Are bottle warmers worth the $$?

I'm weaning this month so starting to use more formula and normally I just use warm tap water to make their bottles. However, in the middle of the night or using the ready to feed formula or the frozen EBM I have left has left me thinking of buying a bottle warmer. My MIL and a neighbor have said they're not worth the money and to just use the stove or hot water to warm it. I find that it takes an insane amount of time to warm it - especially because I'm used to breastfeeding which is no prep. Can you guys give me some advice? Bottle warmers or not - any good ones to look for? Thanks a bunch!!

 

We registered for a bottle warmer and only used it once. DH tried it once and he thought it made the formula too hot. We just used a pot of hot water and left the bottles in there for a couple of minutes to warm them up and it worked well for us.

 

I used the Avent warmer and honestly I gave up because it took to dang long to make the bottle warm. I made the bottles up ahead of time so I had to take them out of the fridge. I ended up giving it to another mom and just making my bottles when I needed them, that way I used room temp water.

 

I pump all my milk so we need to heat up bottles and we do use the bottle warmers. I have 2 of them. The measuring cup for the water has different lines on them so the milk heats up just right. I on the other hand just fill them completely up and I just keep checking the bottles.

 

i read in the book Juggling Twins about using a crock pot as a bottle warmer. Just add water, keep it on it's lowest setting and it keeps the bottles warmed to the perfect ready to feed temperature. Another added benefit of it is being able to warm more than just 1 or 2 at a time.


Kenneth and Ian are 20 days old

 

We used them and loved them! It only took about 4 mins to heat up an 8 oz bottle right out of the fridge.

ETA: we left ours on 24/7 so that probably helped heat the bottles faster rathen then turning on/off each time.

 

We used it once ... and it made like half the formula disappear!

We returned the bottle warmers ... and used the *gasp* microwave ...

 

QUOTE(caba @ May 11 2009, 01:22 PM) [snapback]1308447[/snapback]
... and used the *gasp* microwave ...

Same here. We actually purchased a small microwave to put on the nightstand in the bedroom! I didn't even have to get out of bed to heat up the bottles. That was wonderful after the c/sec. DH would bring the babies to me while I started the bottles and changed diapers. Worked out great! I just brought the prefilled bottles up to bed in a cooler bag and then heated them enough to make them almost room temp. You can't nuke breastmilk because it breaks down some of the antibodies but formula is fine as long as you mix it to get rid of any hot spots.

 

i just run hot tap water into a tupperware container and toss the bottles in that. takes 10 minutes. i always anticipate the feeds

 

QUOTE(Daria @ May 11 2009, 09:51 AM) [snapback]1308489[/snapback]
i just run hot tap water into a tupperware container and toss the bottles in that. takes 10 minutes. i always anticipate the feeds


That's what we did at first--or two mugs of hot tap water and stick a bottle in each. Warmed them fairly quickly.
But then DH discovered the boys would drink it cold, so they've been drinking it straight out of the fridge since then! They were pretty young when they started that and yours are used to lovely body-temp milk so they might not like that, but it might be worth a try.

And btw, great job EBFing your twins this long! I really admire that!

 

QUOTE(SC_Amy @ May 11 2009, 09:05 AM) [snapback]1308510[/snapback]
That's what we did at first--or two mugs of hot tap water and stick a bottle in each. Warmed them fairly quickly.
But then DH discovered the boys would drink it cold, so they've been drinking it straight out of the fridge since then! They were pretty young when they started that and yours are used to lovely body-temp milk so they might not like that, but it might be worth a try.

And btw, great job EBFing your twins this long! I really admire that!


Ditto - ours drink it pretty cold - we do run hot water into a cup and set it in there but only as long as it takes to change their diapers and then we feed it to them. We tried the bottle warmer and it was just too much effort for me and the kids don't seem to mind the temperature of the bottles now which is a good thing!

 

We just use warm tap water. However, when we went to visit my parents, the tap water took FOREVER to get warm, so we just got it 'no cold' and they were fine with it. We have bottle warmers but they are a pain!

 

we used bottle warmers for the pumped bm, and it worked well for us. I usually knew when they were going to be hungry, so it would be easy to get the bottles going a few minutes ahead. For formula, we just used warm tap water.

 

QUOTE(indisbelief @ May 10 2009, 11:35 PM) [snapback]1308197[/snapback]
i read in the book Juggling Twins about using a crock pot as a bottle warmer.


I've tried both (Avent bottle warmer with my singleton and a crock pot for the twins) -- the crock pot wins hands down! I found one at Target that fits both bottles for less than $10 -- and it's been on for nearly 6 straight months without any problems.

 

We used bottle warmers for a long time and then started using the microwave when I stopped pumping and started using formula. Microwave for breastmilk can destroy some of the nutrients, so its not recommended.

 

We poured a day's worth of bottles all at once, so we needed to warm them up somehow. We used a bottle warmer for the first few weeks but could never get the temp right -- always too hot or too cold. It was much more predictable and just as fast to run very hot water from the tap into a pot, set it on the stove, and stick the bottles in it for 5 minutes. (You may have to tinker with the water temp, the amount of water, and the timing until you get it just right.)

I started using the microwave around 9 months, but they didn't care about having it warm by then -- it was just for a few seconds to take the chill from the fridge off.

 

Ours is still in the box. I need to sell it on craig's list or something, lol. We've always heated in the microwave [and ALWAYS shook it up and tested it before giving it to the babies]. I remember my mom telling me she used to heat bottles in boiling water [only because they didn't have microwaves then ^_^].

Note: I've heard that you shouldn't microwave BM though. It zaps some of the 'good stuff' out.. If you're thinking about going this route I'd suggest heating the bottles with formula in it and add the BM before giving it to baby.

 

we got a small crock pot. worked very well. just remember to keep it full and on low and you are set whenever you need it.

 

Ya I microwave. I always said I wouldn't but it's so much faster. We also give them room temp a lot, which they take fine.

 

Thanks so much for all the great responses!! I think we might try the crock pot idea. Eventually we'll probably just end up microwaving but like you all said that doesn't work for breast milk and I have quite a few bags I need to use up. So just leave the crock pot on the lowest setting (like the keep warm?) and pop the bottle in there when it's time to feed? I feel like a brand new mom with this stuff. LOL It's like starting all over now that we're switching to bottles.

 

Microwave here too!

The crock pot is a good idea and is probably great when they are younger and eating at weird hours of the night. Now that mine are sleeping thru the night a bit, the micro takes 37 seconds for 2 6 oz bottles from the fridge! 15 sec for 2 bottles with bottled water that's sitting on the floor

 

We're hot water users. I nuke the hot water first, though, and then it takes about 30-60 seconds to heat the bottle in the super hot water.

Our daycare center uses a small crock pot.