Item sent for social media review, blog post was not asked for but we love a good product review
If you think “bottle steriliser” one brand usually comes to mind. You can find them anywhere, and until recently there was little else to really choose from. So when MAM contacted us to show us their new bottle steriliser (and write a little steriliser review!), we got a little bit more excited than we should have, welcome to the world of parents. With Effie here and practising combination feeding for work purposes, we jumped at the chance to try a new baby gadget.
MAM Electric Steam Steriliser Review
The new MAM Electric Steam Steriliser, isn’t just a steriliser, its actually a 3 in one. It’s a microwavable steriliser, an electric steriliser and also a bottle warmer. Previously we’ve only ever seen these as three separate things so to have them combined, well thats instantly a good start, especially when we dont have the largest amount of storage space in our kitchen.
Unpacking was easy, finally something we’ve opened in the last year that doesn’t have cable ties to cut or need a screw driver to undo clamps. Inside is the electrical heating part, the two parts of the steriliser tub, the basket pieces for inside the tub and some bits to convert it into the bottle warmer. Very quickly we found a spot to house it in the kitchen and plugged it in, and then of course read the instructions after.
How does the MAM Electric Steam Steriliser work
Basic electric mode is easy enough, but the main difference from our last steriliser is that you don’t just pour the water in and turn it on, you need to fill the heater unit and put the lid on securely. It heats the water and lets the steam into the tub to sterilise items via a one way valve. I actually love this because it keeps any limescale and stale water away from the main sterilising area. There are two baskets inside to hold items, and bottles actually lay down side ways instead of being upright. Starting it up is a breeze, you just need to turn it on, make sure you have the right mode selected on the front lights and hit the power button once. When the cycle is finished, the unit beeps to let you know.
To use the steriliser in the microwave mode, water is added to the tub and the whole thing minus the electrical heating unit is put in the micro. The one way valve stops water leaking out the bottom and allows steam to build in the tub as it would in the electric mode. The instructions let you know how long to leave the micro on for, but should you lose them or forget, its imprinted on the bottom of the tub. Awesome.
If you would like to heat a bottle, you can whip the big tub off the top, undo the heating unit lid, and add the bottle securing piece. In the instructions there’s a big list of times and volumes of water to use in conjunction with bottle amounts and if your’e warming frozen breast milk or refrigerated breast milk. With so many combinations its is a list thats hard to remember so be sure to keep it to hand. Effie is 95% breast feeding at the moment so in honesty we’ve not had the opportunity to try this out, but for mums who are able to express milk in between, i can see this being really handy
Spending a week with the MAM Bottle Steriliser
The unit itself is deeper but not as tall as the Tommee Tippee we had with Elian so it takes up a little more counter space, but not as much height. With the smaller height in the sterilising part, the amount of bottles that we can sterilise in one go is a bit less. This isn’t so much of an issue for us as formula feeds are few and far between, so it fits us perfectly. We have zero issues with its effectiveness, you can hear it steaming up so you audibly know its doing its job and gives some reassurance. Changing between the modes is simple, and you even get a flashy light dance on the front when the bottles are ready to be taken out after cooling.
The microwave feature, ive struggled to see a point of. While it could be used for travel, the MAM bottles can achieve the same thing with their unique sterilising design, while taking up less space in your luggage.
Overall we are very happy with it. It does exactly what we need in a volume that we need, is cleaner than our last one and the bottle warmer function is something that will prove useful for when we are working and Effie is with grandparents, to make use of a stock of frozen breast milk and avoid the need for formula.
