Sterilizing your baby’s bottles can be quite time-consuming, especially if you’re doing it on the stovetop. To simplify the process, and to ensure that all the bottle components are properly sterilized and bacteria-free, many parents opt for a bottle sterilizer. But what are some other interesting, even surprising uses for a bottle sterilizer?
Bottle sterilizers have several different uses that make them handy to have around. In addition to keeping bottle components bacteria-free, sterilizers can also be used to sterilize pacifiers, breast pump parts and even small toys. Drying functions make it easy to avoid bacteria on kitchen counters or dish racks.
Key takeaways
- Bottle sterilizers can easily clean bottle components, teats and pacifiers ensuring all baby items remain bacteria-free.
- Small toys can be placed in the sterilizer to eliminate having to scrub and dry them.
- Breast pump components can also be easily steam-cleaned in a sterilizer, preventing contamination.
- Small quantities of baby food can be steamed in a bottle sterilizer for a quick meal.
- Parent’s jewelry can also be steamed to keep it clean, and bacteria-free and steaming ensures there’s no damage in the cleaning process.
1. Sterilize pacifiers
Pacifiers are quite possibly the baby objects that have the most risk of spreading bacteria. This is because it gets dropped a lot, and babies often wipe their pacifiers on just about everything around them. My daughter always dropped her pacifier whenever we went out.
Bacteria on pacifiers can also spread thrush and several other infant illnesses. Using your sterilizer is an easy way to ensure that the pacifier remains bacteria-free all the time. Ensuring your baby has a sterilized pacifier has never been easier!
2. It can be used to sterilize toys
In the early months, your little one more than likely has a bunch of smaller toys to keep them entertained. Since these toys are placed on counters, in bags, on car seats and dropped on the floor, they are also at risk of collecting harmful bacteria.
Simply pop them into the sterilizer with bottle components or pacifiers to clean. Doing this eliminates having to wash, rinse and dry them separately. A quick 3-minute cycle in the sterilizer will have the toys sparkling clean. This saved me from having to stand and wash each individual toy when I got my sterilizer.
3. Sterilize breast pump parts
The more gadgets you have for your baby, the more time you have to spend cleaning them. However, with your sterilizer, you can easily clean your breast pump parts without any hassle.
Simply disassemble the pump and place the components in the sterilizer. Set it for the same time you use to clean bottles. Keeping your breast pump parts clean is crucial to avoid any contamination to you or your baby.
4. You can sterilize your jewelry
Experts will agree, the most effective way to give your jewelry a deep clean without damaging precious components is with steaming. Using a bottle sterilizer kills 99.9% of germs by using a quick burst of steam.
5. Steam baby food
Another great use of bottle sterilizers is that you can quickly steam a small serving of baby food in them. Simply place a small container of food into the steamer and you’ll have warm food in under 3 minutes. I wrote about this aspect when comparing bottle sterilzers with UV sterilizers.
Keep in mind that using this method to warm food is a much better way to preserve the food’s nutrients, making this a healthier option than putting the food into a microwave. It’s great for feeding in the nursery when you don’t want the inconvenience of going up and down to the kitchen in the middle of the night!
How does a baby bottle sterilizer work?
Essentially, electric and steam sterilizers are used to keep baby feeding bottles germ-free. Having any accessories that your baby uses germ-free reduces the risk of food poisoning and diarrhea.
For the most part, sterilizers can eliminate 99.99% of bacteria without the harmful effects of chemicals or soap–the only cleaning agent is the steam generated by the unit. Those that feature dryers also dry your baby bottles and accessories without having to put them on counters or drying racks that may be contaminated with germs or harmful bacteria.
Bottle sterilizers work by using hot air technology to dry washed or sterilized items, getting items dry in less time than air-drying and also with zero exposure to germs or potential bacteria. Depending on the size of the sterilizer, you can easily sterilize and dry up to 6 bottles. Pump components and accessories in one quick session.
Here’s a short clip that shows how easy it is to use a Baby Brezza baby bottle sterilizer and dryer. With the size of it, you can easily see how jewelry, toys and pacifiers can fit in to be sterilized!
Bonus tip
You may also think about selling your sterilizer as second-hand sterilizers are safe to use in case proper preparation steps are done before usage. You can ask around in your circle of friends or extended family or you can simply put up an online ad in order to get rid of your unit.
Wrap-up
If you’re wondering whether or not a bottle sterilizer is worth the cost, the good news is that its multiple uses make it worth having! It’s a quick and easy way to keep many items – both yours and your baby’s – clean and bacteria-free. If any gadget can make taking care of your baby easier and healthier, it’s well worth the investment.
If you’re constantly looking for ways to eliminate your baby’s exposure to germs, you may find my article about washing baby bottles with bleach very useful. Additionally, did you know you can wash your baby bottles with shampoo – read my interesting article to find out how!
