Many moms, especially new moms, wish to only breastfeed their baby. It is no doubt the best way to go; however, many new moms’ bodies fail to produce enough milk to satisfy the baby’s hunger.
On the other hand, sometimes mothers when produce excess milk, you can store it for the times your alternative caregiver is managing your child. of a bottle.
Now, whenever you feed your baby with a bottle, the most important point is to get the temperature of the milk right. Babies do not like cold milk and therefore will not consume it if it isn’t at the right temperature.
This is where you may find bottle warmers to be a real boon! Imagine a scenario where your baby is crying out of hunger and you are just struggling to get the temperature of the milk right by using all traditional methods! And even after that, you are unsure if the milk isn’t too cold or hot for the baby.
For every parent who asks ‘do I need a bottle warmer?’, I am writing this in the hope that you get the answer based on my own experience. This article I have mentioned the various other ways to hear milk bottles along with their pros and cons. Hope this article helps you.
Further there are a lot of different types of bottle warmers available in the market, so you need to understand what you need to look into while buying the right bottle warmer – bottle warmer buying guide – that suites your and your child’s needs.
Are you still using these methods to heat your baby’s milk?
There are a few conventional ways to heat the baby’s milk bottle. I tried a few before I switched to a bottle warmer. Let me list them out for you, with each option’s pros and cons.
1. Microwave: Before I discuss this, did you know that microwaves heats liquids, especially milk, unevenly? It does, and that’s exactly why it should be avoided to heat your baby’s milk bottle. Microwave-heated milk can leave really hot spots in the liquid, which can burn your baby’s mouth.
Pros:
- No additional cost
Cons:
- Does not heat milk evenly and hence can burn baby’s mouth
- Inconvenient to heat big bottles
2. Running hot water: Another traditional way to heat a baby’s bottle with milk in it, is to hold it under running hot water. However, it takes extremely good expertise to determine the time for which this has to be done to get the milk at the right temperature, which many wouldn’t have.
Pros:
- Easy access
Cons:
- Time consuming
- Doubtful on achieving the right temperature for the milk
- Risk of burns if the water is too hot
- Not reliable at all, especially if you have a crying, hungry baby
3. Hot water: This must be the oldest technique to heat a baby’s milk; place the bottle in a pot of water boiling on the stove or when the pot of boiled water is just taken off the stove. Let’s get straight to the pros and cons here.
Pros:
- Definitely better than hot running water
Cons:
- Heat consistency remains an issue
- Time consuming
- Risk of burns
Yes, parents from earlier generations have been using these methods to warm baby’s milk in bottles. However today, parents can save time, stay safe and yet have the baby’s milk in a bottle at the right temperature on time, thanks to bottle warmers!
Still unsure about bottle warmers?
I am sure that you must have tried at least one of the above-mentioned methods to heat the milk in a baby bottle. I did too before I discovered bottle warmers and trust me, it definitely was time consuming and failed to give the desired temperature most of the times. And with a hungry baby crying for milk in the background, the hot water methods did get a little risky to handle for me.
I am a mother of four, so trust me when I say this – a bottle warmer can truly be a boon! Even today, after my kids have grown and do not need to use a bottle, I use bottle warmers to heat any liquid – quickly and evenly! This is certainly one investment you will be happy about. Let me give you a quick look at the pros and cons of bottle warmers.
Pros:
- Convenience – heat your baby’s milk in a bottle at the push of a button
- Saves time
- Milk gets heated evenly
- Some bottle warmers also come with timers
- Ease of use, especially under highly stressed situations (like a crying baby)
- Ease to use; can be managed by anyone
- Bottle warmers available for multiples too
Cons:
- A little expensive; though look at it as a one-time investment for daily convenience
As someone who has used both – the traditional methods and a bottle warmer – I definitely recommend bottle warmers. With a baby in the house, there are several things that keep you busy and each of those tasks are as important. So I believe making one task a little simpler can make parents’ lives a lot easier.
In a nutshell…
There may be many parents, who at least once in a lifetime have had to be in a situation, wherein you are struggling to get the temperature of the milk in the bottle just right, while your baby screams & cries out of hunger! Do you remember the helplessness at that moment?
A small, one-time investment to buy your peace of mind in this case is definitely worth it! And the good part is that even young children can handle them easily.
I hope this article has thrown some light on the advantages of a bottle warmers.
Get a detailed guide on all the factors you should consider while buying a bottle warmer – something like a bottle warmer buying guide – on parentingnmore.com. They have also provided detailed reviews on ’12 Best Bottle Warmers’ for the readers’ benefit. Hope you get what you are looking for!
