bottle warmer question

So our kiddos are still in the NICU, but since their birth was a little unexpectedly early DH and I have been using the time to get everything organized and set up for when they come home. We were given two bottle warmers (The First Years BabyPro) and last night we got them set up and were going over the instructions for how to use them. We measured out the right amount of water using the little measuring device that came with it but I guess I had a misconception about how much that would be.

In my mind (never having used bottle warmers before) I assumed the bottle would sit in the water and sort of be immersed in it partially, but when we poured the water in, it barely came to the bottom of the basket that sits in the warmer. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if we're doing something wrong or if I just really had the wrong idea.

Any seasoned bottle warmers out there?

 

You did it right. You don't want to use too much water - what this is doing is "steaming" the bottle using the water and the plate. I actually have one of these and it worked really well with DD#1 that we bought a 2nd one for these guys

 

Yes - it heats up and the steam is what heats your bottle. Be sure to take the bottle out when the cycle finishes or the bottle will get too hot. You will be happy to have two bottle warmers for middle of the night feeds! Congrats on your babies!

 

I tried a couple of bottle warmers but they seemed rather inconsistent with their heating, plus I hated having to turn on the light in the middle of the night and measuring out a tiny amount of water. I ended up returning both types of bottle warmers and got a hot pot like this one from Target for like $8. We could fit 2 bottles in there at once and it heated the water up very quickly so we only left them in there for 3-4 minutes (we kept a timer beside the hot pot so we never forgot and left the bottles in their boiling). I did put a stainless steel soap dish thingy in it that had holes in it which elevated the bottles just a tiny bit so that they were sitting directly on the heating element. Sounds like a weird bottle warmer but it worked great when we were warming bottles! And it was so cheap I bought a second one for our bathroom for the middle of the night feedings since our boys stayed in our bedroom the first few months. A small crockpot also works well but you pretty much need to leave it on warm/low 24/7 and a lot of people aren't comfortable with that. And of course plenty of people love their electric bottle warmers like yours and they do just fine with those!

 

*whew* ha. I never used a bottle warmer with DS#1 so I kind of feel like a brand new parent with some of this.

We originally only registered for one bottle warmer but the gracious soul that bought it for us went ahead and got two. She was thinking ahead, we were not!

 

We have these bottle warmers too - we got them when DDs were about 3 months old, and I wish I'd had them from the get-go! They are so quick and easy! Previously we had been using very hot tap water in a dish to warm our bottles, and THAT took forever and never got them very warm. I had assumed the bottle warmers were a bit gimick-y, like the wipes warmers that everyone told me not to bother with, but I was very wrong.

 

I love my bottle warmer... very easy to use. When they start eating from big bottles, you don't even have to measure. I just fill the little measuring thing.