Full steam ahead! (Tommee Tippee Electronic Steam Steriliser)

Member Name: k81979

Product:	Tommee Tippee Electronic Steam Steriliser
Date:	02/07/09 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sleek, easy to use design - well worth the money

Disadvantages: No tongs

One of the first things that we purchased when we found out we were expecting was a steriliser, for no other reason than it was on offer in Tesco at the time. I had always intended to breastfeed, but bought the steriliser as we still anticipated needing bottles at some point, be it when our son started on solids, or sooner. We were pretty green about the whole thing, and bought the steriliser purely because it was on offer, and because the bottles looked nice and comfy to hold.

Well, not entirely green I suppose. I knew that I wanted a steam steriliser, as it cut out the need for sterilising tablets to be added and so would be cheaper in the long run than the cold water sterilisers. Plus, steam sterilising seemed more natural to me, just using good old boiling water.

Fast forward a good few months, and I have started to get some use out of it. Our son has started to need a couple of bottles in the evening. Previously I was using the small microwave steriliser that came with the handheld breast pump, but needed the bigger one due to the larger amount of bottles needed.

Equipment
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The steriliser comprises of a base which you fill with water, the main body to house the bottles, and a rack at the top for teats and small items. It is mains operated, and fairly slim so fits well even with our limited counter space. It has a simple digital display and one button to operate - simples!

Our version also came with a few extras - 3 large Tommee Tippee bottles (which are indeed very comfy to use), teats and lids, a bottle brush which also has a smaller end for cleaning teats, and a trainer cup which we haven't used yet. I was a little surprised that there were no teat tongs, as I assumed that these were fairly standard. But all in all, a comprehensive package.

Having checked around, not all Tommee Tippee sterilisers come with the same accessories, so do check the spec before buying.


Use
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The body of the steriliser can take 5 of the newer shaped Tommee Tippee bottles, or 6 of the older style ones. We have the new ones, and I would imagine anyone buying this now would do too, I don't remember seeing any old style bottles for sale. I can also get the breast-pump bottle and pump in as well. The teats and other small items go on the top shelf.

The base needs to have 80ml of water added to it. Helpfully, all Tommee Tippee bottles have a dotted line on them to indicate 80ml easily, so you don't need to use a measuring jug.

You lock the lid, press the button and the display will read H for Heating. After a couple of minutes, it will show S for Sterilising, and after approximately 5 minutes more, it will read C for Cooling. Once cooled, items can be removed and the display will count down 3, 2, 1 for the number of hours remaining for which the equipment is sterile. After 3 hours, any items left need to be resterilised.

In reality, even after the C for Cooling has disappeared, and the display starts counting down, bottles are still red hot at first. This is where the tongs would have come in handy! But since you are waiting for the boiling water to cool down also, this rarely presents a problem unless you are trying to sterilise in a hurry.

The top shelf can also be used as a preparation shelf, i.e. you can stand bottles on whilst preparing the milk so that you don't undo all your hard work. To be honest, I never do this as the shelf is too small to do any more than 1 bottle at a time. I throw caution to the wind and stand them on my clean work surface.

If you are organised (i.e. get everything ready the night before and sterilise in the morning), then it will be a help. I tend to make all the bottles up in one go and then keep them in the fridge for the rest of the day.

To keep the steriliser in good working order, then it should be cleaned with citric acid once a month to prevent limescale.


Benefits
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The steriliser is very easy to use. Bearing in mind that I first used it after a stressful visit to the doctor and a rushed trip to buy formula, I still managed to navigate the instructions and use it with no problems.

It has a good capacity, I can get all of a days bottles in and more.

The Tommee Tippee bottles are lovely to use. They have a good contoured shape which is comfortable to hold, and nice wide teats which appear to be a more natural shape than some other bottles I've seen.

The design is sleek and simple, and would look good in any kitchen.


Disadvantages
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The lack of tongs is a bit of a sticking point with me. Other sterilisers seem to be able to run to this pretty simple piece of equipment, and it does make a difference if you are sterilising in a hurry. As long as you are super organised then you probably won't miss them, but even so there may be the odd occasion were you need to whip up a bottle in a hurry, or you just miss the sterile deadline and have to resterilise. I would have preferred the tongs to the trainer cup, or one of the bottles.


Price
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The regular selling price for this model seems to be around £40. We bought our steriliser for £20 in a baby event in Tesco, and I have seen it at the same sale price in Asda as well. It seems to be one of those items that is brought out at all of these events, which happen on a fairly regular basis. To that end, I would advise against paying full price for it and hold out until it's knocked down again.


Summary
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I really like this steriliser, and it helps to make the pain of preparing bottles a little easier to face by making the process as simple as can be. Even if you are planning on exclusively breastfeeding (as I was), I would still pick one up when it's on offer as it will almost certainly be needed somewhere down the line.

Summary: A good model that helps make bottle feeding easier.