Best Bottle Warmers
Our usability expert evaluated the best bottle warmers from popular brands like Baby Brezza, Dr. Brown’s, Momcozy, and Tommee Tippee. Here’s what we found.
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Getting up in the middle of the night to prepare (and heat) a bottle for your baby can feel like an endurance test. Bottle warmers can make the job a little easier by helping you heat milk or formula with one eye still closed.
While they’re not necessarily a must-have baby product, many new parents like the convenience of bottle warmers, and certain models are designed to warm bottles when you’re on the go. Plus, bottle warmers might be useful to heat up certain baby foods, and many have sterilizing functions, too.
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Best Bottle Warmers, According to Our Tests
Each bottle warmer was assigned a score for its ease of use and warming efficiency and then ranked based on its performance. Below are the best bottle warmers on the market, plus how well each did in our testing.
Overall Best Bottle Warmer
Price paid: $75
Pros: This sleek bottle warmer is incredibly easy to use and doesn’t overheat.
Cons: It’s critical that you make sure the warmer has enough water in it before you turn it on.
Shop: Amazon, Kiinde Kozii, Target, Walmart
This bottle warmer from Kiinde Kozii earned the top spot in our rankings and is the overall best bottle warmer from our tests. It uses a warm water bath to warm baby bottles, so like the other models we tested that employ this method, it did not overheat our formula. Even after we left the warmer running for 34 minutes after the warming program was complete, the formula reached a maximum temperature of only 103° F.
The dial on the device shows users how much time is left in the warming program, ticking as the time progresses much like a typical kitchen timer does, so you always know when the device is still running through a program. Because you select only the warming time and not the amount or temperature of the milk, you’ll have to keep the warming time chart handy to know how long to set the device for. It also had the smallest footprint of all the bottle warmers we tested, so if you are tight on counter space, this one should only take up about 4.86 x 6.75 inches.
The company recommends cleaning the bottle warmer every two to three days, with 1 cup of mild soap and water solution poured directly into the water reservoir and rinsing it until it’s soap-free. The company recommends following the same process with a mild bleach solution every couple of weeks and descaling the device with white vinegar every two months.
Note: It’s very important that users ensure that there is adequate water in this model, as the consequences of using it dry “are drastic,” our evaluator said. After the first two times the device is run without enough water, it will need a manual reset. After the third time, it will stop working altogether, the manufacturer says.
Dimensions: 5.19x7.4x7.4 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Warm-water bath
Best Bottle Warmer to Prevent Overheating
Price paid: $45
Pros: The controls on this bottle warmer are very simple to operate, and the model remembers your preferences.
Cons: Setup is a little more involved than some other bottle warmers.
Shop: Amazon, Dr. Brown’s, Target
Dr. Brown’s Natural Flow Milk Spa also uses a warm-water bath, but its setup process is more involved than the top-ranked Kiinde above. To fill and empty the water reservoir, you twist the warming chamber off the base, something Keester said was a somewhat difficult two-handed operation. Tilting this model could also lead to water spilling from the reservoir.
Once set up, it warmed bottles with no sign of overheating long after the warming program had ended. On the display, the warmer counts down how much time is left, so all it takes is a quick glance.
The controls on this model allow users to select the type of bottle and starting temperature of the milk or formula (frozen, refrigerated, or room temperature) and adjust the time of the program. Even though the display is a bit crowded, it’s relatively easy to use and understand. If you like to reuse settings, this model remembers any adjustments to time that are made for your next bottle warming.
Recommended daily cleaning involves removing the warming chamber from the base, emptying any remaining water, and rinsing any components with clean water before drying them. If there’s milk spilled in the water chamber, the company recommends hand-washing it with distilled water and mild detergent. It says tap water can shorten the life of the appliance.
Dimensions: 7.9x6.6x9.1 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Warm-water bath
Best Affordable Bottle Warmer
Price paid: $33
Pros: This bottle warmer is more affordable than many comparable products, and we found it easy to use overall.
Cons: The small power button is annoyingly difficult to press.
Shop: Amazon, Target
The Multiwarm Intuitive Bottle Warmer from Tommee Tippee has a lot of features we like. It uses a warm-water bath. We recorded no overheating, and the buttons to select settings are simple. Selecting the bottle type, starting temperature, and quantity of the formula or milk takes the guesswork out of using the device without a warming chart. Its biggest flaw is the power button. Because it’s small and set slightly into the device, it’s difficult to press, something that could be quite frustrating.
For each program, you add 9 ounces of water to the warmer. The risk of overheating is low (the maximum temperature recorded during our evaluations was 91° F), but you’ll want to stay close to hear the three beeps that signal when the warming program ends. There’s no display with time countdowns on this model.
The only cleaning instructions from the manufacturer are emptying and drying inside and out before storing. The manufacturer recommends descaling regularly, depending on the type of water you have in your area. If you have hard water, you’ll have to do so every seven days to keep the bottle warmer scale-free.
Dimensions: 6.69x5.25x7.87 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Warm-water bath
Most Versatile Bottle Warmer
Price paid: $59
Pros: This bottle warmer offers multiple heating methods.
Cons: Overheating is possible.
Shop: Amazon, Pottery Barn Kids, Target
Unlike other models that have only one warming method to warm bottles, Baby Brezza’s bottle warmer gives you the option to select a warm water bath or steam (the company recommends its “Quick Warm” setting to heat bottles with steam for formula or baby food, and its "Steady Warm" setting, which uses a warm water bath, for breast milk). Regardless of the warming method you select, you’ll want to keep your eye on this warmer’s program end time and open the lid as soon as it is done. Both methods showed overheating in our evaluations less than 10 minutes after a warming program ended.
Our usability expert said the Baby Brezza was the easiest baby bottle warmer to use overall and had the best instructional material with large, clear text and graphics that was easy to search through. But the buttons to select setting options are not as intuitive as they could be. To select the amount of milk to be warmed, you must click through the starting temperature buttons until you reach the number of ounces you are looking for. To reach the defrost option, you’ll have to press the “cold” button 10 times. After selecting the preferred settings, the display clearly shows how much time is left in a warming program.
Another thing to consider with this bottle warmer is the type of bottles you use. If using plastic bottles, the setting selected on the warmer corresponds directly with the ounces of milk you are warming. For example, selecting setting number two for 2 ounces of milk. But if you use glass bottles, you will have to reference the chart in the user manual that tells you the exact settings you must select to heat the contents in your baby’s bottle.
The company recommends waiting until the device is cool before emptying and drying, and descaling with white vinegar every four weeks.
Dimensions: 11.5x5.5x6.5 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Warm-water bath or steam
Fastest Baby Warmer
Price paid: $50
Pros: This bottle warmer is very efficient.
Cons: It’s possible to overheat the milk, and the display isn’t the most intuitive.
Shop: Amazon, Walmart
The Momcozy 6-in-1 Fast Baby Bottle Warmer has warm-water bath and steam options. The company recommends steam to warm and sterilize bottles and the water bath option to defrost. Overheating was recorded in this model within seconds after a warming program ended, with maximum temperatures reaching 126° F, so this isn’t a bottle warmer you should walk away from after starting. When set to the 24H mode, it kept our formula under 100° F, but this mode is meant for defrosting or keeping bottles warm over long periods of time, not for quick warmings before feeding your baby.
There’s a 40-milliliter cup included with this warmer that you can use to add the precise amount of water needed for warming room temperature and refrigerated milk. To sterilize bottles, you’ll have a hard time measuring out the 100 mL required with the same cup. The display shows how much time is left in a warming program, but that’s the only part of the display Keester found to be simple. The device has a dead front display, which means it’s completely blank when the device is unplugged and shows only a power icon while in standby mode.
Even when powered on, selecting some buttons causes others to disappear, so you’ll have to remember where each button is, our expert said, adding that the buttons were sometimes unresponsive to a quick press. The power button doubles as a start and stop button, too, so you risk starting a program when you intend to turn the device off. The starting temperature, bottle material, and milk amount are all adjustable through the display buttons. The company has “silica” among the bottle material options, but that’s a material not used in baby bottles, so it likely meant “silicone.”
As with many of the other warmers, cleaning is as simple as emptying and drying, and descaling is recommended every four weeks.
Dimensions: 4.53x4.53x10.43 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Steam to warm bottles, warm-water bath to defrost
Best Multipurpose Bottle Warmer
Price paid: $40
Pros: This warmer is also designed for food heating and steaming, which means you might be able to use it for longer.
Cons: You need to be fairly quick when programming it, and it’s possible for the milk to overheat.
Shop: Amazon, Walmart
The Grownsy 8-in-1 Fast Baby Milk Warmer uses warm-water bath modes to maintain a bottle’s temperature over long periods of time and defrost frozen milk, and it uses steam to warm bottles quickly and sterilize them. A 40-mL cup is included with this model, though it isn’t very useful for measuring out the 100 to 150 mL of water necessary for a sterilizing program. The Grownsy overheated our formula just 1 minute after the end of a warming program and reached a maximum temperature of 125° F just over 11 minutes later. You can manually change the temperature all the way up to 140° F for constant warming and up to 194° F for food heating, the highest temperatures any of the models we evaluated could be set to manually.
The display on this bottle warmer leaves much to be desired. The numbers are blurry and hard to read, with decimal points blending into numbers, so you can’t tell whether there’s a 1.0 or 10 being displayed. The plus and minus signs are on opposite sides than usual (plus is on the left and minus is on the right), and to cycle through different modes, you have to keep clicking one button until the mode you’re looking for lights up. You have just 5 seconds to change program selections before the bottle warmer starts running with the settings that were previously selected, so you’ll have to be quick with this one.
The user manual text and images are very small and difficult to follow, and you’ll need to refer to it to determine the correct settings for the milk or formula you’re warming. The only cleaning instructions are to unplug and allow the device to cool before cleaning, and descale every four weeks with vinegar or a citric acid cleaner.
Dimensions: 4.92x4.92x5.71 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Steam to warm bottles, warm-water bath for 24-hour mode and defrost function
Another Bottle Warmer We Evaluated
Price paid: $29
Pros: It’s very affordable.
Cons: There’s no third-party certification on this bottle warmer, and it’s also not very efficient.
Shop: Amazon
Buyer beware: This bottle warmer has no third-party certifications. Any product without certification that indicates it meets the relevant standards can have design or construction flaws that might cause a shock, electrocution, burn, fire, or physical injury.
The Gentle Warmth Digital Bottle Warmer uses a warm-water bath for milk and formula, and steam to sterilize bottles. While it didn’t overheat bottle contents within the first 10 minutes after a warming program ended, the maximum temperature recorded during evaluations was 107° F 44 minutes later.
The buttons on this warmer are small and difficult to read for some. Users can select the starting temperature and quantity (in ounces) of the formula or milk to be warmed. The manufacturer doesn’t provide setting guidance for different bottle materials (glass vs. plastic, for example), so users are left to experiment. While the bottle warmer is running, the display shows how much time is left in the program.
Inside the warmer is a small, removable “bottle seat” that sits over the warming plate during use. It might be easy to misplace, and the manual warns of electric shock if sharp articles or metal tools touch the parts that it covers.
The manufacturer recommends regular cleaning with mild soap and water, and descaling with vinegar as needed.
Dimensions: 5.4x6.49x9.75 inches
Auto shutoff: Yes
Heating method: Warm-water bath
How We Tested the Best Baby Bottle Warmers
Our usability expert evaluated the bottle warmers included in this story in our Yonkers lab. Each model was evaluated for ease of use, warming speed, and overheating.
To determine the warming efficiency of each model, refrigerated formula was heated in 4-ounce plastic bottles following the bottle warmer manufacturer’s recommended settings. The temperature of the formula was recorded every 15 seconds before, during, and after the warming process.
To determine whether a bottle of milk would become too hot if left unattended in the warmer, the bottles of formula were left in the device for an extra 120 minutes after the warming cycle was complete. Any baby bottle warmer that increased the temperature of the formula above 104° F (the temperature at which the nutrients in breast milk begin to break down) within 10 minutes of a warming program’s end was noted for doing so.
To determine how easy each bottle warmer is to use, our CR usability expert evaluated each model against 43 criteria, including questions on the stability of the warmer’s base, the usefulness of the user manual, and the responsiveness of the device’s buttons when pressed.
Fifteen parents who currently own bottle warmers also gave us valuable insight into what they considered to be the most important features in their own bottle warmers used at home. This helped inform our usability expert’s testing method.
Can Babies Drink Cold Breast Milk or Formula?
Room temperature and cold milk are fine for babies to consume, so you shouldn’t feel like you need to purchase a bottle warmer for health reasons. If your baby doesn’t mind cold milk, you can absolutely give him or her a bottle straight from the fridge without warming it up first.
However, “some babies do exhibit a preference for warm milk over cold milk,” says Andrea Braden, an Atlanta-based obstetrician-gynecologist, certified lactation consultant, and co-founder of Lybbie, a company that aims to empower and support women through their breastfeeding journey. “Warm milk is helpful to newborns and premature infants with issues regulating their body temperature,” says Stacy-Ann Louie, a lactation consultant based in Duluth, Ga., and owner of Gwinnett Breastfeeding. Furthermore, Louie says that warm milk offers infants a sense of comfort and familiarity.
Jamie Friedman, a pediatrician at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, says that while babies can safely drink breastmilk or formula that is cold or room temperature, "many parents find that their baby prefers the milk warm. After all, milk coming from the breast is at body temperature.”
Also, “warm milk is more soothing to the stomach,” says Shanille Bowens, a Memphis-based certified lactation consultant and birth and postpartum doula. “When milk is cold, it can shock the stomach and make it contract more forcefully.” Bowens says that shock can lead to gas and discomfort. “Warm milk, on the other hand, is more gentle on the stomach and may help to reduce gas and fussiness.”
Braden says if your baby likes warm milk, it is safe to heat milk slowly for several minutes to a tepid temperature. While traditional methods of warming milk can be time-consuming, thankfully there are baby bottle warmers for babies who prefer warm milk.
Do You Really Need a Bottle Warmer?
Bottle warmers can be very useful for parents, but they’re not an essential baby product, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). They do offer a number of benefits, though:
Convenience
Bottle warmers ideally are designed to be user-friendly. Some devices feature indicator lights or alerts that notify you when the bottle has reached the desired temperature. And some models offer smartphone connectivity, allowing you to receive notifications and control the warmer remotely.
Portability
Many bottle warmers are compact and portable, making them suitable for home or on the go. Some models can be powered by a car charger or batteries, making them convenient for travel.
Versatility
Some bottle warmers can do more than just warm bottles. Many models are also able to heat baby food jars or defrost frozen breast milk or baby food, offering additional versatility and convenience.
What to Look for in a Bottle Warmer
Before looking at features and options, consider what you need and want in a bottle warmer.
Ease of Use
A bottle warmer that is more difficult to use than running warm water from the tap isn’t going to fit seamlessly into your feeding routine. Ideally, you want a warmer that is easy to use and works quickly. The best warmers should not be complicated to assemble, take apart, or clean. Some other questions to consider are: How many setting options do you have to memorize? Does it have smart functions you will need to download and navigate through an app? The answers to these questions will help you determine how many bells and whistles you are willing to navigate to use the bottle warmer.
Bottle Style
Bottles come in various sizes and shapes. Some warmers do not accommodate extra-wide-based bottles or are limited to only one style or shape. Some have adapters to help accommodate a wider range of styles. The bottle warmer you choose should accommodate your preferred bottle style.
Milk Type
Expressed breast milk and formula require different warming preparations. Breast milk should be heated only to room temperature and not exceed body temperature. "When (breast milk) is warmed to temperatures higher than 40° C or 104° F, human milk nutrients and immunological value deteriorate," says Louie. Water bath bottle warmers heat at lower temperatures and work best for breast milk.
Multiple Bottles
Parents of twins (or more) may consider purchasing a double bottle warmer. These warmers are designed to warm two bottles of milk or formula simultaneously.
Temperature Control
Some bottle warmers have smart temperature control, which detects the starting temperature of the milk or food and gently heats it to the optimal temperature.
Auto Shutoff
Most bottle warmers have an adjustable timer function. However, an auto shutoff timer turns off automatically based on a timer or a temperature reading. This feature makes it less likely to overheat liquids.
Compatibility
Bottle warmers come in various sizes and shapes to accommodate bottle types and baby food jars. Some are versatile and can work with various bottle brands and food containers.
Maintain Warmth
Certain bottle warmers have a "keep warm" feature that allows them to maintain the temperature of the warmed bottle, ensuring the milk or formula is ready when the baby needs it.
Multifunctional
Some bottle warmers offer additional functions, such as defrosting frozen breast milk, heating baby food jars, or sterilizing baby bottles and pacifiers.
Audible Beep
When the milk is ready, an audible beep is useful because sleepy parents can easily get sidetracked with the baby when the bottle is warming.
Water Reservoir
Some bottle warmers have a built-in reservoir that monitors the water for you and lasts through several cycles; others require that you add water each time you use them.
How to Use a Baby Bottle Warmer Safely
Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for warming milk. Read through all the instructions and FAQs before using the appliance. Don’t wait until a midnight feeding to figure out how the warmer works. “Always follow the manufacturer’s directions for the bottle warmer based on the number of ounces being warmed,” Bowens recommends. Smaller amounts of milk will warm faster.
It’s also very important to keep your baby bottle warmer clean. Some bottle warmers require water changes regularly to avoid bacteria growth and reduce mineral buildup (some warmers recommend using distilled water to help prevent this).
How to Warm Milk Without a Bottle Warmer
Although bottle warmers make it easier to warm milk for your little one, there are other ways to warm milk. One cost-effective method is using the traditional water bath method for warming milk. This method can be employed in two different ways. The first method is to hold the bottle under a stream of warm tap water until the milk reaches the desired temperature. Alternatively, place the bottle in a container filled with warm water. As with bottle warmers, it’s recommended to always check the milk temperature before feeding your baby.
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