Baby likes her milk warm, and this is where the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer comes in handy. Yet many people give the bestselling bottle warmer low ratings?
The Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer offers the convenience of warming your bottle at night. But it can take about 3 minutes or so to actually warm a bottle, which is equivalent to like an hour in baby screaming time. If you use the default 5-minute setting, you’ll likely be refilling the water in the reservoir daily. On top of that, bacteria from old formula can also mix in with the water and cause a foul odor similar to sewage. So it’s advisable to clean the bottle warmer every week or so. If you’re OK with that, then this bottle warmer is for you.
……….
My first time using the deluxe bottle warmer
when you’re a bit slow on the uptake
When my son was a baby, he would wake up crying for milk in the middle of the night. And so this bottle warmer was convenient to use for nighttime feedings. I didn’t need to go down to the kitchen to heat up a bottle of milk.
This bottle warmer was a necessity, and I remember trying to buy the exact same one during a week-long trip to Tampa, as I didn’t get to bring the Dr Browns Deluxe bottle warmer.
So when I found out I was pregnant again many years later, I instantly wanted another Dr Brown’s deluxe bottle warmer. I didn’t put much thought into it. And it didn’t occur to me that better options might be available from other brands, 6 years later.
I just wanted something I knew, I guess that’s human nature. The first bottle warmer was my nightly companion for nearly 2 years.
So I got the new version of this bottle warmer for baby #2. I didn’t want to spend a lot and was just going to use it to warm baby bottles. So I got the basic one that didn’t double as a sterilizer.
How is the new Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer different from the new one?
From my experience, I’m not sure there were major differences between the two.
Apart from the fact that the old one was blue.
Oh look, I rhymed – woohoo.
Um…let’s not turn this into a Dr. Seuss type review.
Anyway.
It seemed the old and new Dr Brown bottle warmers were the same.
Now I need to stop rhyming, or this is about to get real lame.
struggling to read super small measurements on a baby bottle at 4:15 AM
PROS / What I LIKE about the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer
The bottle warmer’s heating element heats up water fast. After about a minute, a small amount of water is boiling, producing steam that warms the baby bottle.
me remember stuff
It’s intelligent
Just like the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Sterilizer, this bottle warmer is like…a robot. It’s intelligent. It remembers my preferred last setting, so I don’t have to set the timer each time.
Not to say that changing the timer isn’t as easy as pressing the up/down arrows. And if you want the numbers to go faster on the LCD screen, just keep the button pressed down.
5 beeps = it’s ready
Most of the time, I use the bottle warmer half-asleep as many moms do, and fall right back to sleep while it’s warming a bottle. So it’s good to hear the 5 familiar beeps to remind you that the baby bottle is ready.
CONS / What I DON’T LIKE about the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer
One thing I noticed after purchasing this bottle warmer was that any customers would often leave badreviews for it. Apparently, many are unhappy with the product.
But of course I just had to find out for myself.
How does a bottle warmer from a well-known brand created by the pediatrician Dr. Brown end up with so many bad reviews?
The idea seems solid. But is it that hard for a product to maintain a rating of at least 4 stars?
really wondering
Doesn’t fit other baby bottles
Especially the chunkier ones. It makes sense that the bottle warmer was mostly made for the Dr Brown Options baby bottles. On the box, it does say that. But yeah, when I try to use it with a different baby bottle brand, I can’t close the cover.
Now the circumference of a chunky baby bottle fills that space between the baby bottle and the bottle warmer, trapping the steam underneath. This warms a bottle of milk all the same. So not a very major issue.
How long does it take to warm a bottle?
While the heating element boils water within seconds, warming the baby bottle actually takes longer—about 5 minutes.
With water at the bottom, the bottle warmer produces steam that heats up the baby bottle, and that’s how the milk inside is warmed up.
Now 5 minutes may be OK. Except that amount of time is relative.
Because that’s more like an hour in baby screaming time. Plus, at 3:14 AM? Come on.
Formula collects at the bottom
I’m not sure how it happens. Because I always keep baby bottles covered when I warm a bottle. Also, I don’t feel like the heat from the bottom gets the formula hot enough that the bottle nipple starts spewing milk from the baby bottle nipple.
Usually, I have my bottle warmer set to just a little over a minute, so this never results in piping hot formula. And yet formula ends up collecting at the bottom of this bottle warmer, anyway.
Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer water reservoir
Another thing is that when I don’t get to clean the bottle warmer for a while, I notice that the water at the bottom and in the water reservoir becomes cloudy.
Then a certain smell (stench) begins to come out of the bottle warmer. At first, I wasn’t sure I believed the smell was coming from the bottle warmer. I figured the diaper pail was left open, or something.
But no.
And the smell was similar to…
Y’all ready for this? SEWAGE.
But…sewers are sometimes kinda scenic…
Now I realize I’ll probably never be accepted as a Dr. Brown brand ambassador. Not that I’ve ever applied to become one. Because I don’t fit the influencer profile. But at the end of the day, I think I’d rather try to save babies from this sewery stuff.
Think about it. This isn’t an experience like going on a guided tour of the Museum of Sewers in Paris, or anything educational like that. This is about a lack of sanitation, and it’s bad.
How do you know it’s bad?
When something that your baby feeds from has to come into contact with something that smells like a sewer.
Reservoir buildup
In the water reservoir itself, some gunk can also build up after some time. So it needs to be cleaned, too.
By shaking uncooked rice in it. The non-instant variety.
Now that’s not a cleaning method that I invented on my own. Or discovered after Googling a random online how-to. This information is directly from the Dr. Brown’s site in AU.
Not really complaining, but with all this technology and convenience, it feels silly to have to clean the reservoir using rice.
It’s like you’re given a fancy robot helper, only to be told that…
You can only clean it by doing the shakey shakey rice dance.
the shakey rice: a legit cleaning method many swear by
“Hello, Mr Perfect? I’m ready for forever.”
It’s like meeting Mr. Perfect. Then he tells you to call (111) 111-1111 to get in touch.
He adds that you must call him using a banana.
Also, it’s the only way to reach him.
One would assume that the Dr Brown’s team could at least include a special tube brush to clean the reservoir of this deluxe invention.
Yet one would be wrong.
Maintenance requires time & effort
As suggested, I recently used vinegar to descale my Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer, and to sanitize it.
Yet immediately after using vinegar, the bottle warmer continued to smell bad.
After some more flushing of the dirty water, it was fine.
But just so you know, it does take time and effort to keep this bottle warmer clean.
Short cord
It’s like your love for your baby is strong, but the sewage smell is trying to win
Not that big a deal, but this can make it inconvenient to use, depending on where you choose to keep the bottle warmer.
Requires learning these skills?
AI says this is what ‘water mess’ looks like
Putting water into the tiny reservoir or ‘water tank’ hole can be challenging. Hopefully, you have some spouted beaker type thing to help with this.
But if you’re like me, you will likely attempt to finagle things by pouring a small amount of water into the reservoir—directly from your gallon jug of distilled water.
And it’s probably safe to assume that you will end up with spillage and mess.
Then you’ll get upset that your attempt didn’t work.
Then there’s putting the water reservoir back into its compartment. There is a trick to doing this, and you will likely need to practice to get it right. And the first few attempts will likely leave you with a mess of water.
Because you’ll need to put in the reservoir… Upside down.
“WHY, DR. BROWN!? This is arrant tomfoolery, I say!”
At this point, I’ve done this many times, and don’t mind it so much anymore.
However, I wish there had been more of a heads up that we would need to learn tricks.
Just to warm up our baby’s bottle.
Why!?
Deluxe?
How? The experience of using the bottle warmer is nowhere near like using the Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Sterilizer. There is a world of difference in using the two. This bottle warmer creates a big mess.
And in and of itself, thinking about it now, is a mess.
Just my opinion, but having to put in the reservoir upside down, having to clean it with non-instant rice, and having to descale with vinegar, plus there’s no tube brush or spouted container for pouring water into the reservoir = maybe not ‘deluxe.’
A bottle warmer from a pediatrician
If you’re interested, here is the story of how Dr Brown came up with his discovery of anti-colic baby bottles. The baby bottles were a hit, and I guess the demand created the company.
On that note, for current and future bottle-feeding moms, I do wish someone would come up with a faster, safer (no milk buildup at the bottom) bottle warmer. One that is more practical to clean.
This bottle warmer will be for glass baby bottles, or hybrid ones that are glass on the inside and plastic or silicone on the outside, so no (or less) microplastic issues.
a mom that’s a scientist
I would love to see a bottle warmer created by a germophobe mom that’s also maybe a scientist, or an engineer. The same mom that wakes up and bottle-feeds their crying baby and changes their dirty diaper at 3 AM.
Similar deluxe bottle warmer
Dr Brown’s Deluxe Bottle Warmer & Sterilizer $$
Philips AVENT Fast Baby Bottle Warmer with Smart Temperature Control and Automatic Shut-Off $$
I could recommend the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer…
⭐⭐⭐ (3 / 5)
If you can commit to keeping it clean, and use glass baby bottles, or at least something that’s glass inside and silicone or plastic on the outside.
As far as I know, a lot of plastic baby bottles are made of polypropylene, and heating them releases microplastics into the milk. And in order to warm up the milk inside, that bottle warmer will have to be fairly warm. That probably increases the amount of microplastics that go into the milk.
Do you have the time & effort to keep the Dr Browns deluxe bottle warmer clean?
Think about using white vinegar and cold water every few days, and running the bottle warmer until all of the water is gone from the reservoir. You will likely have to do that again, to clean the bottle warmer thoroughly. If that sounds like a lot, then this bottle warmer is probably not for you.
When I actively used this, I would run the bottle warmer for 8 minutes (maximum setting) four times. Then I’d often wait between cleanings, because the steam would be really hot, and I didn’t want to damage the bottle warmer.
Now imagine doing this every other week, until your baby no longer feeds from the bottle.
This is on top of your entire workload as a mom. Do you have a day job, too? Good luck.
Oh, and don’t forget that you will need to do the shakey shakey rice dance to clean the water reservoir of the bottle warmer, to remove the gunk off of the sides of the container.
You’ll be doing all of these for maybe a year or so.
Does that sound fun? Or something you don’t mind doing at all?
Then you and the Dr Browns Deluxe Bottle Warmer are a match made in heaven.
Got any recommendations for baby bottle warmers?Please share with us.
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