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• Baby Feeding

The Best Bottle Sterilizers We Trusted for Our Own Babies

We tested these appliances at home to find the deepest clean and peace of mind.

Do You Need a Bottle Sterilizer?

Our testing process, our experts, types of bottle sterilizers, other factors to consider.

• How to Use Safely
• Your Questions, Answered

Parents / Alli Waataja

Baby bottle sterilizers are a popular purchase for many parents and caregivers of newborns. The convenience of running a regular steam cycle for bottles, pump parts, and associated accessories gives bottle-feeding families one less thing to think about during those early weeks and months. From single bottle options to countertop colossuses, electric, microwave, and UV models—the options are extensive. So we got our team to test 23 models, to find the best bottle sterilizers for every budget.

The thing many parents love about sterilizers—and we’re speaking from experience here—is the deep clean they deliver. Run a cycle every night, once a week, or just when your bottles, pump parts and accessories seem to need freshening up. Sterilizers are easy to use , and you get that added assurance that you’re dealing with pathogens that may build up in the hardest-to-reach curves and crevices. 

A great rule of thumb for choosing a bottle sterilizer is to start with capacity: How many bottles do you a) have; and b) use on a regular basis? If you only, say, use a couple of bottles a day, you don’t need a 12-bottle capacity machine. To help you narrow down your options even further, our editors tested a bunch of popular models at home on their own pump parts and baby bottles, rating their design, ease of use, effectiveness, ease of cleaning, and value. 

You need to sterilize bottles and nipples when you first take them out of the package, but after that, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) state that you do not need to sterilize bottles after every use. And all of the experts we spoke to agree. 

“Babies and their environment aren't sterile, so their bottles need to be clean, but not sterile,” AAP spokesperson Elizabeth Murray , DO, notes. “Routine washing with hot, soapy water and ensuring that prepared formula is not left in bottles for long periods of time is far more important than routine bottle sterilization.” 

Of course, there are exceptions, particularly for premature, ill, and immunocompromised children. Dr. Murray also says that it is important to sterilize the nipples and bottles if a baby has a thrush or another mouth-related infection. Rather than a must-have, we think the bottle sterilizers below offer convenience and peace of mind at a reasonable price.

Best Overall

Baby brezza superfast sterilizer dryer.

• Design 5 /5
• Ease of Use 5 /5
• Effectiveness 5 /5
• Ease of Cleaning 5 /5

Why We Like It

This super quick and functional sterilizer quickly became part of our nightly routines. From first glance, the Baby Brezza Superfast Sterilizer Dryer looks like a professional setup. And after several months of testing and post-testing use, this machine’s no-fuss performance has kept us stacking it night after night. 

The sterilizer comes fully assembled—just add water and pick from three settings. Its large capacity can manage up to six bottles of various sizes, along with nipples, pump parts, or anything else you need sterilized, so you can set and forget for a once-a-day cycle . Yes, at 1 cubic square foot in size, it’s definitely a device to stash until you need it. But its 10-minute runtime means you’re able to get tomorrow’s bottle requirements sterilized with minimum hassle. Pull it out for that end-of-day reset, so you can move straight into bedtime stories. 

But Take Note

This sterilizer is too bulky to keep out in small kitchen spaces. It also has no bottle washing function and requires a deep clean (we used vinegar) every two weeks.

The Details:

• Type: Electric
• Capacity: 6 bottles and 2 pump parts
• Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 14 inches 

Easiest to Use

Philips avent microwave steam sterilizer for baby bottles.

If no-frills simplicity is your thing, the Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer is an efficient option—sterilizing up to four bottles plus parts in just two minutes . Essentially a plastic tub with a lid and basket for your bottles, this sterilizer is easy to load, easy to operate, easy to clean and, at $32 (as of this writing), it’s reasonably priced. Just add water, load it up, close the lid, and hit start on your microwave. It even comes with a handy guide to determine sterilization times depending on the output of your microwave. And, thankfully, it also comes with handy tongs for safe removal of steaming hot, freshly sterilized items. 

“It could not be simpler to use this sterilizer,” our testing mom said.

“Compact” is in the eye of the beholder, and we definitely found this a bulky item to store between uses. Also, during testing we found that sterilized items come out of the microwave very hot, so it pays to use the tongs provided.

• Type: Microwave
• Capacity: 4 bottles
• Dimensions: 11 x 6.5 inches

Best Drying

Wabi baby electric steam sterilizer and dryer.

With no assembly required, the Wabi Baby Electric Steam Sterilizer and Dryer was so intuitive to use, we didn’t even need instructions. Our testing parent loved its large capacity—it holds up to eight (slim) bottles at once —plus the handy top rack for nipples and accessories. The easy to separate components made for fuss-free cleaning. 

The triple-beep alert at the end of a cycle is a nice touch, too. And because the storage function activates drying every four hours, even if you forget to unpack your items, they stay sterile for up to 12 hours. One less thing to think about when your attention’s elsewhere!

While the capacity is generous, this sterilizer’s bottle rack is not compatible with all bottles, so if larger/wider bottles are your preference, check the customer reviews before you buy. 

• Capacity: 8 bottles
• Dimensions: ‎12 x 9.5 x 14 inches 

Best with Bottle Warmer

Dr. brown's deluxe bottle warmer & sterilizer.

• Design 4.5 /5
• Ease of Use 4.9 /5
• Effectiveness 4.5 /5
• Value 4.6 /5

We loved how easy this sterilizer is to set up and disassemble for cleaning, and that it has dishwasher-safe components. The tall, slim, and sturdy design is perfect for small spaces, and the super handy lid has space for accessories and extra bits. Though we found the settings a little tricky to figure out at first, once we had them down it’s super easy to adjust to your thawing, warming, or sterilizing preferences. This device also performed quite well during our baby bottle warmer lab test .

We found that if it’s not emptied completely, this sterilizer leaks when you move it. We also wish there was a timer display, for those moments where every second counts. And while one sterilized bottle in six minutes isn’t quite up there with some of the quicker and larger devices we tried, we recommend this product for its multi-use versatility and compact design.

• Capacity: 1 bottle plus small accessories
• Dimensions: 9.8 x 5.9 x 7.9 inches

Parents / Jhett Thompson

Best Budget

Munchkin steam microwave bottle sterilizer.

• Value 4.5 /5

From the get-go we were impressed with the Munchkin Steam Microwave Bottle Sterilizer’s solid construction and compact, portable design. And the simple assembly and setup instructions were clear and easy to follow. With space for up to eight 4 ounce bottles or four 8 ounce bottles, the size was generous enough to let us pile up rinsed bottles and accessories throughout the day to place in a once-a-day cycle. We loved that it sanitizes in two to six minutes (depending on your microwave wattage), and it’s a bonus that the parts are dishwasher safe. Sure, there’s no drying function and zero bells or whistles, but for an effective, low-price option, we found this sterilizer hard to beat.

This sterilizer does not have a drying function, though we found that if we left the pieces inside drying overnight they were ready to go in the morning.

• Capacity: 4 bottles and 2 pump shields
• Dimensions: ‎12.5 x 11.3 x 6.7 inches

Best for Travel

Medela quick clean micro-steam bags.

Compact, sturdy and super easy to use, Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags are a handy, space-saving sterilization option when you’re on the road (and still have access to a microwave) or just like to keep things minimal at home. For around $30 you get a four-pack of boxes, with each box containing five bags that can be used 20 times each—allowing for 400 sterilization cycles in total. Sterilizing your bottles and accessories is as simple as sealing in the bag with some water and microwaving for a set time, depending on wattage (we found under two minutes was sufficient). With the directions and a chart for tracking usage printed on every bag, this sterilization system deserves extra points for convenience. Exactly what you need when you’re stepping outside your usual routine. 

These bags have space for two or three bottles or a pumping setup, so if you’re pumping and bottle feeding regularly, you’ll need to run several cycles per day. Also, though the bags are reusable for up to 20 times, those trying to reduce their reliance on disposable plastic won’t love this option.

• Type: Microwave bags
• Capacity: 2–3 bottles
• Dimensions: Not listed

Best for Large Bottles

Babymoov turbo pure sterilizer & dryer.

• Ease of Cleaning 4.8 /5

The simple setup and easy-to-understand instructions had us operating the Babymoov Turbo Pure Sterilizer Dryer in no time. Although this is a hefty unit (at 8 x 13 x 14 inches), we love that you can use it to sterilize, dry, and store baby bottles for up to 36 hours . Complete sterilization takes as little as eight minutes, and the large internal chamber allows for multiple bottles plus accessories in the same cycle. 

The added HEPA filter, which purifies the hot air that’s forced into the bottles, gives parents and caregivers extra peace of mind. And even though you still need to wash your bottles and bits first, we found this sterilizer does a great job of cleaning the small crevices that can be hard to reach. We also loved the ease of maintenance—just run it while empty.

This sterilizer takes up a lot of counter space. We were also confused about whether to use distilled or tap water (we opted for tap, which seemed to do the trick).

• Capacity: 6 bottles
• Dimensions: ‎8 x 13 x 14 inches

Best Modular Design

Papablic electric steam sterilizer and dryer.

• Design 4 /5
• Ease of Use 4.8 /5

The large modular design combines the functions of a microwave steam sterilizer, a bottle drying rack, and a bottle/accessories storage unit all in one appliance. Throughout testing the parent using this was impressed with the results: clear, dry bottles , nipples and accessories every time. And the dishwasher-safe baskets and components proved easy to maintain, even via a quick hand wash in soapy water. 

The single dial control to toggle between sterilizing, drying, and extra dying is convenient and clear, and you can see the cycle’s status at a glance. Given the unit’s size, it’s super handy that it also stores sanitized bottles and accessories in a sterilized environment for over 12 hours . Overall, in terms of versatility and ease of use, this sterilizer was hard to fault. 

This is a large appliance, which won’t suit people with limited counter space. We also found it couldn’t accommodate taller bottles on the prongs. Though sterilizing alone is done in eight minutes, a full sterilize and dry cycle takes 45 minutes to complete. 

• Capacity: 11 bottles
• Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.7 x 15.8 inches

Best for Busy Parents

Nanobebe microwave steam sterilizer.

If you’re pumping or bottle-feeding a lot, this sterilizer allows for multiple fuss-free and convenient cycles per day. Out of the box, the brain-like look of this unit is a little bit different, though the instructions were clear, and the setup was simple. The branch-like pegs within the chamber allowed our tester to load bottles, pump parts, and accessories in configurations that allowed steam to access every crevice for a highly effective clean. The double peg heights accommodated different bottle and accessory sizes nicely. The construction is sturdy, and the dishwasher-safe components are easy to wash in soapy water. 

Being a microwave sterilizer, each cycle is complete within four to six minutes, and with a closed lid, the contents remain sterile for up to 24 hours. This meant we were able to sterilize before bed and wake up to sanitized bottles ready for use. 

This is not a large sterilizer, so any more than four bottles per day requires multiple cycles. 

• Dimensions: 6.5 x 10 x 10.1 inches

Best Digital Display

Chicco advanced electric steam sterilizer & dryer for baby bottles.

The simple digital display on the Chicco Advanced Electric Steam Sterilizer let us keep track of every cycle, and the multiple wash/dry functions with dual size options allowed us to customize every load . (To switch from full to compact mode, you just remove a piece from the middle.) The minimalist design also makes for easy assembly and cleaning, loading, and unloading. 

This machine’s quick runtime of as little as five minutes means you can sanitize on the fly. With space for six bottles plus nipples, cap rings, lids and more, it’s also a super-convenient option if you tend to pile up your feeding gear for an end-of-day cycle. Our tester said his baby’s bottles came out clean and odor-free every time . He also loved that the drying functions removed condensation effectively, offering 24-hour storage with protection from germs. 

This is a large sterilizer that takes up a lot of counter space. We also found the lid a little flimsy, and it didn’t quite fit perfectly on top of the small basket, which may affect its performance over time.

• Capacity: 6–8 bottles
• Dimensions: ‎10.8 x 7.9 x 14.8 inches

Other Notable Bottle Sterilizers

Although none of these bottle sterilizers topped our categories in testing, they may still be of interest to you:

• Papablic Pro Sterilizer and Dryer : This machine lets you sanitize up to 13 bottles in one go, heat your baby’s food, and store sterilized bottles for up to 24 hours, all in one unit. It is a bulky sterilizer, however, and the recommended use of distilled water won’t align with everyone’s budget. It’s also noisier than other sterilizers we tried.
• Philips Avent Baby Bottle Sterilizer & Dryer Premium : While we loved the look and modular design of this sterilizer, we found its almost 15-inch tall shape was imposing in a small space. It also doesn’t fit taller 8-ounce bottles, which is surprising given its size. 
• Tommee Tippee Microwave Steam Sterilizer : The sturdiness of this sterilizer impacted its usability, with the lid latches difficult to remove. This led to hot water spills and splashes. It also doesn’t accommodate taller bottles unless you rest them on their sides, which causes condensation to pool in the bottle. 
• Dr. Brown's Clean Steam Baby Bottle and Pacifier Sterilizer and Dryer : This model scored well in terms of ease of use and effectiveness, but it takes a lot of counter space. And while the generous capacity allowed for six or seven bottles per load, we found the accessories tray a little small. 
• Minbie Sterilizer & Dryer : We like the clean, minimalist design and its ease of use. But for its height, it still has a somewhat limited capacity and wouldn’t accommodate taller bottles.

For this list, 13 staffers with babies tested 23 sterilizers in their homes and rated them in terms of design, effectiveness, ease of use, ease of cleaning, and value. We used each product at least three times per week for approximately six weeks. 

• Design: Straight out of the box, we measured assembly times, gauged the counter space required, and evaluated the sturdiness of construction. During testing we noted overall capacity, efficiency of use of space, and how easy it is to load/unload.
• Ease of Use: First we measured ease of assembly and setup, particularly whether instructions were required (and if so, how easy they were to follow). We also took note of various settings, display information, and ease of operation. While each sterilizer was operating, we measured noise levels and cycle times.
• Effectiveness: After each cycle, we rated sterilizers based on cleanliness of bottles and accessories, residual odors (if any) and overall performance. To evaluate cleanliness, we compared sterilized bottles and parts against hand-washed items. We also measured the effectiveness of bottle warming (where applicable), as well as ease of maintenance, and we assessed all functions against manufacturers’ claims. 
• Ease of Cleaning: Following manufacturer instructions, we cleaned each sterilizer, noting challenges and efficiencies. Throughout testing, we noted mold or residue buildup that required extra attention. We noted whether filtered or distilled water was recommended by the manufacturer, and evaluated whether ease of cleaning factored into our overall experience with each sterilizer. 
• Value: We tested each sterilizer blind, meaning we only looked at retail price once testing was completed. We then evaluated whether the quality justifies the ticket price and whether we’d recommend each product to others. 

We interviewed several pediatric professionals before and after our testing, including:

• Tomomi Hayashi , MD, pediatrician at Stanford Medical Children’s Health, whom we consulted to develop our test
• Elizabeth Murray, DO, MBA, pediatrician at the Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester and spokesperson for the AAP
• Cindy Scott , RD, IBCLC, of The Baby Dietitian 
• Electric Steam: Self-contained units that heat water to boiling, circulating steam around your stacked feeding items.
• Microwave Steam: Compact units that you stack with baby items, add water, seal, and heat in a microwave for a designated timeframe.
• UV Light: Water-free sterilizers that use powerful UV light to sterilize baby feeding items. Because they don’t use water, some can be used for sterilizing everyday items, like keys, wallets, and phones. 
• Combination: Some sterilizers provide extra functionality, like bottle drying and storage, bottle warming, and even food dehydration.

In terms of which method is better, dietitian Cindy Scott notes, “Currently, there is no data that shows one method is superior to the other. Boiling and steaming are considered the two most popular ways of sterilizing, which are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

• Capacity: The products we tested range in capacity from a single bottle up to 13 bottles plus accessories. If you’re looking for a sterilizer to run conveniently at the end of each day, estimate your average daily bottle usage and start shopping from there.
• Drying Capabilities: Many products have bottle-drying functionality, with some offering sanitized storage for upwards of 12 hours. As Dr. Hayashi notes, “It is important that your bottles are drying completely. If left wet, the bottle and liquid inside can breed bacteria.” If you’re not using a bottle dryer, you should at least let them dry upside down on a clean paper towel before reuse.
• Features: Timers, auto shut-off, drying/storage, bottle warming, LED displays, dishwasher-safe components—it’s important the features you choose align with how you’ll be using your sterilizer. If you tend towards a larger end-of-day load, auto shut-offs along with drying and storage functions allow you to set the machine and forget it until the next morning. If you’re more likely to clean/sanitize as you go about your day, sanitation speed is likely more important. 
• Cost: The products we tested range in price from $21 to $180, with the median price around $70. Many of our top performers retail for under $50.

How to Use Bottle Sterilizers Safely

“Don't get creative!” Dr. Murray warns. “Just follow the instructions, as the amount of water added and the time the unit is on or heated is important for effectiveness.” She adds that it’s important not to leave breast milk or formula in bottles for long periods of time. The CDC recommends discarding unused milk or formula after two hours.  

Burns: All of our top picks use steam sterilization, so items can be very hot immediately after use. Pay close attention to manufacturer safety instructions to avoid burns, and always allow bottles and accessories to cool to room temperature before using. Some sterilizers come with tongs, which can save your fingers, too.

Hygiene: Our experts agree, the number-one consideration for hygiene is that you thoroughly wash all items before sterilizing them. And as Dr. Hayashi mentions above, it’s crucial to dry feeding items completely post-sterilization, otherwise your bottles and accessories can harbor bacteria. If your sterilizer does not have a bottle drying function, simply air dry on a clean paper towel on your countertop. It’s also important to check your sterilizer for traces of mold or residue, and to wash the sterilizer components thoroughly and regularly in hot, soapy water. 

Your Questions, Answered 

How often should i sterilize my baby’s bottles.

Our experts agree, thorough washing in hot soapy water is far more important than sterilization. That said, as a matter of convenience and for a deeper clean, Dr. Hayashi recommends sterilization once daily for babies up to 6 months old, adding that a unit with a drying function can be helpful for preparing your bottles for the next day’s use. While the CDC states, “For extra germ removal, sanitize feeding items at least once daily. Sanitizing is particularly important when your baby is younger than 2 months, was born prematurely, or has a weakened immune system. 1  

How should I clean and maintain my baby bottle sterilizers? 

Every unit is different, so it pays to follow the manufacturer's instructions. It’s also important to check your sterilizer regularly for traces of mold or residue, and to wash the sterilizer components in hot, soapy water. 

Samson McDougall is a journalist, copywriter, editor and biology graduate. His work encompasses everything from web copy for science museums to writing sexual health articles for universities, info sheets for first-in-category pharmaceuticals to brand messaging for wearable touch therapy by neuroscientists. He is a father of two, and a bonafide bottle-feeding maestro.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How to clean, sanitize, and store infant feeding items .

American Academy of Pediatrics. How to sterilize and warm baby bottles safely .

Related Articles

The 5 Best Bottle Sterilizers to Keep Things Germ-free

Worried about germs on your bottles or pump parts sterilizers kill 99.9% of bacteria in minutes., by jen labracio, cpst and briana engelbrecht | fact checked by shannon vestal robson.

Kids + germs: it’s inevitable. Babies love to put anything and everything in their mouths, the dirtier the better. But when you’re talking about bottles (and pacifiers , and pump parts, and even some toys and teethers ), ensuring they’re as germ-free as possible can bring you some peace of mind. And that’s where a bottle sterilizer comes in. They’re also great to keep in mind when setting up a bottle station in your kitchen (because bottle feeding means a lot of prepping and a lot of cleaning). With that in mind , the Baby Brezza One Step Sterilizer Dryer Advanced is our top pick due to its two-in-one sterilizing plus drying feature . However, we know that all families and needs are different, so we have a few more picks to help you find the best fit for your family.

Why Trust Babylist?

Babylist is the expert in baby; we know baby gear inside and out. We talk with parents face-to-face in our showroom and on our user panels and hear from thousands of people annually via our Best Baby Products survey. We know what items millions of expecting parents are adding to their baby registries.

As a mom of two and Senior Gear editor, Jen has had the opportunity to test out dozens of bottle sterilizers during her feeding journeys and career. Briana is also a mom of two and a certified lactation counselor (CLC). We combined all of our knowledge to help choose the sterilizers on this list.

For an expert POV, I spoke with Dr.  Rebekah Diamond , a pediatric hospitalist based in New York City and author of Parent Like a Pediatrician: All the Facts, None of the Fear.

We also incorporated bottle sterilizer feedback from the experts in the trenches: thousands of parents via Babylist’s annual Best Baby Products survey, with feedback from over 6,000 Babylist users along with parents on the Babylist team.

Babylist’s Top Picks for the Best Bottle Sterilizers

Best Overall: Baby Brezza One Step Baby Bottle Sterilizer Dryer Advanced

Best Affordable Bottle Sterilizer: Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer  

Most Spacious Bottle Sterilizer : Dr. Brown's Electric Steam Sterilizer

Best for On-the-Go Sterilizing: Munchkin Jumbo Microwave Bottle Sterilizer Bags

Best Compact Bottle Sterilizer: Chicco 3-in-1 Steam Sterilizer

How We Judged

Capacity. To be the most efficient, you want a sterilizer that can fit quite a few bottles at a time. We focused on picks that can accommodate multiple bottles and their parts.

Ease of Use. If you’re going to be sterilizing your baby’s bottles frequently, you’ll want a sterilizer that is easy (and straightforward) to both use and maintain. 

Cycle Length. Not all sterilizers are created equal—some are quicker than others. Depending on how often you’re sterilizing bottles (and the capacity of the machine) you’ll want to pay attention to how long the sterilization (and drying, if it has that feature) cycle is, especially if you’re sterilizing multiple batches.

Best Overall Sterilizer

Baby Brezza One Step Baby Bottle Sterilizer Dryer Advanced - White

• High capacity can hold up to eight bottles
• HEPA-filter drying filter = 95% germ-free air
• Residue build-up is hard to clean
• Long cycle length
• Some say it doesn’t dry thoroughly

This electric sterilizer packs a two-in-one punch: it uses natural steam to sterilize bottles, pump parts and more, and features a drying function that’s 33% faster so your gear comes out completely clean and dry with no leftover moisture to encourage bacteria or mold growth (although some parents say they do occasionally need to dry leftover water off of their bottle and pump parts). The Brezza One Step Advanced holds up to eight bottles at a time and two complete pump part sets and has an easy-to-use LCD control panel with four different functions. Although it hold a lot, some parents say it takes some maneuvering to get all of the things to fit well inside.

Looking to spend a bit less? Check out Baby Brezza’s One Step Sterilizer Dryer . It holds two less bottles than the Advanced and has a slightly longer drying time but is still a great option.

Real Parent Reviews

“Love how much time this saves of sterilizing and drying…however, I have 2 huge issues with this. 1. The components don’t fit together easily. I find that I am constantly having to reposition and adjust the various parts to get them to sit together correctly. This is annoying as it specifies in the directions that a tight fit is important for it to function correctly. 2. The dry cycle sometimes fails to completely dry the bottle nipples and duckbills. I find that I will have to shake some droplets out of these parts specifically, but bottles and flanges are completely dry. Overall it saves time, but I wish that it fit together better and easier.” — Jcyph

“I love how easy it is to clean [and] sterilize bottles, has lots of room and is easy to use. I wished it would dry the bottles completely. I never overfill, sometimes I will only have one pacifier [and] 6 4oz bottles but items come out wet.” — Rori D.

Budget Friendly

Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer

• Sterilizes in just two minutes
• Easy to clean
• Requires a microwave
• Needs to air dry after sterilizing

At a fraction of the cost of other sterilizers, this microwave option is roomy, compact and easy to use. It fits four 9-ounce bottles and is compatible with both standard and wide-neck designs. Everything inside remains sterile for up to 24 hours if you keep the stay-cool latches closed. Its simple design is user-friendly. You’ll need something to measure the exact amount of water—seven ounces—each time you use it. It also doesn’t dry after sterilizing, so you’ll want to make sure you have a drying rack to set everything out to dry afterward. While it’s touted as travel-friendly, it won’t fit most hotel microwaves (but that’s where sterilizer bags come in handy; see below for our top pick). It also doesn’t fit taller bottles, like Dr. Brown’s.

“Super easy to clean and use, can steam 4 bottles at a time, and with just 4 minutes total time, it’s super easy to get through all my bottles. It’s a bit bulky so storage is a bit hard, but I find it definitely worth it because I don’t have to worry about boiling or with other steaming methods only fitting 2 bottles at a time or taking up huge space of my already limited counter space.” — Styxx

“Didn’t think we would need this but I’m so glad we put it on our registry! From bottles to pump parts to binkies, it gets a lot of use! I only wish it were a little bit taller to accommodate Dr. Brown’s full-size bottle! Super easy to pop in the microwave!” — Kelly

Quick and Roomy

Dr. Brown's Deluxe Baby Bottle Sterilizer - Gray

• Auto shut-off feature
• Cycle indicator tells you when it’s heating, cooling or finished
• Large capacity
• No drying cycle
• Uses distilled water only

In just 12 minutes, this electric sterilizer kills 99.9% of germs and automatically shuts off when the cycle is complete and your items are clean and ready to go. The spacious interior holds up to six bottles on an upper tray and has a separate lower tray to hold accessories like nipples and pacifiers. Included tongs ensure you won’t get burned if you reach in to remove items while they’re still hot.

It’s worth noting that this sterilizer requires distilled water; otherwise, mineral deposits can build up on the heating unit and flake off.

“The sterilizer is great. I loved how easy it was to assemble. It has a very small amount of pieces which makes it easy [to] clean up. It took very little time for the sterilization cycle compared to other sterilizing machines. The sterilizer includes a bottle tong and a water measurer. The bottle tong is definitely needed because the sterilizer gets really hot after the cycle ends. If there was one thing I would change is for the bottles not to be so wet after the cycle. I would like for the sterilizer to have a drying option that way the bottles and accessories are ready to use after the cycle. That is just my personal opinion. Overall it’s a great machine.” — MaitegaV

“The sterilizer is super easy to use, but there’s zero drying function, so everything comes out soaking wet. You have to wait for things to cool off, then either hand dry them or move them to a drying rack. Kind of a hassle. If you’re just needing a sterilizer though, this one is quick and easy to use.” — Kate M

Countertop Convenience

Chicco 3-in-1 Steam Sterilizer - White

• Versatile, modular design
• Sterilizes in just five minutes
• Some say it’s difficult to put together

Using the power of steam, this Chicco sterilizer features a modular design with three different configurations for sterilizing: full-size, compact and a microwave option. It takes just five minutes to complete the sterilization cycle (not including warm-up time) and with jthe push of just one button, it’s simple to use. Even in its full size, the sterilizer has a small footprint, not taking up much counter space. It can fit up to six bottles and their parts in this configuration. The compact mode is great for sterilizing smaller bottle parts and feeding accessories. And the microwaveable portion pops off for quick (and small) sterilizing jobs. Some parents say there is a learning curve when setting it up, so be sure to read through the instructions. The sterilizer’s coated heating plate prevents mineral residue from building up—making it easy to clean—and it also has an automatic shut-off for safety.

“The 3-in-1 sterilizer does exactly what you would expect it to. You can sterilize your bottles and/or pump parts on the counter in a large or small container or use it in the microwave. I have used the bags prior to this sterilizer and I was impressed. They felt cleaner. I personally like using it on the counter and the design is simple and not too much of an eye sore if left out. Once I read the directions and did a pre-clean cycle, it was as simple as pulling out of the cabinet and adding the water. I like that you can have two levels. I put the bottles and larger pump parts in the bottle and nipples and small items on top. One issue I have with the sterilizer is once you run a cycle, it says to let cool down before using again. I would like to be able to run cycles back to back and do all my baby items quickly. You also have to factor in letting it fully dry before putting it away to prevent bacteria. Because it is quite large, I most likely will use it and want to put it away to not take up so much counter space. Thankfully the design makes it easy to wipe down.” — Becca33

“I vividly remember turning down a steam sterilizer from a friend while I was pregnant. Now that my baby has been here a little while, I really dreaded having to boil all of the bottles and pump parts. My son had a rough start so, making sure everything he eats from or puts into his mouth is clean is very important. Despite rinsing immediately, sometimes our bottles have a leftover milk smell that sterilization seems to take care of. Such a time saver! It is a bit on the larger side but I do have the space and it’s worth it to me because I use it often. However, this sterilizer doesn’t dry the parts. They need to be manually dried or set out on a drying rack. For some reason, bottles can take a day to dry. I don’t generally experience this after hand washing so it might have to do with the sterilization process. Just something to note. It gets very hot, which is a good thing but be aware. This is a really great choice for a steam sterilizer, it works quickly and I feel confident that my bottles and pump parts are clean.” — dbaxter3

Great for On the Go

Munchkin Microwave Bottle Steam Sterilizer Bags (6-Pack)

• Travel-friendly
• Contents get very hot
• Won’t work if yellow tab accidentally slides off

Want to sterilize when you’re not at home? Microwave steam bags are a great option. Simply fill one of these XL bags with whatever items you need cleaned and a little bit of water, pop it in the microwave and you’re good to go. This set includes six bags and each bag can be used up to 30 times. There’s even a spot to mark each steam cycle so you can keep track of how many times you’ve used them. Just be sure to let the bag and contents cool before handling (both will be hot and there may be some steam when you open it). Some parents say the yellow closure tab comes off easily and prevents the bags from sealing properly.

“I love these bags! I have used them multiple times to sterilize bottles, pump parts, pacifiers and more and they work great. No issues here. They fit SO many things and the pack comes with 6 bags that can each be used 30 times which is a steal for the price! There’s even a section on the bag where you can check off each time you use it to help keep track which is helpful and I have used a sharpie before and after the sterilization and it completely stays on, no issues with washing off. I definitely recommend this product. I have had other sterilizing bags and products but this has been my favorite by far and the easiest to use.” — Marissa

“Love these bags! Received as a baby shower gift and have since purchased more. They are easy to use and a lifesaver for sanitizing bottles and breast pump pieces. We also have a popular electric steam sanitizer and dryer but it takes +45 min! Who has time for that! These are great when you’re short on time or just worn out or middle of the night cleanings. Great for traveling and visiting friends and family or at work when you need a clean bottle or equipment. Super easy to use, just be sure to add enough water and don’t tear off the yellow closure tab. My tired husband has forgotten to fill with water and melted my breast pump accessories before… the bag is quite large and can fit several bottles and other items in it successfully. You are working with steam—a lot of user error could occur and cause burns if [you’re] not paying attention. Apparently you’re only supposed to use each bag 30x and it has little check boxes for you to tally off.” — Ralynch

How We Chose Our Best Bottle Sterilizers

We asked thousands of real Babylist families about the baby products they love the most, then took the top products they shared with us and added our own research and insight to tell you about the best bottle sterilizers.

Types of Bottle Sterilizers

There are two types of bottle sterilizers on the market: microwave or electric. Both use steam to kill 99.9% of harmful bacteria in just a few minutes, so it’s just a matter of personal preference which one you should choose. 

Do You Need a Bottle Sterilizer?

“Bottle sterilizers aren't strictly necessary by any means,” says Dr. Rebekah Diamond , a board-certified pediatric hospitalist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University . “After initially sterilizing bottles and pump parts, the most important part of cleaning is washing with soap and water—either after each use or anytime that bottles [or] pump parts aren't refrigerated.” 

For younger babies and those who are premature or immunocompromised, sterilization adds an extra layer of protection. But for older babies, hand washing bottles with soap and warm water or running them through the dishwasher is sufficient for keeping your bottles and other baby gear clean and free of breast milk or formula . “Some parents choose to sterilize daily, which is typically recommended for younger infants, and this can be done with any heat-based method. Meaning, a dishwasher is just as safe (and often just as convenient) as a special sterilizer,” says Dr. Diamond .

So while it’s not a necessity, a bottle sterilizer might be right for you if:

Your baby was born prematurely or is medically fragile

You think a sterilizer will give you peace of mind as a new parent

You’re pumping frequently and need a quick way to regularly sterilize your breast pump parts

Babylist content uses high-quality subject matter experts to provide accurate and reliable information to our users. Sources for this story include:

Dr. Rebekah Diamond , pediatrician, professor of pediatrics at Colombia University and author of Parent Like a Pediatrician: All the Facts, None of the Fear

Jen LaBracio,

Senior gear editor, cpst.

Jen LaBracio is Babylist’s Senior Gear Editor and a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST). When she’s not geeking out over car seats, testing out a new high chair or pushing the latest stroller model around her neighborhood, she likes to run, do all things Peloton, listen to podcasts, read and spend time at the beach. In her past life, she worked for over a decade in children’s publishing. She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and their two boys, Will and Ben.

Briana Engelbrecht

Assistant editor.

Briana Engelbrecht is Babylist’s Assistant Editor, where she brings her passion for early childhood development and the perinatal period, plus experience as a mom of two to Babylist articles and guides. She’s also a certified lactation counselor. A former preschool teacher, she loves children’s picture books, cats, plants and making things.

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Best Baby Bottle Sterilizers of 2024

CR tested bottle sterilizers from Baby Brezza, Hauture, Papablic, and other brands for cleaning effectiveness and ease of use

When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more .

As a new or expectant parent, there’s a lot of joy and excitement in welcoming a baby home—but some worry, too. You’ve done everything you know to keep your baby safe: baby-proofed the home, researched the safest car seats , and bought a crib sturdy enough to withstand an earthquake. And when it comes to nursing and feeding, you want to be just as vigilant. That’s why we tested steam-based baby bottle sterilizers, consulted experts, and drew guidance from public health agencies to find the ones that will keep germs—and your worries—at bay.

Steam-cleaning baby bottle sterilizers are countertop appliances that use heat to kill germs on baby bottles. The process gets them far cleaner than just hand-washing the bottles or using a normal dishwasher cycle, which mostly washes germs away rather than killing them. That’s enough to get rid of the most potentially harmful types of germs, but microscopic organisms can still linger. By using a bottle sterilizer, you can kill the vast majority of those organisms.

Best Baby Bottle Sterilizers

• One Bottle Sterilizer to Avoid
• How CR Tests Bottle Sterilizers
• Do You Need a Bottle Sterilizer?
• How to Choose a Bottle Sterilizer

How to Use a Bottle Sterilizer

Despite their name, these devices don’t actually sterilize bottles but instead sanitize them. Sterilization is a process that reduces microorganisms to undetectable levels. Steam sterilization in an autoclave, for example, requires steam at 250° F for 30 minutes. Sanitization with steam, on the other hand, uses high heat to kill a minimum of 99.9 percent of bacteria (and, as with sterilizing, most fungi and molds).

The following baby bottle sterilizers are the ones that perform best in our tests and are recommended by CR’s experts. You can see more models and details on their performance in our full bottle sterilizer ratings .

A Baby Bottle Sterilizer to Avoid

We recommend skipping the Grownsy Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer . The manufacturer says it should run an 8-minute cycle, but when we tested it in our lab, the sterilizer stopped heating the water reservoir after a mere 90 seconds, and the interior of the sterilizer reached only 130° F. We bought a second model to test, and the second unit performed as expected based on the product’s claims, providing heat to the water reservoir for 8 minutes and bringing the sterilizer to a maximum temperature of 198° F. But when we purchased a third sterilizer to test, the item heated the water reservoir for less than 3 minutes, reaching a maximum temperature of only 150° F. Compared with other brands whose products work as expected and reached temperatures above 180° F without issue, we believe the Grownsy sterilizer might not provide safe bottles for vulnerable infants.

When we contacted the company, Grownsy told CR that premature machine shutdown is not a malfunction and that in case of premature shutdown, users can restore normal operation by applying toothpaste to the heating plate, adding 60 milliliters of water, and allowing it to boil dry. The company advises repeating this process three times. CR has not confirmed the effectiveness of this process, though, because we believe products should work as intended out of the box.

If you decide to buy the sterilizer and experience any issues, you can contact the company by email at [email protected]. Grownsy says it will help troubleshoot any issues, and it may offer a free replacement if you can’t remedy the problem. The company also said that it has “conducted comprehensive testing on all unsold products to ensure enhanced user experience.”

How CR Tests Baby Bottle Sterilizers

Our lead test engineer for bottle sterilizers, Bernie Deitrick, scores the models we test on three metrics: temperature performance, drying performance, and ease of use.

To test each sterilizer, we add the amount of distilled water specified by the manufacturer’s instructions to the sterilizer’s reservoir and run its sterilization cycle with a mixed load of plastic and glass baby bottles. Then, using a thermocouple probe to monitor the temperature inside the sterilizer, we assess temperature performance based on the amount of time the sterilizer maintains a temperature above 180° F. That temperature is capable of heating the interior of the bottles enough to kill most germs, Deitrick says. All the models that exceed 180° F pass the test, but the sterilizers that reach higher temperatures—and especially those that maintain those high temperatures for longer—receive higher scores.

Because all the models we test have fans, we assess how dry the bottles are at the end of the drying cycle. Bottles and sterilizers that are completely dry by the end of the cycle receive the highest score for that test.

In terms of ease of use, we evaluate how simple the sterilizers are to operate and how easy it was to load and unload bottles and other items in the trays. The best sterilizers are intuitive when it comes to both operating and loading, can easily accommodate a full load of bottles, and keep the bottles firmly in place throughout the cycle.

Do You Really Need a Bottle Sterilizer?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says sanitizing baby bottles is important for babies up to 2 months old and for babies with weak immune systems (for instance, if they’re premature or suffer from an illness or autoimmune disease, or if they undergo medical treatments that weaken the immune system, like chemotherapy).

Most babies older than 2 months will have built a strong enough immune system that will make them less susceptible to getting sick from bacteria and other microbes. At that point, cleaning bottles with the dishwasher set at its standard cycle is fine, says Kelly Reynolds, PhD, director of the Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson. It’s also satisfactory to scrub them by hand with soap and hot water (with a bottle brush or other clean tool) before air-drying.

Baby bottle sterilizers are certainly a convenient choice, but they’re not the only way to sanitize bottles. A dishwasher with a sanitizing cycle (make sure it’s certified by the NSF , formerly the National Sanitation Foundation) can also adequately sanitize baby bottles.

You can also sanitize baby bottles by submerging them in a big pot of water, boiling for 5 minutes, then air-drying. Or, per the CDC, you can soak bottles for 2 minutes in a gallon of water mixed with 2 teaspoons of bleach, then air-dry.

How to Choose a Baby Bottle Sterilizer

Most steam sterilizers are tall, boxy receptacles powered by an electric heating system. But there are a few features that vary from model to model. Here’s what to consider.

Fit: Most products can accommodate several shapes and sizes of baby bottles, but some work best using shorter bottles. For instance, many models have a tray that sits above the bottle tray for nipples and accessories, but the upper tray might not fit under the sterilizer lid if you’re using tall baby bottles, so you might need to run additional items in a separate cycle.

Trays: All models have at least one tray to hold baby bottles in place (upside-down so that they dry thoroughly). Some have an extra tray for the nipples and other small items, such as pacifiers. 

Prongs: Some products have long prongs that keep the bottles in place. Others have very short prongs that make the bottles a little more unwieldy, but they make the bottle tray more flexible in terms of what you can load in it.

Fans: Some models have a fan that draws air through a filter to help dry the bottles faster—typically within an hour. Others don’t have fans, so you’ll need to air-dry, which can take several hours. (The models we test all have a fan-assisted drying cycle.)

Filters: Some models have HEPA filters, which reduce the possibility of recontamination by the air that is blown over the bottles during the drying cycle.

Products might vary, but generally speaking, start by washing and rinsing your bottles thoroughly in the sink or a regular dishwasher cycle to get rid of all food residue. Then, load them into the sterilizer, add water to the sterilizer’s reservoir, and turn it on. The sterilizer heats the water in the reservoir to create the steam that kills germs. Bottle sterilizer cycles are fast, usually taking around 10 minutes or less to sanitize. Some have fans for drying cycles, which can take up to 60 minutes to dry the bottles, though some manufacturers claim their products take considerably less time.

A Note on Heating Plastic Bottles

If you want to use a sterilizer, the microwave, or the hot cycle on your dishwasher, these are best paired with bottles that are glass or silicone.

That’s because when plastic is heated to high temperatures, it can leach chemicals and release microplastics . If you do sterilize plastic bottles, rinsing the inside of the bottle with water that has been boiled and cooled after the sterilization step may reduce the level of microplastics, says John Boland, PhD, professor of chemistry at Trinity College Dublin and author of a 2020 research paper (PDF) on the topic.

Read more about how to reduce the risk of potentially harmful chemicals , including BPA and phthalates, in baby bottles.

Molly Bradley

Molly Bradley is a home and appliance writer at Consumer Reports. Before joining CR in 2023, she managed the editorial team at Digg, and has devoted her career to helping readers navigate the world and make their lives a little easier, elucidating topics in technology and culture. Molly earned a master’s degree in writing from Bennington College and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with her cat, Saltine. Follow her on X @mollyguinn .

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Tommee Tippee Steridryer Electric Steam Sterilizer & Dryer 52228520

Dr. brown's bottle sterilizer and dryer ac177, babymoov turbo pure sterilizer & dryer, wabi electric steam sterilizer, grownsy baby bottle sterilizer and dryer, hauture baby bottle sterilizer, papablic electric steam sterilizer, philips avent advanced electric steam sterilizer scf29300, baby brezza baby bottle sterilizer advanced, baby brezza one step baby bottle sterilizer.

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Best sterilisers for baby bottles, breast pumps and more

Whether electric, microwave, cold water or travel sterilisers suit you best, you’ll find tips and top scorers aplenty on this page. Here we reveal the best sterilisers to buy in 2024.

By Rachel Jeffcoat | Last updated Aug 20, 2024

In the hazy days with a new baby, keeping them safe is the number one priority – and also likely to be the biggest source of anxiety for parents. A steriliser can be used to kill bacteria found on lots of different baby feeding equipment like baby bottles, teats and breast pump parts. But which is the best steriliser to make your feeding schedules easier to juggle? After our latest intensive round of testing, we’ve got all the information you’ll need about our favourites.

It's been Mumsnet's mission to make parents' lives easier for over 20 years, so we know how much difference choosing the right product can make. That's why we obsessively research, review and vet everything we recommend - from the best breast pumps to the best changing bags .

We commissioned Rachel Jeffcoat, a writer and mum of three, to research and review the top sterilisers out there. As a parent to an eight-, six- and two-year-old, all of whom were combination-fed as babies, Rachel has years of experience using a wide variety of baby equipment, including sterilisers. As a writer, she’s written extensively on parenthood, including Mumsnet’s reviews on the best baby sleeping bags and the best baby bottles . After in-depth research and parent-led testing, we have the results.

Here are the best sterilisers to buy right now.

Best sterilisers at a glance

Best overall steriliser: Tommee Tippee Super Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser

Best budget steriliser: Medela Quick Clean Microwave Bags

Best cold water steriliser: Milton Cold Water Steriliser

Best travel steriliser: Milton Solo Travel Steriliser

Best large steriliser: Dr Brown’s Deluxe Electric Steam Steriliser

Best steriliser for drying: Nuby Natural Touch Steriliser and Dryer

Tommee Tippee Super-Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser

Takes up very little space on the kitchen counter

Sturdy and safe materials and design

Inexpensive to run

Large capacity

Simple interface to use with rapid sterilisation cycle

Not the most budget-friendly electric steriliser we tested, and a more expensive initial outlay than microwave or travel versions

Doesn’t fit extra-tall bottles, like Dr Brown’s

Doesn’t have any extra features – just a simple sterilisation cycle

Price: £50 | Capacity: Approximately six bottles | Materials: BPA-free plastics and metal electrical components | Included: Steriliser and teat tongs – larger sets are also available to buy

Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Tommee Tippee Super Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser review

Tommee Tippee has put a great deal of thought into the redesign of their electric steam steriliser and it really shows. The Tommee Tippee Super-Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser is made from tough BPA-free plastics and is exceptionally straightforward to use, with plenty of room for bottles and breast pump parts over two tiers.

It takes one touch of a button to start a cycle and, if you have any accompanying Tommee Tippee bottles, each bottle is clearly marked to show how much water to add to the steriliser – a thoughtful touch that our tester really appreciated.

The sterilisation cycle is just five minutes, one of the shortest from an electric steriliser we tested. If the lid isn’t removed, everything inside stays sterile for 24 hours after running a cycle. While the initial outlay is more than a microwave steriliser, it’s considerably cheaper to run. Altogether, the Tommee Tippee Super-Steam is a reliable, thoughtfully-designed steriliser that’s widely available, well-supported and should do its job consistently over time – a lifesaver to an overloaded new parent and a worthy winner of this year’s Mumsnet Best Steriliser award.

Good for parents who...

Use Tommee Tippee bottles and other Tommee Tippee baby products

Get through up to six bottles a day

Want an electric steam steriliser but don’t have a lot of kitchen workspace available

Read next: The best highchairs for babies and toddlers

Medela Quick Clean Microwave Bags

They cost about the same as your fortnightly nappy bill, but will last three times longer

Small and portable – great for small kitchens, grandparents’ houses and holidays

Quick three-minute cycle

No assembly, pre-cycle or cleaning required

Each bag can be reused up to 20 times

Can only sterilise two bottles per cycle – so if you’re getting through more than four bottles a day it’s fairly labour-intensive

Requires a microwave to work

No measuring jug included

Price: £11 | Capacity: Two bottles | Materials: BPA-free plastic | Included: 5 bags

Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Medela Quick Clean Microwave Steriliser Bag review

For parents on a budget that won’t allow for a £50 to £80 outlay, or babies who spend time with grandparents, childminders or away on holiday, Medela's reusable Quick Clean Microwave Bags are reliable, compact and surprisingly good value for money.

The box contains five capacious, well-designed bags that can fit two bottles apiece and each bag can be reused 20 times, so they’re much more economical than they might first appear.

Made from tough plastic with a good seal, a cool marked area to hold the bag without burning fingers, and a hole to pour out the water safely before opening, they’re safe and well-designed. The instructions are printed on each bag and there’s also a tick chart so you can keep track of how many times the bag has been used.

The caveat is that you’ll need a microwave to use them, which might not always be available – and, more importantly, sterilising just two bottles at a time won’t be feasible if you’re bottle-feeding full-time.

Have a small kitchen

Are on a tight budget that doesn’t allow for large outlays in one go

Need to sterilise every day, but not intensively

Read next: The best sippy cups, according to Mumsnetters

Milton Cold Water Steriliser

Can easily be scaled up and down for different quantities of equipment and equipment in awkward shapes

Inexpensive to buy and maintain

Items remain sterile for 24 hours and can be added and removed as necessary

The large bucket should be kept out of reach of children when in use and will take up the sink or a reasonable amount of counter space

The sterilisation fluid smells of chlorine – and so will the baby equipment and your kitchen

Price: £17 | Capacity: Six bottles, plus breast pump parts | Materials: Plastic | Included: Container and weighted grid

Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Milton Cold Water Steriliser review

Milton’s cold water sterilising solution has retained its foothold in the market for 70 years. It involves dissolving tablets or fluid into a sturdy five-litre container of water and submerging items in it for 15 minutes as per manufacturer instructions. The bucket comes with a locking lid and a weighted grid to keep items submerged. They’ll remain sterile in the solution for 24 hours and more items can be added as and when they’re used.

There’s a simplicity and low-tech flexibility about the Milton Cold Water Steriliser that lends itself well to scaling up for large piles of gear (using the correct number of tablets in any clean container would also work) – one of the reasons it’s popular on maternity wards and with parents of multiple babies. Just make sure you don’t mind the inevitable swimming pool smell – and keep the large bucket out of reach of children as it’s heavy when full.

Have multiple babies, use a lot of bottles per day or want to sterilise a variety of items including breast pumps, toys and dummies

Want a solution that doesn’t affect the energy bill

Related: The best nappy bins to keep your home pong-free

Milton Solo Travel Steriliser

Can be stored in a cupboard when not in use

Keeps items sterile for 24 hours

Can be used in the microwave or with cold water sterilising solution

Short two-minute cycle in the microwave or a 15-minute cycle with cold water

Can fit most bottle brands (though not very tall ones, like Dr Brown’s)

It’s not as roomy as the microwave steriliser bags like the ones made by Philips or Medela, which can usually fit two bottles or a bottle and a breast pump – this fits one or the other

When filled with water, it leaks while on its side

The width of the unit means it’s hard to open when wet or very hot

Price: £11 | Capacity: One bottle | Materials: BPA-free plastic  | Included: Steriliser only

Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Milton Solo Steriliser review

Because travel sterilisers need to be compact enough to carry around, they’re usually short on bells and whistles. What we loved about the Milton Solo was that, travel steriliser or not, it’s more adaptable and comes with more useful design features than any other travel model we tested.

Generously sized for a bottle or breast pump parts, it can be microwaved or used with cold water sterilising solution, whichever works best for where you are. Its width does mean you’ll need both hands to open it though, which can be tricky when it’s hot or wet.

Items inside stay sterile for 24 hours and the lid is designed with a flat lip so it can be laid horizontally in a smaller microwave – a useful feature we didn’t find in any other travel steriliser.

Need a steriliser for travel or to live at a grandparent’s or childminder’s house

Want the flexibility of microwave and cold water sterilisation in one unit

Have a small microwave that wouldn’t fit a steriliser upright

Read next: The best baby bath tubs, tried and tested

Dr Brown’s Deluxe Electric Steam Steriliser

Professional-looking display indicates which stage the cycle is at

Spacious interior for larger bottles

Accessories basket makes it easier to retrieve smaller items

Measuring jug and tongs included

Items inside stay sterile for 24 hours

Eight-minute cycle not the quickest we tested

Short wire limits where it can be placed on the counter

More expensive than some other electric models, like the Tommee Tippee Super-Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser or the Nuby Natural Touch

Price: £110 | Capacity: Six bottles | Materials: BPA-free plastics and metal electrical components | Included: Sterilisation unit, measuring jug and tongs

Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Dr Brown's Deluxe Electric Steam Steriliser review

This Mumsnet Best winner is a spacious, professional-looking steriliser with a main compartment for six bottles and a top compartment for smaller items like dummies and teats.

Instructions are clear and easy to follow, but the Dr Brown’s Deluxe Electric Steam Steriliser is really intuitive to use – three lights on the front let you know instantly whether the eight-minute cycle is heating up, cooling down or completed.

The accessories basket locks shut, which is great for little fingers, and as the Dr Brown’s bottles are the largest on the market, there’s plenty of room inside to sterilise a full day’s worth of bottles at once.

Like any electric steriliser, it attracts limescale on its heating plate so will need regular descaling. Our tester also didn’t like its short cable, which limits where it can be placed in the kitchen, and that it arrived wrapped in a lot of unnecessary plastic.

If you’re bottle-feeding full-time, however, and need something reliable that will fit in all of your gear, the Dr Brown’s Electric Steam Steriliser is a good choice.

Use Dr Brown’s bottles already

Are bottle-feeding full-time or otherwise getting through a lot of equipment per day

Have room on their kitchen counter for a permanent fixture

Read next: The best baby wipes Mumsnetters swear by

Nuby UV Baby Bottle Steriliser

Super fast - only takes 3 minutes to sterilise

Chemical and water free - uses UV light to sterilise

You can use it on other items too such as breast pumps and mobile phones

Looks stylish

Bottles need to be dry before you put them in

Does not include any extras such as bottle and dummy

Not recommended for latex items

Price: £73 | Capacity: Not specified, reviewers claim two bottles | Materials: Fabric outer | Included: Sterilisation unit, power plug and metal tray

Brand tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Nuby Natural Touch Steriliser review

Want a steriliser which looks good and can sterilise electric items such as your mobile phone as well as your baby's bottles? Enter the UV steriliser.

While you do need to make sure items are completely dry before popping them in, the UV steriliser is very quick and simple to use, and it looks great too! The capacity isn't quite so large as the likes of Dr Brown's, but thanks to its super speedy run time, the Nuby claims to use less electricity than standard plug-in sterilisers.

Want a steriliser which doesn't rely on water

Need a super fast steriliser

Read next: The best baby monitors, tried and tested

More of the best sterilisers: tried and tested

We're now mixed feeding and I've got the MAM one. It's brilliant. Get it from Amazon though as it's cheaper.

Alpacamystuff

MAM 6-in-1 Electric Steriliser and Express Bottle Warmer

I have the Nuby UV one and I love it. I wash the bottles and let them air dry and then put them in there dry for three minutes and it's done!

Nuby UV Steriliser

I had the Avent steriliser at home. It was easy - I could put the bottles straight from the dishwasher in to the steriliser.

Philips Avent Microwave Steam Steriliser

Why do I need a steriliser?

According to the NHS , sterilising feeding equipment is necessary for the first 12 months to keep your baby free from bacteria that could harm their brand-new immune systems. If you’re planning on expressing breast milk, combination feeding or using a dummy during your baby’s first year, you’ll need to sterilise all the relevant baby equipment after every use.

Midwife and antenatal teacher Kate Bennett says, “Babies are particularly vulnerable to infections from bacteria, viruses and fungi in their first year of life as their immune systems are very immature. It’s good practice to reduce the risk of needless germs from feeding equipment in particular as this can make your baby very poorly, including symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and oral thrush.”

What should I use a steriliser for?

As well as baby bottles, teats and breast pump parts, you'll also want to steriliser dummies and teething rings, ideally once a day unless they are dropped on the floor outside.

Baby plates and bowls , cutlery and sippy cups will also need to be sterilised if they’re used before six months but, after that, washing in hot soapy water should be sufficient.

Should you sterilise baby bottles every time?

By the time they’re a year old, your baby’s immune system is much better developed so you can ease off sterilising toys and dummies then.

However, Kate says, “It is always recommended to sterilise your baby’s bottles and teats for as long as you continue using them. This is because milk and milk curds can remain in small amounts in the teat and bottle, and the bugs that feed on them can cause stomach upsets.”

How do I sterilise baby equipment?

The NHS advises that all used equipment – bottles, teats and breast pump parts that come into contact with milk – are cleaned as soon as possible after use using hot soapy water. A bottle brush should be used to clean inside bottles and teats can be turned inside to get into the nooks and crannies.

If you prefer, you can put bottles through the dishwasher (check your breast pump instructions to see which parts are dishwasher-safe, if any) – just make sure bottles, lids and teats are facing downwards, and remember that dishwashing cleans items but doesn’t sterilise them so you’ll still need to do that.

After cleaning, rinse off each item in cold, clean water and then you’re ready to sterilise. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly, especially when positioning items in the steriliser and adding the correct amount of water or sterilisation solution.

After the sterilisation cycle is complete, you can leave the items inside without opening the lid and they’ll remain sterile for a set period of time (often 24 hours, but it varies between products). Or you can take them out and use them once they’re cool.

It’s best to use sterile tongs to handle teats afterwards to prevent contamination, and the majority of sterilisers come with a pair – put the tongs in with the cycle and you know they’re OK to use.

Don’t rinse equipment off again afterwards as the water won’t be sterile. You don’t need to dry them as the cloth likely isn’t sterile either – just shake off the excess moisture and make sure it’s cooled down completely.

When can you stop sterilising baby bottles?

Guidance from the NHS recommends sterilising for at least the first 12 months. After your baby's first birthday, you can start phasing our sterilising as their immune system will be strong enough. However, it's important to continue cleaning all bottles, dummies and other feeding equipment thoroughly even after you've said goodbye to the sterilising tablets.

What are the different types of steriliser?

The type of steriliser that’s right for you will depend on your baby’s routine as well as your environment, so it’s perfectly alright to wait till after the birth – maybe buying a box of sterilisation bags as an interim measure – and assess your sterilising needs in the days and weeks afterwards.

Kate Bennett says, “This is such an individual choice. It depends on what you find easiest, what your budget is and how much space you have. That’s before you think about what you’ll be sterilising and how you plan to feed your baby.”

There are four main sterilisation units on the market: cold water sterilisers, microwave sterilisers, electric sterilisers and travel sterilisers. They all have their own pros and cons.

1. Cold water steriliser

Cold water sterilisers involve filling a container with water and adding sterilisation tablets or fluid to make a sterilisation solution. The active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, which is a mild bleach that has been through a purification process to make it stable and non-toxic. It’s perfectly safe to use, but does smell vaguely of swimming pool.

The great advantage of cold water sterilisation is its flexibility. The Milton Cold Water Steriliser, for example, is a large five-litre bucket and, with the right number of tablets, an even bigger container could be used, which puts no limit on the amount of equipment you could sterilise at once (great for parents of multiples!).

The items are sterile after a manufacturer-recommended 15-minute cycle – the NHS recommends 30 minutes – and remain so for as long as they’re in the solution. Plus, they don’t need rinsing off when they’re needed. Items can continue to be added and removed as necessary over 24 hours when the solution will need to be remade.

The disadvantages are the smell, the need to continually buy new tablets and the inconvenience of keeping a large container full of water in a corner of your kitchen – especially relevant if you have other small children.

2. Electric steriliser

Electric sterilisers are units set over a heating plate that heats up water and sterilises the contents with steam. They’re usually generously sized, so can handle up to a day’s worth of bottles all at once, and require almost no preparation and no further outlay to use them regularly.

To sterilise, simply add the right amount of water to the heating plate and press a button – it’s quick and easy to do. The sterilisation cycle also tends to be shorter than with cold water sterilisation. The electricity required to run a cycle in one of these will almost always cost less than using a microwave steriliser.

On the downside, the heating plate will almost certainly attract limescale over time so the steriliser will need descaling once or twice a month. You can buy descaling liquid for this, though all steriliser brands now include instructions for natural descaling liquid from store cupboard ingredients which is a more eco-friendly option. Electric sterilisers are also the most expensive to buy.

3. Microwave steriliser

Microwave sterilisers also use steam to sterilise their contents, which may appeal to you if you prefer to sterilise without chemicals.

They are essentially a large, round, plastic box with a screw-on lid, usually with an internal basket to hold the bottles. Water is poured into the bottom (under the basket) and in the microwave it boils to create steam.

The advantage of microwave sterilisers is that they’re more capacious than travel models but smaller than electric ones, so they can be stored out of sight. The length of the cycle is almost always shorter than using an electric steriliser, too, which might come in handy with a very hungry baby.

Usually, they’re of a size that isn’t truly portable, however, and you still might find it inconvenient to find the cupboard space or take it with you to a grandparent’s house. Some of the larger models might not fit inside more compact modern microwaves either.

Plus, they’re usually more expensive to run than electric sterilisers as they have a smaller capacity (so you’ll be running more cycles) and microwaves ultimately use more energy.

4. Travel steriliser

Babies still need feeding on holiday (who knew?) so travel sterilisers are designed to provide a portable solution that works on the go.

Most of them are cup-shaped microwave sterilisers large enough for one bottle or one breast pump – though you might not always have access to a microwave when away from home so look out for ones that can be used with cold water solution as well.

Microwave steriliser bags have also become more popular in the last few years. These are reusable pouches made from a tough plastic and work by sealing baby equipment in the pouch with some water and microwaving for a set time. These tend to be more roomy than the cup model, with the best fitting two bottles in at a time, and able to be reused around 20 times per bag.

If you’re using bottles and breast pumps regularly but not intensively, you might find that a travel steriliser is sufficient for your needs – it’s certainly cheaper to buy and easier to throw into a drawer. If you’re bottle-feeding full-time, though, sterilising one or two bottles at a time will be too inefficient and labour-intensive to manage.

5. UV steriliser

Relatively new to the steriliser market are UV sterilisers, which use UV light to kill bacteria. Their versatility means that you can use them to pretty much sterilise anything, including mobile phones and keys, however some UV sterilisers may not be suitable for sterilising natural rubber and latex (think certain dummies and the ever-popular Sophie La Girafe).

While they tend to take longer to sterilise things than a steam steriliser, the advantage of a UV steriliser is that you don't have to contend with equipment that's hot to the touch after sterilisation, making them a safer option for most households. You also won't need to do any descaling after use.

What makes a steriliser safe?

Electric sterilisers sold in the EU should have the CE marking somewhere on the box or instructions. This indicates that the steriliser complies with relevant EU legislation on health, safety and environment standards.

Plastic used in any steriliser part should be BPA-free – the manufacturer almost always declares this on their website, but if they don’t you can follow up with their customer service department.

Electric, microwave and travel sterilisers using steam will all get very hot, so the usual cautions apply: wait the recommended amount of time before opening the lid after a cycle has completed, open the lid away from you to redirect any steam, use oven gloves to retrieve from the microwave if necessary, and of course keep any hot items away from children.

For cold water sterilisers, a full container will be very heavy and should be kept away from children so they can’t pull it over onto their head. Sterilisation fluid is made from sodium hypochlorite, a mild, non-toxic bleach that decomposes into water and a small amount of salt.

If sterilisation fluid is accidentally ingested by a child, Milton advise : “Because of the salt in the solution in the bottle, the child will usually spit the fluid out, or, at worst, be sick. If they are not sick, there should be no need to worry but a concerned parent can give the child a drink of milk. Because milk is a protein, it will neutralise the Milton solution. The Milton Sterilising Fluid formula should be neutralised by the saliva proteins and break down into salt and water. However, it is always best to seek medical advice or contact your GP to ensure complete safety."

How do I choose a steriliser?

1. capacity.

If you’re bottle-feeding or expressing full-time, you’re likely to get through a large pile of equipment in a 24-hour period and you don’t want to spend all of it refilling the steriliser.

If you mostly breastfeed and give an expressed bottle on occasions, your needs will be different. Sterilising no more than once or twice in 24 hours is ideal, so look for the stated bottle capacity and see whether it matches your expected daily use. Don’t forget to measure your microwave before buying a microwave steriliser to check it will fit.

2. Storage requirements

Do you have enough kitchen counter space to keep a sterilising unit out all the time? Would you want to if you did? Electric units usually stay plugged in on the counter – they’re too large to store and too bulky for it to be convenient to move them often.

Microwave sterilisers are smaller, but not exactly portable. They could sit on top of the fridge or stay in the microwave itself if you’d rather not keep them out.

3. Cycle time

The length of a sterilisation cycle varies wildly between brands. If you’ve got a set-up where you intend to batch-sterilise once a day, a longer cycle won’t matter so much. But if you’re planning on sterilising more often, you won’t want to wait by the steriliser juggling a hungry baby.

This only applies to electric sterilisers but is worth bearing in mind nonetheless. Several make loud beeps at the beginning and end of their cycle and some even during, making a dishwasher-like hum.

The beeping especially might be inconvenient with a sleeping baby in the house so you may want to check that before you buy.

How do I descale and clean a steriliser?

Electric sterilisers attract limescale on their heating plate over time so will need regularly descaling (manufacturers will specify a frequency, but it’s usually once or twice a month). To reduce limescale build-up, pour out the water after every use and wipe down with a soft damp cloth.

To descale, you’ll need descaling solution which you can easily buy in supermarkets – though most brands now give instructions for an eco-friendly version using vinegar. Pour in the solution over the heating plate and leave to soak for between 30 minutes and 24 hours, depending on the extent of the limescale. Pour out, rinse with cool water, wipe with a damp cloth, then run an empty cycle before using the steriliser as normal.

Microwave, travel and cold water sterilisers can be cleaned with hot soapy water as needed, and many can also go in the dishwasher (check the manufacturer’s instructions first). It’s not necessary to run an empty cycle after washing.

How much do sterilisers cost?

Electric sterilisers are unsurprisingly the most expensive. The cheapest starts at about £40 and they go all the way up to around £90, depending on the functionalities. They use less electricity than microwaves and should cost you around 25p a month in energy bills.

Microwave sterilisers vary wildly from around £12 to £40 – the more expensive ones will likely have small extra features like lockable lids or more robust plastic, but there’s not much variation in style regardless of price.

The bestselling cold water steriliser is Milton’s, at £17.99, but the point of cold water sterilisation is that it can be done in any container of any size. You’ll always have the ongoing expense of sterilisation tablets, though these shouldn’t set you back more than £1.50 or so a month.

Being much smaller, travel sterilisers are less expensive, retailing at about £10 for a cup-style model or a box of five sterilising bags. As their capacity is so much smaller, this will only be a long-term saving if you’re not using lots of equipment daily.

How real-life comparative testing makes Mumsnet Reviews unique

While all reviews must be subjective to a degree, we believe that the best way to judge one product against another is for a single tester to use them all in their own kitchen, in real-life circumstances and over some time.

Our tester, Maisie, is a mum of three with a six-year-old, four-year-old and an 11-month-old baby. She spent six months testing the shortlisted products with her own bottles and breast pump parts, each for a minimum of 10 days.

She looked at whether each steriliser was available from a wide range of retailers, whether you’d need to buy any extras separately and whether it was possible to buy replacement parts.

She also assessed the amount of unnecessary packaging, the usefulness of the instructions and whether there was a warranty or a customer helpline available, before timing how long it took to get the steriliser ready to use.

Then, during day-to-day use, she looked at materials and finishings, how hot the steriliser got during use, how easy it was to knock lids off or knock the steriliser over, and whether there were any trailing wires or other hazards.

She noted how many bottles or breast pump parts could fit comfortably into the steriliser, how long the cycle was, how loud the unit was in use (if appropriate), and how big the product’s footprint was on the kitchen counter.

She also assessed how easy it was to clean or descale (if appropriate). For microwave or travel models, she washed them in the dishwasher with items covered in pasta sauce to see how they coped and knocked them over to see if they leaked in transit.

Finally, she looked at whether the steriliser represented good value for money considering the features it provided for a wide customer base, noting whether or not she’d buy another if the sample model broke.

During the tests, each product was scored from zero to eight in six key categories: purchase and assembly, safety and stability, day-to-day use, cleanliness, aesthetics and value for money. The scores were then added up and five stand-out products were given coveted Mumsnet Best awards. Five more were given honourable mentions.

How we tested and chose our recommendations

We commissioned Rachel Jeffcoat, a writer and mum of three, to research and review the top sterilisers out there. As a parent to an eight-, six- and two-year-old, all of whom were combination-fed as babies, Rachel has years of experience using a wide variety of baby equipment, including sterilisers. As a writer, she’s written extensively on parenthood, including Mumsnet’s reviews on the best baby sleeping bags and the best baby bottles .

Rachel spent 10 hours researching the current steriliser market. She looked into the different sterilisation modes and scoured the market for cutting-edge new products as well as old established favourites. She read scores of user reviews, including those in the Mumsnet forums , and collated Amazon and Which? bestsellers.

She investigated best practice safety recommendations from the NHS and sourced expert advice from Kate Bennett, a midwife of nine years and course teacher with antenatal education provider, New Life Classes .

Finally, she narrowed down her list of choices to 14 testing candidates from a mixture of sterilisation categories, brands and price points. After in-depth research and parent-led testing, we have the results.

Why you should trust our reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real parents. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust – brands can’t pay to be featured in our articles or win a Mumsnet Best award.

We spend hours researching, speaking to parents, analysing data and listening to experts before we test out the products on our shortlist.

Transparency is really important to us and that's why we're always upfront about how we tested the products we recommend. We won't always recommend the cheapest products or the ones with the most extra features. We write about products that we feel offer the best value to most parents – the ones we'd recommend to our own friends and family.

There's no incentive for us to be lazy with our research or in our testing process. There's no reason for us to respond to pressure from retailers or brands trying to promote new products. It's actually quite the opposite and we think it's a good system, one that keeps us focused on making parents lives' easier.

About the author

Rachel Jeffcoat has worked for 15 years as an editor and writer, after starting her career managing science and technology journals.

She now writes and edits for businesses, including some in the nursery retail sector, and has worked with the Mumsnet Reviews team for several years. She has also had essays and poetry published in Huff Post, Fourth Trimester Magazine and Dear Damsels. She has three small children.

The Best Baby Bottle Brushes and Sterilizers of 2024

Get baby bottles and sippy cups clean — really clean! — with tools recommended by experts and parents.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Best Overall

Oxo tot bottle brush 2-pack.

Dr. Brown's Baby Bottle Brush with Sponge Three-Pack

Boon Cacti Bottle Cleaning Brush Set

Once you and your baby have settled on a favorite baby bottle or a sippy cup , there is the matter of keeping it clean. Many pieces can be washed on the top rack of your dishwasher , but for quick turnarounds, you'll likely want to use a bottle brush to hand-wash items. It's also smart to occasionally sanitize bottles and sippy parts, as well as breast pump parts , to keep everything as germ-free as possible.

Bottles can pick up germs from your kid's mouth, but they can pick up more as they hit other surfaces too. "They can also grow mold or fungi and spread infections like thrush, a common fungal infection of the mouth," says Dr. Mona Amin, D.O., IBCLC., a pediatrician and mom to a baby and a preschooler. "It’s important to clean and sterilize a bottle before the first use, then clean it after each use thereafter." And germs aren't just unsanitary. "Yes, mold and bacteria can get your child sick. But a dirty bottle or sippy parts can also affect the taste of what you're serving," says Nicole Papantoniou, Good Housekeeping's Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab Director.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute , we pulled together bottle brush reviews, opinions and advice from multiple GH Institute Labs, including our Parenting Lab, Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab and Home Care and Cleaning Lab. We also polled parents to find what is working best for them. If you're looking for more articles about feeding your baby, see our rankings of the best baby formulas and best organic baby food , as well as lists of more feeding tools such as the best baby spoons and baby bowls .

This is our staff favorite thanks to the smaller cleaning brush that stashes so neatly in the end of the wand, and the stand that catches water drips before they pool on your counter. (It's easy to clean the stand as needed.) "The nipple cleaner piece is essential," a mom of a 7-month-old told us, "And the little stand keeps you organized — always having a place to set the brush."

We like that this brush combines soft bristles with firmer ones. It's a long-handled bottle brush, a little over a foot long, and the wand flexes a bit so you can really reach every part of a bottle. It got no complaints from our staff moms, but we noticed that some online reviewers wrote that the bristles can mash down over time.

If you're looking for a brush that can handle water bottles with straw tops, like the kind that older kids and adults use (hello, Stanley cup fans!), see the brand's OXO Tot Water Bottle and Straw Cup Cleaning Set instead.

RELATED: Best Bottle Warmers

Some parents we polled swear by this sponge-top bottle brush. "I just think it gets in the little crevices better," one mom of two told us. You get three bottle brushes in this affordable set, which has more than 47,000 five-star Amazon reviews.

The sponge top can lather well and is softer than bristles. However, our Home Care & Cleaning Lab Executive Director, Carolyn Forté , cautions that sponges also break down faster than bristles do. Rather than a detail brush, the small end of this wand is simply ridged plastic meant to scrape out the inside of a bottle nipple. The brush can stand upright in its suction-cup base, or you can suction that base to the side of your sink or fridge and hang the bottle brush from it — it works either way.

If your baby uses Dr. Brown's bottles with the vent down the middle, the brand also sells detail brushes specifically made to clean the vents.

RELATED: The Good Housekeeping Parenting Awards

This wins for the most adorable bottle brush set since it looks like a little collection of cacti on your counter. The largest cactus lifts up to reveal a bristled bottle brush head. The three smaller ones are various detail brushes for scrubbing straws, bottle nipples and the threading where a bottle top meets the bottom.

Not surprisingly, the online reviews are mostly about this being cute, but the brushes are also effective. If you like the faux-garden effect you could pair it with Boon's Lawn , a countertop drying rack that mimics a rectangle of green grass.

Related: The Best Dish Soaps

haakaa Silicone Cleaning Brush Kit

Some parents may prefer silicone to sponges or brushes with plastic bristles. S ilicone is nonabrasive, so the brush itself is very easy to clean and sanitize, and food doesn't get stuck in the nubs. However, if you're strictly using this to clean the inside of a baby bottle, gunked-on food is not really a problem. We think this silicone brush might be more useful for cleaning out something with food inside, such as an older child's thermos when it comes back in the lunchbox.

Philips Avent Premium Baby Bottle Sterilizer

For effectively sterilizing baby bottles, bottle parts, pump parts, pacifiers and anything else that can handle steam sterilization, we like the simplicity of this machine that both sterilizes and dries . Bottles go in the large bottom and smaller parts fit on a rack that sits above them. Add water to the reservoir (don't go over the capacity line), hit a button and your baby goods will be sterilized in about 10 minutes and dry after about 40 minutes. We like that it shuts itself off, in case you want to set it and go to sleep. It comes with tongs if you want to remove bottles right away while they're still hot.

Note that you still want to wash items with soapy water and rinse them clean before you sterilize them to kill germs. It's not necessary to sterilize bottles every day unless your infant is very young, immunocompromised or sick. You can just sterilize bottles when they are new and when they get germy. At about a foot long and 7.5 inches deep, this needs some counter space but not too much.

Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer

A less expensive sterilization tool is a microwave sterilizer, though of course, you'll need a microwave to make it work. Place up to four bottles plus smaller parts inside and add 200 milliliters of water — you can use a baby bottle to measure. Close and lock the lid and microwave the whole thing for two minutes. The bottles and parts will all be sterilized — though still wet, so open the lid and let the parts air-dry or set them on a drying rack or clean towel.

Like with an electric sterilizer, you'll need to clean your bottles and nipples with soap and water before you sterilize them. Sterilization doesn't remove milk residue, it just kills germs. Some online reviewers caution that their local water leaves residue and that they need to clean the sterilizer itself frequently. Others say they solve this by using distilled water for the steaming. The brand manual says to "only use water without any additives."

Medela Quick Clean MicroSteam Bag 12-Pack

If you'll be traveling somewhere with a microwave — whether it's a hotel room or rental house or a relative's house — you can sterilize bottles and pump parts in these reusable steam bags . They're also genius for sterilizing pump parts and bottles at a workplace. Each bag can be used up to 20 times so if you use a steam bag once a day, five days a week, a bag might take you through a month and the 12-pack might last you a year.

You can only fit a maximum of three narrow bottles in a bag, so this will sterilize fewer pieces at a time than an electric sterilizer. Always clean bottles and pump parts with soapy water and rinse them clean before sterilizing. You'll add 60 milliliters of water to the bag along with your baby goods, seal the top and then microwave it for 3 minutes. Then, pour out the hot water before you remove the hot items inside and let them air-dry.

RELATED: Best Breast Pumps

Munchkin Details Key Ring

Just the details, please! If you've got bottles, sippies or straw cups that call for extra-skinny bottle brushes that can reach deep into vents and straws, this accessories set is made for just that. The fattest one is made especially to clean the threading around the inside of a sippy-cup lid. Clean freaks, and, from our experience, parents who never pictured themselves scrubbing a breast pump valve end up loving this set, which hangs together from a key chain.

To scrub the inside of the main part of a baby bottle you will still want one of the larger brushes on our list, but this is an excellent add-on purchase for the smaller pieces. You are likely to use some of the brushes more than others, so some brushes may wear faster than others. Some reviewers are disappointed that they have to rebuy a whole set to replace just one brush. But the price is so low, we think it's still worth it.

How we chose the best baby bottle brushes and sterilizers

At the Good Housekeeping Institute , we pulled together bottle brush reviews and opinions from multiple Labs, including our Parenting Lab, Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab plus the Home Care and Cleaning Lab. We also polled current parents to find what is working best for them and talked to pediatrician Dr. Mona Amin, D.O., IBCLC. Finally, we poured over online reviews to get a full picture of how brushes and sterilizers work for families. We considered more than 20 brushes and sterilizers before settling on our list of eight recommended items.

What to consider when shopping for a baby bottle brush

Your baby's bottle brush won't be an expensive purchase and the difference between bottle brushes is not vast. This is not like shopping for a stroller , where you're making major decisions about size and weight. These brushes all work the same way, with dish soap, warm water and a little elbow grease. The things to think about are:

✔️ Materials: The brushes on this list are either made from straightforward BPA-free plastic, specific plastic such as polypropylene (durable and heat-resistant) or nylon (for flexible bristles), or they're made from silicone, which is a synthetic rubber. Silicone is less abrasive than plastic or nylon, but many people prefer the way that bristles and sponges lather.

In our experience, there is no specific brush that is best for glass bottles, silicone bottles or plastic bottles. You can use any kind of bottle brush on any kind of bottle.

✔️ Size: All the brushes on this list are between 8 and 13 inches long. Some people find longer brushes to be easier to use, especially if they're also doubling to wash tall water bottles.

We like bottle brushes that are sold with at least one detail brush for cleaning small parts. But it's also possible to buy detail brushes separately.

✔️ Storage: From a practical standpoint we like bottle brushes that come with a base for storage.

What's the best way to clean a baby bottle?

We asked Dr. Mona Amin, D.O., a board-certified pediatrician, IBCLC (lactation consultant) and mom of both a preschooler and a baby for her advice. (Amin also partners with the brand Philips Avent.)

For hand-cleaning: "To clean your child’s bottle, wash it with warm water, dish soap and a bottle brush," says Amin. "Do not use abrasive cleaning agents or antibacterial cleaners on the bottle."

For sterilizing: "It’s not necessary to sterilize bottles each time you clean them," says Amin. "They should be cleaned with soap and water daily. Sterilization is more important with infants under the age of 6 months or those at higher risk for illnesses, such as immunocompromised children or kids attending daycare. It’s also important to sterilize the bottle before first use and sterilize again after illnesses or conditions like thrush."

"A simple pot on a stove with boiling water can sterilize items well, but that requires ensuring all bottle parts are completely immersed in the water and can be a time-intensive method, especially if you have many parts to clean," Amin says.

If you have new-parent brain fog, it is totally possible to melt bottles, pump parts and pacifiers in a pot of boiling water if you get distracted in the middle of that sterilization process. You'll have a more stress-free experience using an electric or microwave bottle sterilizer.

One more option: Our Nutrition Lab Director, Stefani Sassos , M.S., R.D.N, a mom of a toddler, runs bottle and pump parts through the dishwasher, on the top rack, using the sanitize cycle.

Cleaning and replacing your baby bottle brush

For advice on cleaning the brush itself, we turned to our in-house cleaning expert, Carolyn Forté , Home Care & Cleaning Lab Executive Director:

"Washing a bottle brush in either the dishwasher or by hand works well. If using the dishwasher, you just have to be sure to place it in securely so it doesn't fall through the rack or block the middle spray arm from turning," Forte says.

"As for replacing a brush, it doesn't have to be replaced as frequently as a sponge. Sponges are more difficult to clean and trap particles and bacteria inside, plus they break down more quickly," Forte says. "Bristle brushes are more durable and easier to clean. A brush should be replaced when the bristles get bent or misshapen or begin to fall out."

More baby bottle cleaning products

Looking for the best baby bottle liquid soap or a great bottle drying rack? Here are a few of our favorite things for cleaning anything that touches breast milk or formula, from bottle parts to pump parts to sippies:

✔️ Baby-specific dish soap such as Dapple is fragrance-free and formulated to target the residue from breast milk and formula.

✔️ Unscented dishwasher soap such as the fragrance-free gel from Seventh Generation helps ensure that silicone baby bottles, spoons, plates and more don't take on the taste of the soap.

✔️ A dishwasher caddy such as this Munchkin basket keeps small things, such as sippy tops and pacifiers, from falling to the bottom of your dishwasher.

✔️ A drying rack might save your sanity, from the early days of drying breast pump shields to school days when you're airing out water bottles. This space-saving Oxo Tot drying rack earned one of our most recent Parenting Awards but we're also impressed by the organizational capabilities of the Munchkin Tidy Dry . We also gave a previous Parenting Award to the Boon Groove .

✔️ Baby-accessory cleaning wipes can be a lifesaver if you pump at your office or are traveling and lack a dishwasher, microwave or bottle brush. See the Quick Clean Wipes from Medela.

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

For more than one hundred years teams of experts have been at work in the Good Housekeeping Institute testing consumer products for safety and ease of use. We take a special interest in products for families, and test everything from crib mattresses to the best toys to the best family cars — always thinking in terms of safety.

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10 Best Baby Bottle Sterilizer Reviews 2023

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One of the biggest things we worry about as new moms are germs. Just one look at your precious new bundle of joy is enough to remind you how fragile life really is.

As such, the idea of your newborn getting sick is almost too much to handle. That’s why it’s so important to practice good hygiene during their first few critical months.

Regularly cleaning items that your baby puts in their mouth is an especially important task to add to the household cleaning checklist . Baby bottles are at the top of the list of items to sterilize.

If you happen to be bottle-feeding your baby, you’re likely worried about sanitizing these difficult-to-clean items. So naturally, you’re out to buy the best baby bottle sterilizer for the job.

At a Glance: Our Top 10 Picks for Baby Bottle Sterilizers

• Grownsy UV Light Sterilizer Box UV-C – Our Top Pick
• Baby Brezza Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer Machine
• Wabi UV- Sterilizer and Dryer for Baby Bottles
• Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer
• Papablic Baby Bottle Electric Steam Sterilizer and Dryer
• Tommee Tippee Microwave Travel Steam Baby Bottle Sterilizer
• UV Sterilizer and Dryer for Baby Bottles and Toys by Coral UV
• Elechomes Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer
• Chicco 3-in-1 Modular Sterilizer
• Philips Avent 3-in-1 Electric Steam Sterilizer

What is the Best Baby Bottle Sterilizer?

I’ve dug around and found ten of the best sterilizers as voted by customers. These met expectations for their quality, functionality, and value for money.

After the reviews, you will find a buyer’s guide that can help you determine which product you should consider buying based on what you need.

So without further ado, here is our list of the best baby sterilizers!

# 1 Grownsy UV Light Sterilizer Box UV-C

• UV sterilizer
• Not bottle or brand-specific
• 10L capacity tank holds up to 12 baby bottles
• Sterilizer and dryer

Things We Love!

This modern click-top box UV sterilizer is discreet, smart, and multifunctional. It’s great that it can sterilize a ton of bottles in one go in a short 16 minutes cycle. 

I love that this sterilizer can get used to sterilize other items, as well. The large, universal tank is versatile enough to fit remotes, smartphones, car keys, teethers, and even small soft toys.

You can also store all your items in it for a long time! To be exact, up to 72 hrs after a sterilization cycle. As long as you don’t open the lid during this time, they’ll remain sterile.

Additionally, you can set it to the dry function to dry items, or the auto function to dry and sterilize items. These two cycles each last 51 minutes.

• 10L tank can get used to sterilize other small items
• Can leave items in it for up to 72 hours after sterilization
• Premium price tag
• Remove electronics during auto and dry cycles as the tank reaches up to 167 °F

Overall Thoughts

I think that UV sterilizers are some of the best baby bottle sterilizers around. They’re so easy to use and don’t require water to work.

As such, they’re perfect for those who don’t have time to dry bottles, measure out the water, and check water levels. Plus, there’s no spills or condensation to clean up.

This UV sterilizer ticks those boxes. Plus, it comes in at a reasonable price for a 10L UV sterilization product. As such, I think it’s well worth the money.

#2 Baby Brezza Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer Machine

• Tabletop steam sterilizer
• Ideal for Baby Brezza bottles
• Fits up to six bottles

This pod-shaped tabletop sterilizer uses steam to clean baby’s Baby Brezza bottles. Plus, you can fit other small items or similar bottles inside the compartment.

On top of sterilizing, it also dries items, which is an added bonus for a tabletop steam sterilizer. In fact, there are four settings – sterilize, dry, sterilize and dry, and store.

You can choose your dry cycle of 30, 45, or 60 minutes depending on your needs. Each sterilization cycle takes only 8 minutes, which is very quick. 

I love that you can also store your bottles in the compartment for up to 24 hrs afterward. Just remember not to open the lid to ensure items stay sterile.

• Compartment fits bottles, pumps, and other small items
• Tabletop sterilizer that also dries
• The compartment is designed to fit Baby Brezza bottles, so it isn’t as versatile as more universal sterilizers

Though not designed as a universal sterilizer to fit general baby bottles, this product is perfect for Baby Brezza bottles. So, if you use their glass or plastic 8oz or 5oz bottles, they’ll fit perfectly.

Other similar-sized bottles will fit as well. Though this isn’t the most versatile, you can still fit small items like teethers, pump parts, and other small objects.

It’s a little on the pricey side for a tabletop steam sterilizer, but it’s still good value. I think that this is a great option for the price range as it comes with that handy dry function.

#3 Wabi UV- Sterilizer and Dryer for Baby Bottles

• Large capacity tank

This high-tech little UV sterilizer box is one of the best baby bottle sterilizers I’ve seen in terms of looks. It also meets the mark in terms of functionality with two tiers and 360° sterilization.

Plus, it features a sleek touch screen and a unique round mirrored window through which to see your items. I love that it can sterilize a variety of items in its large capacity universal tank.

We all know how baby’s toys are just one of their favorite items to chew on! So, it’s great to have a safe space to sanitize keys, mobile phones, and other favorites.

Each sterilization cycle takes 30 minutes, and you can dry items in it, too. You can even set it to sterilize automatically every minute up to every two hours. 

• The Universal UV tank can sanitize a variety of items.
• Sleek design with a touch screen display
• Has auto sterilization function
• Has washable filter

This sterilization unit is quick and easy to use – just set it, place items in, and leave. Therefore, it’s great for busy families who’ve got more important things to do than boil bottles on the stove.

Though this unit is in the higher price bracket, I think it’s a great value. Even after your baby is all grown up, you can still use it to sterilize household items.

#4 Philips Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer

• Microwave steam sterilizer
• Ideal for Philips Avent baby bottles
• Fits up to four standard or wide-neck bottles with lids

This affordable BPA-free microwave sterilizer isn’t complicated to use. Just pop it in the microwave to sterilize your Philips Avent baby bottles in two minutes.

If you haven’t purchased Philips Avent bottles, it may also fit some other bottle types. It’s 6” by 11”, so ideal for most standard microwaves.

I love that you can also fit a variety of other small items in its compartment. Plus, you can leave them in there for up to 24 hrs afterward, and they’ll remain sterile.

• Affordable option
• Quality, BPA-free plastic microwave sterilizer
• Ideal for Philips bottles, so not guaranteed to fit other brands of bottle
• Requires a microwave to use
• Doesn’t dry bottles

Are you simply in the market for a cost-effective option for your Philips Avent bottles? If so, then this is a great option for you.

It won’t save you as much time as it doesn’t dry bottles, though. Instead, you’ll need to do this yourself.

#5 Papablic Baby Bottle Electric Steam Sterilizer and Dryer

• Fits up to 11 bottles at one time

This large-capacity sterilizer has plenty of room in the trunk, so it can fit a lot of bottles in one go! I love that it also adapts to your cleaning load with modular, stackable compartments.

Another great addition is its dry function, which operates with hot, deodorizing air. As mentioned before, not all tabletop sterilizers dry items, so it’s pretty handy to have this option.

Each sterilization process only takes 6 minutes, which is quite fast. Plus, you can set it to sterilize and dry function or the dry function. These cycles take around 45-60+ minutes.

• A large universal tank fits a variety of items
• Compartments can get stacked up to three ways depending on your cleaning load
• Steam sterilizer that also dries items
• Can store sterilized items for up to 12 hrs
• Doesn’t fit tall bottles like Dr. Brown bottles

This tabletop sterilizer is simple to assemble and use. Plus, it adapts to your needs. If you use a lot of bottles and therefore need to sterilize large loads, it’s an excellent option.

I think that this modular sterilizer is great value for the money. It comes with all the options you need to sterilize, dry, and store your baby bottles, and more.

#6 Tommee Tippee Microwave Travel Steam Baby Bottle Sterilizer

• Ideal for Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature, Advanced Anti-Colic, or Ultra Baby bottles
• Fits up to four bottles with lids

As far as microwave sterilizers go, this is perfect for Tommee Tippee bottles. This is because it’s purpose-built by Tommee Tippee for this job.

Besides this benefit, it’s also quite affordable. Though, I could say that about most microwave sterilizers. I love that it fits a variety of small items as well.

Plus, sterilization is very quick! Each sterilization cycle takes 4 minutes, and bottles can remain in the unopened sterilizer for up to 24 hrs afterward.

• Affordable microwave sterilizer
• Fits additional small items
• Suits Tommee Tippee bottles, so not guaranteed to fit other brands of bottles

This sterilizer is perfect for those with Tommee Tippee or similar bottles who’re looking for an affordable option. It’s a quality, BPA-free product that sterilizes quickly.

There’s one sacrifice for this price tag, though. You’ll have to dry the bottles yourself if condensation forms on them. 

#7 UV Sterilizer and Dryer for Baby Bottles and Toys by Coral UV

• UV Sterilizer
• The tank can fit up to 6 baby bottles

This simple UV sterilizer box has plenty of space for your bottles. Plus, its universal tank can fit a variety of other items, as well.

I love that the upgraded set comes with extra UV lights and filters to last for up to two extra years. Plus, this unit automatically switches off when opened to avoid accidental UV exposure.

It also quickly sterilizes items in a matter of minutes. Each sterilization cycle lasts ten minutes, while the dry and dry and sterilize cycles go for 40-70 minutes. 

• The upgraded set comes with added accessories
• Universal tank fits other small household items
• Includes child safety auto-off feature
• Dry setting only heats up to 55°C
• Smaller tank than some other similarly priced UV sterilizer options

As far as affordable UV options go, this one of the best baby bottle sterilizers out there. Plus, it’s boxy design is a bit more portable than some other models.

UV sterilizers are a more expensive product to buy. But, they dry and sterilize without any water or steam, which is very convenient.

If you’re looking for an affordable UV option, then this is a good bet. I think it’s a great value because you can use it to sterilize other household items.

#8 Elechomes Baby Bottle Sterilizer and Dryer

• Universal, multiple tiered tanks fit up to ten baby bottles

This BPA-free baby blue tabletop sterilizer features two separate tiers – one for bottles and one for the bottle nipples. I love that its higher-than-average tank can fit taller bottles like the Dr. Brown bottles.

You can use both tiers, or just the lid for smaller batches of items, or even use it to reheat food or cook eggs with the reheat function. Plus, it also handles the drying for you!

Each sterilization cycle lasts a short 12 minutes. Plus, there are four functions built-in – reheat, sterilize, sterilize and dry, and dry.

• Tall design can fit higher bottles like the 8 Ounce Dr. Brown bottles
• Modular design allows for sterilization of smaller or bigger batches of items as needed
• Made with BPA-free plastic
• Needs to be stacked and unstacked to fill with water

This is one of the best baby bottle sterilizers for taller bottles and big batches. Its tall universal tank has plenty of space to fit a variety of items and plenty of bottles.

If you’re someone who’d benefit from these features, this is an excellent option. It comes in at a good price and even includes a unique ‘reheat” function for warming food.

#9 Chicco 3-in-1 Modular Sterilizer

• Tabletop and microwave steam sterilizer
• The multi-tiered tank can fit up to six bottles

This modular, two-tiered sterilizer is quite multifunctional. It can even adapt to a microwave sterilizer!

That’s why it’s one of the best baby bottle sterilizers for moms who need some extra bang for their bucks. I love that it even has an eco mode to save you energy and cash.

Sterilization cycles go for 12 minutes when using the full-sized unit. If you use the microwave unit, the sterilization time is only 4 minutes.

• Universal tank fits a variety of small items
• Converts into a smaller microwave steam sterilizer
• Doesn’t dry items

If you’re a bit of a stickler for saving energy and money, I think that this is an excellent option. Depending on your load and needs, you can use one of the three modes.

Despite the fact that it doesn’t dry items, I think that it’s great value for money within its price range.

#10 Philips Avent 3-in-1 Electric Steam Sterilizer

• Ideal for Philips Avent bottles
• Universal tank fits up to six standard and wide-neck Philips Avent bottles

This compact tabletop steam sterilizer is another modular product, but it’s specifically designed for Philips Avent bottles. 

It features an open-style tank that can also fit similar dimension bottles and small items. You can also stack it three ways for various batch sizes.

I love that its upright design allows it to sterilize in a very quick six minutes! Plus, you can leave your bottles and items inside for 24 hrs afterward, and they’ll remain sterile.

• The modular design offers three set-ups to sterilize smaller or larger batches as needed
• The universal tank can fit a variety of small items other than bottles
• Compact design doesn’t take up too much space on your countertop

As far as compact tabletop options go, this is definitely one of the best choices. If you use Philips bottles, then it’s ideal for these and other small items. 

One downside is the lack of a drying setting. Despite this, I still think it’s good value for the money. It’s definitely one of the more compact options, so it won’t take too much room on your tabletop.

There you have it, the 10 best baby bottle sterilizers out there! What are you searching for in a sterilizer? Share in the comments.

Buyer’s Guide to Buying a Baby Bottle Sterilizer

What to expect in this buyer’s guide:, do i need to buy a bottle sterilizer.

• The Different Types of Baby Bottle Sterilizers

From What Age Should I Use a Baby Bottle Sterilizer?

How to use a baby bottle sterilizer, tips to safely use a baby bottle sterilizer.

This guide will cover various important topics related to using and buying a baby bottle sterilizer. 

Armed with this info, you can make an informed decision about which one to buy for your baby bottles. Plus, you’ll know how to use it safely when it becomes a new addition to your home.

Cleaning baby’s bottles is so important. This is true regardless of whether you’re breastfeeding and offering a bottle sometimes, or are bottle-feeding full time.

Of course, you can sterilize the old-fashioned way by boiling parts in a pot of hot water. But, this can take up a lot of time, kitchen space, and energy.

In fact, I think there are many ways that you and your baby will benefit from a bottle sterilizer! They’re a great device to have in your home, in my opinion.

Time Savers

One of the most important, yet often overlooked benefits of most products is the time that they save you. Baby bottle sterilizers automate and do the work for you, saving you time.

A baby bottle sterilizer may cost a bit of money, but the time it saves you is likely well worth it. Imagine what great naps, baths, and bonding time you can enjoy with that extra hour, right?

Energy Savers

Baby bottle sterilizers can help you to cut back on electricity costs. This is true if you’re using your stove to boil items. Some sterilizers even have an eco setting.

Besides the discount on the electricity bill, they also save your energy. After all, you need to expend valuable energy in sterilizing and drying baby’s bottles manually!

Germ Killers

Newborns and young babies don’t have the immunity to the outside world that adults do. At this point in their development, they’re just starting to ramp up their immune defenses.

So, it’s your job to protect and nurture your baby at this stage. A bottle sterilizer will help you to do this by killing up to 99.99% of unwanted bacteria and viruses.

Plus, a baby bottle sterilizer benefit is that they do this without using harmful chemicals!

Convenient Sterile Storage

This is one of the most often forgotten features of sterilizers. You see, most of them provide a safe spot for you to leave your sterilized bottles after a sterilization cycle.

You can leave your bottles and bits in the sterilizer for a day or so as recommended by the manufacturer. During this time, they’ll stay sterile as long as you don’t open the lid. 

This is definitely harder to achieve if you do things the manual way without a baby bottle sterilizer. 

You’ll need to coordinate sterilization with feeds by sterilizing your bottles just before use. As we know, this isn’t always convenient. A baby bottle sterilizer takes this hassle away!

Different Types of Baby Bottle Sterilizers

There are various types of baby bottle sterilizers, each of which comes with a range of functions. Not all sterilizers do the same things.

So, it’s important that you check each product before you buy it. Read up on the sterilizer to ensure it comes with the features and functions you require. 

Otherwise, you may be disappointed when you receive it or even have to return it. 

I’ve mentioned the main types of sterilizers below. So, you have a good idea of the features and functions for which to look for.

The Main Types of Baby Bottle Sterilizers

The main two types of sterilizers are steam sterilizers and UV sterilizers. Steam sterilizers use ultra-heated water to create steam and kill germs on your baby items.

UV sterilizers use UV rays to kill germs without using water or steam. This makes them a great option, but they come in at a higher price range than steam versions.

Brand Specific Sterilizers

Though not always the case, many bottle sterilizers get designed for a specific bottle. So, even the best baby bottle sterilizers may not match yours.

To avoid buying a sterilizer that doesn’t fit, I recommend that you pick a baby bottle first. Then, choose a matching bottle warmer and bottle sterilizer to fit it.

Microwave Sterilizers

Microwave sterilizer units can be placed in yours to create steam. These units usually sterilized faster than other types, but they can only do small batches.

They aren’t electric, either. So, there’s no dry function, temperature, or other settings for you to control. On the plus side, they often come in at a very affordable price range.

UV Light Sterilizers

I love UV sterilizers! They’re one of the best baby bottle sterilizers, in my opinion. Plus, their universal design suits the sterilization of many items other than bottles.

Germaphobes may find a new BFF in one of these! They’re also suitable to keep in the household long after your baby needs their bottles and items sterilized.

In fact, car keys, remotes, smartphones, and other dirty yet hard-to-clean household items are perfect candidates for a UV session.

One of their best features, in my opinion, is that you don’t need to use messy water or steam to sterilize. Of course, they’re also a bit more complex in design, and therefore pricier.

Tabletop Steam Sterilizers

The good old tabletop sterilizer is considered to be one of the best baby bottle sterilizers. Most get designed specifically for this task, after all.

They use steam to clean, just like microwave versions. Except, they come with more settings and controls. 

Some even have dry functions and allow you to see and set the temperature and sterilization time.

Plus, they come in at an affordable price range for most families. You can’t go too wrong with one of these in your household.

Drying Sterilizers

Drying sterilizers dry your baby bottles and the items that get sterilized in them, as well. 

Both UV and tabletop sterilizers can feature a dry function. But not all do. So, be sure to double-check before you buy if you want yours to take this task off your hands.

These sterilizers are ideal to look out for as they can streamline the sterilization process. They’ll save you hassle and time as you won’t have to dry items yourself.

Ideally, you should remove any electronics from UV sterilizers during the drying process. This is especially true for sterilizers that get to higher temperatures during a dry cycle.

Now, you may be wondering when to start sterilizing your baby bottles. Simply put, the first bottle you place in their mouth should be sterilized.

So, you’ll want to buy the best baby bottle sterilizer for them before they arrive. This is especially true if you’re going to be bottle-feeding them full-time.

It’s also advisable to test out your sterilizer so that you don’t have any hiccups later on. After all, you’re going to be quite busy when your baby arrives, so the last thing you want is extra worries!

When Can I Stop Using a Baby Bottle Sterilizer?

On the flip side, when to stop sterilizing bottles is also an important question. The CDC advises that you should do so daily up to 3 months of age .

It’s especially important to do so for sick, immunocompromised, or premature babies. Of course, it’s also your choice whether to continue to sterilize or not thereafter.

Baby bottles and parts always require a clean with hot soap and water, though. 

You’ll need to do this prior to placing items in a sterilizer or giving them directly to older babies when you’ve stopped sterilizing.

Now, you may be wondering how to use a baby bottle sterilizer. Well, there are a few important steps to follow.

Buy a Suitable Baby Bottle Sterilizer for Your Bottles

A critical step not to miss out is to buy a suitable baby bottle sterilizer. After all, it needs to be able to fit your baby bottles in order to do its job correctly.

Also, be aware of other important features that you want. These include drying, eco, and auto functions, as well as ample space for your small or large batches of items.

Take your time to read through product descriptions, reviews, customer reviews, and buyers guides like this one. 

These will give you a good idea of what you want and what each product has to offer. So, you can end up with a suitable product and avoid a lengthy returns process.

Follow the Instruction Manual to Set Up and Use the Device

The first step to using a baby bottle sterilizer is to follow the instruction manual. Each sterilizer is unique, so you’ll need guidance from the manufacturer on how to use it correctly.

Make sure to read these to get instructions on how to set up and use your new device. 

Always follow manufacturers’ advice, as well., even if it contradicts general advice on how to use a baby bottle sterilizer.

Doing this will help you to avoid mishaps and keep your family safe. Plus, you don’t want to void your warranty or damage your sterilizer through misuse.

Follow Safety Tips to Correctly Clean, Sterilize, and Store Items

The CDC has some safety tips on how to sterilize items. You want to make sure to follow these.

Read through these prior to sterilizing your bottles. These tips won’t be applicable to all devices. So, remember to always follow the manufacturers’ guidance above all else.

Once you’ve decided on the best baby bottle sterilizer for your family, you need to follow some sterilization safety tips.

Following these and the manufacturers’ instructions are important. Doing this will ensure your family’s safety and that items get properly sterilized.

Baby Bottle Sterilizer Safety Tips

Here are my top tips to safely get the most out of your baby bottle sterilizer:

• Read the product manual and set up and use your device accordingly.
• Use purified/distilled water for steam sterilizers.
• Keep steam sterilizers out of reach of small hands.
• Make sure that all your bottles are facing the correct way to ensure that they get sterilized properly.
• Don’t open the lid of sterilizers if you want the items to stay stored in the compartment and remain sterile.
• Wash your hands prior to touching, using, or removing sterilized items from a sterilizer.
• In the case of steam sterilizers, wait before removing the lid to avoid steam burns.
• Never immerse the base or any electronic sterilizer components in water unless advised by the manufacturer. Instead, wipe them down with a damp cloth to clean them.
• To avoid your sterilizer from collapsing or not cleaning items properly, never overload it.
• Keep steam sterilizers away from outlets and plug points to avoid condensation and water spilling on them.

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Venture 3-Wheel Stroller Travel System

Available Accessories

Product Details

Download Product Instruction Manual - Stroller

Download Product Instruction Manual - Infant Car Seat

Infant Car Seat Base: Compatible Infant Seat

• Parent tray with 2 cupholders and a center console
• Child Tray with 2 cup holders and a center console
• Large Basket with front and rear access for all essentials
• In-seat center fold, collapses with one hand
• Slim and compact when folded for easy storage
• Includes EZ-LIFT™ Infant Car Seat with Base
• Handlebar of the EZ-LIFT™ can be used as an anti-rebound bar
• Car seat includes EZ-LIFT™ side grip that is ergonomically-friendly and helps with weight distribution while carrying the car seat
• Car seat is lightweight, weighs less than 8 pounds
• Car seat is certified for air travel and meets and exceeds federal safety standards
• Car seat compatible with EZ-Lift base only.

Description

Enjoy smooth rides and easy storage with Baby Trend Venture 3-Wheel Stroller Travel System. The parent tray features a center console with two cup holders, securing your phone and keeping essentials within easy reach. The child tray holds two cups and snacks for your little ones. A spacious storage basket, accessible from both the front and back, adds flexibility for placing your items. Equipped with in-seat center folding, this stroller collapses into a slim, compact unit using just one hand. 

Additionally, the lightweight, EZ-Lift Infant Car Seat includes an innovative Side Grip for ergonomic carrying and a carry that doubles as an anti-rebound bar for added safety in extreme situations. Certified for air travel, this system exceeds federal safety standards. Designed for convenience and maneuverability, our Venture 3-Wheel Stroller Travel System covers all your needs.

Recommended Use

• Stroller: The upright position should be used only for a child that is at least 6 months old. The child occupant must not exceed 50 lb or over 42" tall when used with the maximum weight on the child tray, parent tray and basket. Do not exceed 60 lb including the weight used in the accessories.
• Car Seat: 4 ~ 30 lb and up to 29.5"

Refund Policy

THE FOLLOWING IS FOR ONLINE PURCHASES FROM BABYTREND.COM ONLY

Clearance Items

All Clearance items can only be returned within 7 days of purchase. All clearance items are sold through our Closeouts category section. Only items within the Closeouts category are consider as Clearance items. For order inquiries please email us at [email protected] . Please provide your name, order number and the date you placed the order. Baby Trend does not accept returns of items purchased through any third-party, including its retail partners. Baby Trend does not accept returns of any items that have been used for any period. You MUST request and receive a Returns Authorization number (RA#). Returns without a RA# will NOT be accepted. All returned items must be returned new and unused in the original packaging & return shipping costs are the responsibility of the purchaser. Please use a package delivery service able to track and/or insure your return items. A 25% restocking fee will apply and will be deducted from the refund amount. A refund of the merchandise value, tax less the restocking fee will be refunded upon receipt and confirmation. Original shipping charges, if any, will not be refunded. By placing an order on babytrend.com , you are accepting the terms of this return policy.

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Returns for regularly priced items are accepted within 30 days of purchase from the babytrend.com website. Baby Trend does not accept returns of items purchased through any third-party, including its retail partners. Baby Trend does not accept returns of any items that have been used for any period. You MUST request and receive a Returns Authorization number (RA#). Returns without a RA# will NOT be accepted. All returned items must be returned new and unused in the original packaging & return shipping costs are the responsibility of the purchaser. Please use a package delivery service able to track and/or insure your return items. A 25% restocking fee will apply and will be deducted from the refund amount. A refund of the merchandise value, tax less the restocking fee will be refunded upon receipt and confirmation. Original shipping charges, if any, will not be refunded. By placing an order on babytrend.com, you are accepting the terms of this return policy.

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• Baby Products
• Bottle-Feeding
• Sterilizers

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IMPRESA 15 Pack Microwave Baby Bottle Sterilizer Bags - 300 Uses Per Pack - Travel Baby Bottle Cleaner Microwave Sterilizer Bag - Breast Feeding Baby Travel Accessories - Use with Soothers & Teethers

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Not Just For Baby Bottles: The large sterilization pouches are ideal for baby bottles but they can be used for teethers, dummies, pacifiers, breast pump & tubes, and training cups.
• Universally Compatible: This 15 pack of microwave sterilizer bags for baby bottles are compatible with Tommee Tippee, Dr Brown Bottles, Munchkin, Nuk, Avent, Medela, & the rest! They are used to sterilize baby bottles, soothers, teethers, pacifiers, and breast pump tubes without the need for bulky equipment. There’s no need to have expensive machines that take up all your counter space.
• Extra Value Pack: Why spend more for the same quality? There's up to 300 uses in this 15 pack of reusable steam sterilizer bags.
• Ideal For Travel Or On The Go: Follow the simple instructions and sterilize baby bottles on the go. Ideal for holidays, camping, play dates, family outings, and more!
• How To Use: Simply add tap water and the parts you wish to sterilize. Put the bag in the microwave for the correct amount of time. Use the safety grips feature to remove the bag from the microwave. Full instructions in the description!

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Product Description

Product information

Technical details, additional information, warranty & support, videos for this product.

Click to play video

Demo & Review- I can sterilize using the microwave? Amazing!

Mom Simplified

My honest thoughts on these microwave sterilizer bags!

Reviews with Hailee

Customer Review: You need this

15 Pack Microwave Baby Bottle Sterilizer Bags

Impresa Products

Check it out, I've got a great mom hack after steaming!

Sweet Mama's Kitchen

If you can, always order or buy diapers at the destination! #BABIESANDTODDLERS #travelingwithbaby

Jessica Haizman

Important information

Legal disclaimer.

Use extreme care when removing bag from microwave. Hot steam and water is now inside the bag. At first sign of damage or distortion of the bag, please discard immediately. Keep away from children, this is not a toy.

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Customer reviews.

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 86% 8% 4% 1% 2% 86%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 86% 8% 4% 1% 2% 8%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 86% 8% 4% 1% 2% 4%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 86% 8% 4% 1% 2% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 86% 8% 4% 1% 2% 2%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers like the quality, ease of use, value, and performance of the steamer bags. They mention that it serves the purpose, is easy to use, and that the instructions are clear. They also appreciate the travel. Opinions are mixed on size.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers are satisfied with the quality of the steamer bags. They mention that they work well, are convenient, and are as good as name brand bags. Some say that the bags are a great time saver.

"...These bags ended up being the perfect solution! They're sturdy and could probably be used plenty more than 20 times before replacing...." Read more

"...I have no patience to boil water on the stove - these are perfect and very convenient!" Read more

"Love these so much! Super easy to use, hold a lot, and work well ...." Read more

"These bags were great to use when sterilizing my baby bottles, bottle nipples, and bottle caps...." Read more

Customers find the steamer bags easy to use and convenient. They say it saves time and space, and appreciate the clear instructions.

"...thing of soap and some drying towels to go with this because it’s perfect easy and super quick to sanitize and cheaper than similar products." Read more

"...no patience to boil water on the stove - these are perfect and very convenient !" Read more

"Love these so much! Super easy to use , hold a lot, and work well...." Read more

"...Easy to use and very convenient overall" Read more

Customers appreciate the value of the baby product. They mention that it can be used 20 times and is of good size and price.

"...because it’s perfect easy and super quick to sanitize and cheaper than similar products ." Read more

"...They are cheaper than other options on the market and really do a wonderful job! You get 15 bags total which All can be used 20 times!..." Read more

"This is a good value for the price . We learned about this concept when our first kid was in the NICU, but they used the more expensive name brand...." Read more

"As good as the Dr Brown ones, yet cost effective !" Read more

Customers are satisfied with the performance of the baby product. They mention that it makes sterilization of bottles so much easier, and that the bags are perfect for a quick sterilization. They also say that the product is convenient for cleaning bottles and is great for sterilizing breast pump parts.

"...drying towels to go with this because it’s perfect easy and super quick to sanitize and cheaper than similar products." Read more

"These are great for a super quick sterilizing session . They are a great size and can fit quite a bit...." Read more

"... Quick wash and sterilize and that bottle and binkie are clean and ready to go." Read more

"...It definitely makes sterilizing bottles a breeze !" Read more

Customers find the travel size bottle convenient for on the go and when they're in a bind. They say it makes travel and sterile bottles a breeze. Customers also mention that it fits in diapers easily and is easy to use.

"...Oh yeah, these are also great for traveling ...." Read more

"...Ive loved them for years and its great that they can travel with me ...." Read more

" Great product for on the go . Used these while on vacation and in a hotel room. Was great to be able to sterilize pump and bottles" Read more

"...You get so many uses from one bag and it's so convenient to pop in the microwave . Will purchase more once we run out for sure!" Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the size of the sterilizer. Some find it very spacious and easy to use, while others say it's a bit small and doesn't fit in smaller microwaves.

"...They are a great size and can fit quite a bit . There’s a pour spout on the side so you don’t have to worry about opening the bag and getting burned...." Read more

"Work good but they are much smaller than the Madela bags . Have to use them twice to fit everything." Read more

"Love these so much! Super easy to use, hold a lot , and work well...." Read more

"...These are fantastic and take up zero space . They are great for peace of mind to keep in your bag if things get really messy on the road...." Read more

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