Manufacturers have been coming up with more and more products that make bottle feeding a baby faster, easier, safer and more on-the-go friendly. Among these are:
Drop-In Liners: These little plastic bags fit into certain baby bottles and save time otherwise spent on washing an entire bottle. The liners may also minimize the amount of air swallowed by your baby, so it may be worth it for infants who tend to get a little fussy after each feeding (due to the pain associated with too much air being swallowed).
Sealing Discs: Convert your baby bottle into a storage container for your milk or baby formula. This is great for mother’s who utilize a breast pump and need to store the expressed milk.
Baby Formula Dispensers: Ingenious for active mothers and baby’s on-the-go! These containers usually have 3 or more seperate sections where you pre-measure the needed formula for each feeding. When your baby starts demanding food, you simply pour one measured section into the baby bottle and voila! No need for mess and measuring at the most inopportune times.
Baby Formula Mixers: These battery powered hand mixers are long and thin, designed to fit right into your baby’s bottle. There is a small, plastic whisk at the end which ensures that no lumps remain in the liquid. Perfect for on-the-go families and easy to clean up!
Nipple and Bottle Brushes: It’s pretty hard to get a normal sized sponge to fit into a baby bottle, nevermind the tip of a bottle’s nipple. For those of us who don’t believe vigorously shaking a bottle filled with hot, soapy water is enough, these little gadgets are a wonderful tool.
Electric Baby Bottle Warmers: Since microwaving breast milk or baby formula has been highly discouraged, the only other real option was to heat/boil water on the stove and sit the bottle in that water for a certain amount of time. That is, until a variety of bottle warmers were manufactured. The food is heated evenly throughout, without the danger of hot spots.
Car Bottle Warmers: For the active mother, these warmers are designed to plug into your car for a meal on-the-go.
Special Dishwasher Baskets: Designed to hold even the smallest of accessories, these little baskets allow you to wash things such as bottle nipples and valves without the risk of being shot around by the water pressure and ending up at the very bottom of the dishwasher (or upside down, filled with unsanitary water).
Drying Racks/Bottle Stations: These are designed specifically to hold bottle bases as well as tops and nipples, and are ideal for a mother with multiple bottle-utilizing children. They are also perfect for nurseries and make organization easy.
Microwave Steaming Bags/Racks: Sterilize your bottles and all bottle parts in one of these devices instead of waiting for your next dish washing cycle.
Stand-alone Steam Sterilizers: If you don’t like the idea of sterilizing your baby’s feeding gear in a microwave bag or rack, these stand alone machines are your best bet.
