.

Widely available both online and on the high street and from a recognised and respected name the Tommee Tippee electric bottle warmer gets a very good four star rating from me. Thanks for reading my review.