Image: Bradley Gordon
Breast milk is the most important thing you can feed your child. It contains numerous vitamins and nutrients required by the baby to maintain a healthy and functioning system.
Not only that, it’s also good for the mother and keeps her safe from developing various conditions and diseases, and it serves as a factor for bonding between mother and child.
However, there may come times—especially for busy working mothers—who might not be there with the baby to nurse them when they require. In such a situation, they must store the breast milk and have it fed to the baby. This is where breast milk warmers come in to play.
Natural milk is warm but it has to be stored at lower temperatures to keep it from spoiling for a longer time, but before giving it to the baby, it’s a good practice to warm it up. It's also important to sterilize your bottles! For the scoop on our favorite models, check out this article.
Warmed up breast milk, when paired with the right bottle, can calm the baby and make him/her feel more natural. Cold milk might irritate the delicate throat of babies and make them more prone to catching a cold.
Warming up a bottle in microwaves or in a boiling pot of water is not always accurate or even safe. There is always a chance that the milk will get too hot and hurt the baby’s throat. There's also a chance of uneven heating. Hence, it’s safe to say that using milk warmer is the best practice.
Here's a quick look at our favorite models.
Quick comparison: Best bottle warmer for breastmilk
Bottle warmer | Features we love | Rating | Buy it now |
---|---|---|---|
Tommee Tippee ![]() | - BPA free | ||
Boon Orb Bottle Warmer ![]() | - Comes with a basket for storage | ||
The First Years Night ![]() | - Automatically shuts off | ||
Dr. Brown's Bottle Warmer ![]() | - Refillable water chamber can | ||
Born Free Tru-Temp Bottle ![]() | - Warms 5-oz bottle in 3 minutes | ||
Maxx Elite MaxxDouble ![]() | - Gentle warming options | ||
Kindii Kozii Bottle Warmer ![]() | - Compact design |
When looking to buy a milk warmer, it's a good idea to keep in mind the following features:
- Efficiency – how fast and accurately it warms the milk to the right temperature
- Ease – the ideal warmer should be very easy and convenient not only use, but also clean
- Versatility – how adaptable it is to fit different kinds of bottles with different shapes, capacity, and bases i.e. narrow or broad
- Portability – how light and compact it is to carry around
- Footprint – how much space it takes up in your bag while you are on the go or on your countertop
- Health and safety – it should not heat the milk to a very high temperature as it not only takes away the nutritional value, but also risks injury and burns. Keep in mind that the ideal maximum temperature is 37 degrees.
To get a clear idea, check out our reviews on the best bottle warmer for breastmilk and choose the one that best meets your needs.
Tommee Tipee Travel Warmer
The Tommee Tipee Travel Warmer is made using high-quality plastic and stainless steel for durability, and is designed to work without electricity with a thermal flask which does not require any electrical source from the outside. Since it needs no electricity, it’s the best option for use while you are traveling.
Pros
- It’s made using BPA-free materials and features a compact design that's perfect for use while on the go.
- It can fit any bottle that has a similar shape and size.
- It’s great for heating any milk formula or even breast milk. It will also heat up baby food without any problems.
Cons
- The Tommee Tipee Travel Warmer is designed to fit only Closer to Nature Bottles.
- It doesn't come with a bottle.
Our favorite feature
This bottle warmer's thermal flask keeps the water warm and maintains the temperature, which eliminates the need for heating or reheating.
Final thoughts
All in all, this is a great product, especially when you're traveling, due to its compact and portable design and the ability to keep milk or food warm without any electrical source.
Boon Orb Bottle Warmer
The Boon Orb Bottle Warmer is manufactured with high-quality plastic so it doesn't get hot to touch nor does it melt when in use. It has a funky and interesting round design and weighs about 1.5 pounds. This bottle warmer makes use of steam to gently heat bottles and baby food thoroughly, so there are no hot spots that could risk injury to your baby through burns.
Pros
- It comes with a basket that can be handy for storing jars of baby food.
- It also contains a graduated handy tool tube that helps you measure out the amount of water you need to steam a bottle.
- It turns off automatically once the heating cycle is complete, thus making it safer and even economical, as it saves electricity costs due to overheating and overuse.
Cons
- It must be plugged into a power source to be heated, thus making it a not-so-ideal warmer for when you're on the go.
- It also requires a resting time of 10 minutes between heating bottles to rest the filament.
Our favorite feature
The best part about Boon Orb Bottle Warmer is that it’s designed with a heating chamber that fits most bottles easily.
Final thoughts
This is a dual-purpose product that not only warms milk, but also baby food without any risk.
The First Years Night Cravings Bottle Warmer
The First Years Night Cravings Bottle Warmer is actually a dual action warmer that not only warms up baby bottles fairly quickly, but also keeps them cool during the night, ready to be heated at a moment’s notice. It’s roughly as big as your average coffee maker, and features an insulated compartment that can fit up to two 8-ounce bottles at a time and keep them cool for up to 8 hours.
Pros
- This device needs to be plugged into a socket, as the water is heated and the bottles are warmed with steam. This method ensures even heating throughout.
- A very useful feature of this warmer is the auto shut off system, which ensures safety and is therefore perfect for those parents who wake up in the middle of the night with only one eye open.
Our favorite feature
It has a design that can accommodate most bottle shapes, be it a wide or narrow base.
Final thoughts
All in all, the First Years Night Cravings Bottle Warmer is perfect or just about everyone, with its capacity to hold up to two bottles, and it's ideal for heating formula or even baby food.
Dr. Brown's Bottle Warmer
The Dr. Brown’s Bottle Warmer offers a quick and efficient way to warm up bottles and baby food. It makes use of steam to evenly and thoroughly warm up the bottles, preventing any hot patches which may result in a burn for your child.
Pros
- It has a refillable water chamber that can warm up quite a few bottles before having to be refilled.
- A unique feature of this warmer is that it’s designed with an adjustable basket that can fit in differently sized bottles.
Our favorite feature
We love how Dr. Brown’s Bottle Warmer has an LCD screen, which sounds an alarm when the required temperature is reached. It also has the capacity to store different times and temperatures for added convenience. It’s very easy to use, with a single start button, and it's easy to read at night in the dark.
Final thoughts
This is a fair choice for parents who don't like to do repetitive tasks - thanks to its LCD panel with memory capacity.
Born Free Tru-Temp Bottle Warmer
The Born Free Tru-Temp Bottle Warmer is designed to accommodate various varieties and brands of bottles. It’s suitable for heating up milk, formula and even baby food to an optimal temperature.
Pros
- This warmer has the ability to warm a normal 5-ounce bottle in about 3 minutes.
- It has a removable insulated cooler that can easily accommodate two bottles and keep them cool for those nighttime feedings. It can keep them cool for up to 8 hours at a time.
- It has a dial bottle size which reduces your guesswork and accurately heats up milk to the optimal temperature.
Cons
- It’s a little larger than other models, with a weight of 3.8 pounds.
Our favorite feature
It has visual indicators that also function when the bottle is ready. Another feature is the auto shut off, which is great for safety.
Final thoughts
This is a safe choice for parents who wish to keep bottles handy during the night with the insulated cooler that can keep them cool for up to 8 hours. It has a quick warm-up time of 3 minutes for a 5-ounce bottle and about 4 to 6 minutes for a 9-ounce bottle.
Maxx Elite MaxxDouble Digital Bottle Warmer
The Maxx Elite MaxxDouble Digital Bottle Warmer features a handy digital display and comes with two different types of heating modes: one which heats gently and the other steadily.
Pros
- The gentle warming option preserves the nutrients that are naturally present in breast milk and which are destroyed when the milk is heated too quickly.
- The steady warm option is great for warming milk formulas and baby food.
- It can accommodate bottles up to 10 ounces and features handy button for option selection.
Our favorite feature
It offers a gentle warm feature that helps maintain all the nutrients and preserves the antibodies that are of vital importance to the healthy development of a baby.
Final thoughts
The Maxx Elite MaxxDouble Digital Bottle Warmer is the perfect choice for mothers who wish to feed their babies breastmilk wit a bottle.
Kindii Kozii Bottle Warmer
The Kindii Kozii Bottle Warmer makes use of the flowing property of water to create a warm bath that in turn gently heats the bottle. It has a handy user interface that displays the time left before the milk is warmed, and it has a reservoir that is long-lasting and doesn't need to be refilled after every use.
Pros
- It has a compact and lightweight design, with a built-in timer that eliminates the risk of overheating the milk.
- It has a chamber that's large enough to hold an 8-ounce bag of breast milk and stops heating the milk once the desired temperature is reached.
- The universal chamber makes it easy to heat any type of container with ease.
Our favorite feature
It’s ideal for gentle thawing of breast milk as per the CDC and USDA guidelines, and is a perfect match for mothers who wish to provide their child with natural breast milk even when not around.
Final thoughts
This is ideal not only for parents who wish to feed their child breast milk with preserved nutrients, but also for those who wish to feed other formulas and even wish to warm baby food without over heating it.
As there is a huge variety of bottle warmers available on the market with a great many features, we hope we were able to help you find the best bottle warmer for breast milk. If you need help picking out the best bottles, check out this great article.
When deciding to buy a bottle warmer, make sure to prioritize your needs before your purchase. It’s important to know if you want something that is compact and easy to carry around or something that is more advanced and can accommodate different bottle types. It’s also important to consider what type of milk you will be administering to your child, as breast milk is delicate and you will need to go for a bottle warmer that has special gentle warming features designed especially for preserving the nutrients in breast milk.