Best bottle warmers 2023: 8 tried-and-tested buys for your baby’s milk or formula

You can rely on the best bottle warmers for hassle-free heating – they're great for warming your baby's milk to the right temperature, taking the guesswork out of the whole process.

Don't take our word for it, though – just ask any new parent and we’ll bet it’s on their newborn baby essentials checklist. 

The technology and capabilities of these nifty gadgets have come a long way too – families who are on the move will benefit from the best portable bottle warmer, for example. 

It’s not just milk that they heat either – you can use one to warm up some of your favourite baby food recipes. 

While it’s important to do what’s right for your baby (and you), we’ve asked a panel of experts – made up of journalists and mums – to crown the best bottle warmers, in case you’re in the market for one. This is how we test and review products, so you can rest assured our method is trusted by parents everywhere.

First thing first – there’s some information about bottle warmers you might be interested in. 

To help us answer some of your FAQs on bottle warmers, we’ve borrowed the brains of some of the best experts in the industry. 

How to choose the best bottle warmer for your baby

Bottle warmers vary wildly in price ranging from just above £10 to around £150, but they all do the same thing, via different means. 

• Cost - Firstly, decide how much you want to spend on a bottle warmer, and shop around for one that matches your budget.
• Space - Secondly, think about how much space you've got in your kitchen. If you're short on worktop space, you won't want another bulky kitchen gadget taking up even more room.
• Multifunctional - Finally, consider whether you'd like a machine you can continue using once your baby starts weaning onto solid food. If so. choose one that's compatible with lots of baby food jars and pouches. (Some bottle warmers only fit certain types of baby bottle or baby food jar.)
• Portability - If you're likely to take the bottle warmer with you on trips away from home, choose one that's practical for packing. For instance, make sure it's light and compact. If you're bottle-feeding your baby most of the time, a bottle preparation machine is a better investment than a bottle warmer. A bottle warmer is handy for heating the occasional bottle of breastmilk, rather than for preparing all your baby's formula feeds.

Best bottle warmer - our top pick

Based on our tried and tested reviews, the best bottle warmer is the Philips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer. It's neat and compact, so you don't need loads of space to store it. You can use it to warm milk and baby food from chilled or frozen, and it's impressively quick and efficient. Our tester found it especially easy to use. That's a major plus, as you don't want to be fiddling around with a gadget when there's a hungry baby in the house. 

All the bottle warmers in this line-up are suitable from birth. Our panel of mums and journalists tested them out over a period of several weeks with babies aged under 12 months.

Best bottle warmers as reviewed by our testers

This is the perfect product if you're short on space in the kitchen and need a quick, fuss-free bottle warmer that's easy to operate. It has smart temperature control, which detects the starting temperature of the milk and gently heats it to the optimal temperature in less than three minutes. It also has an easy-to-use status display, which indicates when the milk is ready. This bottle warmer prevents overheating and can keep your baby's milk at a constant temperature for up to 60mins.

"This is a compact and easy-to-use bottle warmer that had my baby's bottle at the perfect temperature in three minutes," says Nansi Hitchman, mum to Jesse, 12 months. "It has a defrost option too, which is handy, and you can also use it to heat baby food."

Nansi found this machine especially easy to set up and use. "You pour the water directly into the warmer, instead of filling a fiddly bottle which you then have to fit to the machine," she says. "It has a simple dial to select how many ounces you're heating, and the 'on' button lights up to indicate when the milk is ready."

Overall, this is a fast, efficient bottle warmer that ticks all the important boxes – it's easy to use, takes up minimal space, and it looks good in the kitchen. "I love how easy to use it is, and how quick it is to fill and get going," adds Lauren.

• Read our full review of the Philips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer

The Tommee Tippee All-in-One Advanced Bottle and Pouch Warmer warms baby milk from refrigerated or from frozen, as well as from room temperature. You can heat it in a baby bottle, or in a baby food pouch or jar. It has an easy-lift cradle, which holds the food or milk. This makes it really easy to lift the bottle, pouch, or jar in and out of the bottle warmer without dripping water everywhere.

Lauren Godfrey, mum to Margot, 11 months, found this incredibly easy to use. "I was particularly impressed by how quickly and easily this bottle warmer defrosted and warmed a pouch of breastmilk from frozen," she says. "It's so easy to use – you choose one of the three settings, then press 'start' and wait for the beep." The warmer is also a neat, slim-line design, so it doesn't take up lots of space in the kitchen.

Overall, Lauren wouldn't hesitate to recommend this bottle warmer to a friend. "It's very affordable and so easy to use," she says. As for whether it's the best bottle warmer for you, Lauren thinks it's best suited to a parent who often needs to warm milk quickly, and with only one hand free. It's also a good space-saving choice for those with smaller kitchens or limited worktop space.

• Read our full review of the Tommee Tippee All-in-One Advanced Bottle Warmer

Sometimes, you want a no-nonsense piece of baby kit with no fiddly extras. The Nuby Electric Bottle & Food Warmer is exactly that. It's a compact bottle and food warmer that heats both breast milk and baby food safely, including from frozen. It fits a range of baby bottles and baby food jars. It heats the contents within three minutes. It has a lift-out basket so you can retrieve your bottle or jar without touching the hot water. Additionally, it comes with an adapter ring that fits most baby bottles and brands of baby food.

"I am impressed by how easy this is to set up, and by how little space it takes up," says Nansi Hitchman, mum to Jesse, 12 months. "Babies come with so much kit, as everyone knows, and I'm glad this isn't yet another giant item on my countertop."

Nansi found this bottle warmer particularly easy to use – a real plus for parents who dislike fiddly gadgets. "You can set it up in seconds and there's no need to learn how to navigate a control screen or complex settings – you just press one button and it gets going. However, you do need to keep the booklet handy so that you know how much water to add to achieve the correct temperature."

Overall, this is a basic bottle-warmer that's quick and easy to operate. It's a good choice if you have limited worktop space in the kitchen. It's brilliant value for money, and ideal if you're on a budget or don't want to spend over the odds on a bottle warmer that you'll only use occasionally.

This bottle warmer has an internal water reservoir to create a continuous flow of water around your bottle or baby food pouch, ensuring the contents are heated evenly and gently. This means you don't need to fill the bottle warmer with water every time you use it. Simply set the timer, and when the time is up, the water drains back into the reservoir. There's no risk of overheating, as it has an automatic shut-off timer.

"This bottle warmer completely removed my fear of overheating milk or creating heat pockets within it, as it shuts off and the water drains immediately back into the reservoir as soon as the milk is at the correct temperature," says Lauren Godfrey, mum to Margot, 11 months.

Lauren tried several different bottles and baby food pouches in this bottle warmer. She found they all fitted but says thicker bottles took a little longer to heat up. "Filling the water reservoir is quite a fiddly task, and certainly not easy to do one-handed, but the dial on the front is very straightforward and easy to use."

This bottle warmer is a good choice if you're keen to avoid overheating milk, which can destroy its nutrients.

This stylish machine heats bottles and baby food jars and also sterilises baby bottles and soothers. It's a stylish-looking product, so it'll appeal to parents who like contemporary, sleek design. It has an LCD control panel and a one-button start mode for quick access to your preferred heating times. Audible and visual alerts notify you when the item is ready.

"This is so compact and sleek, it's a very stylish item for any kitchen," says Nansi Hitchman, mum to Jesse, 12 months. "It looks and feels like an expensive bit of kit, so you get a lot for your money. You definitely need to read the instructions before using it, as there are multiple features to get to grips with, but the LCD screen is easy to follow once you get the hang of it."

Our favourite feature is the memory function. You can repeat the last setting used, or use the timer to create your own custom setting. This makes heating your baby's milk and food especially easy.

Our tester found the bottles heated up quickly overall, and kept their heat for a long time. "The bottle is also easy to remove, and I was able to clean the machine very quickly," she says.

The Mam Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser and Express Bottle Warmer is a complete package for sterilising, defrosting, and warming your baby's milk and food. The 'keep warm' programme keeps the contents warm for up to 45 minutes. The electric steam sterilising unit sterilises items in seven minutes. Items stay sterile for 48 hours. It also has a detachable microwave steam sterilising unit, which fits in standard microwaves, and is also suitable for cold water sterilisation.

"You immediately feel like you're getting a lot for your money when you unbox this," says our tester Lauren Godfrey, mum to Margot, 11 months. "There's a lot of functionality, and it comes with lots of products included, whilst still being a compact unit that can fit into a kitchen drawer, cupboard or even sit unobtrusively on the kitchen counter."

Nevertheless, Lauren feels this is best suited to someone who primarily wants a steam steriliser, with an occasional need for heating bottles. "The amount of water required to be added to the unit changes depending on what you're heating, which is a little confusing, and adds more time to warming up the milk," she says. "However, it’s good that the heating process is so quick once the water has been added. It heats room temperature milk in just over two minutes, which is fantastically fast, and both the milk and bottle feel lovely and warm."

With so much included, this is a brilliant-value product overall, and a good buy for anyone who wants a multi-purpose product that can sterilise as well as warm milk and baby food.

VIEW AT NANOBEBE | £11.99

The Smart Warming Bowl by Nanobebe is an easy, straightforward product that requires no electricity. This is designed to warm Nanobebe bottles, but it can also defrost milk pouches. There's only one mode, which means there are no fiddly button options to select, and no complex controls to get to grips with.

"This is such excellent value for money for a simple and straightforward device that will perfectly, yet gradually and slowly heat your Nanobebe bottles," says Lauren Godfrey, mum to Margot, 11 months. "It couldn't be simpler to use, as it is cable-free and doesn't require electricity. The shape of the unit, rather than any fancy settings or speeds, is what makes it impressive."

Additionally, Lauren found this bottle warmer particularly easy to clean. "There are no nooks and crannies or tricky electrical cables to clean around," she says. "However, on the downside, the simple design makes it quite slow to heat the milk."

To clarify, this bottle warming bowl will suit you if you only use Nanobebe bottles and aren't often in a hurry to warm one.

This nifty gadget is for your car. It uses high-temperature steam to heat and sterilise bottles and baby food when you're on the go. It automatically calculates the time required to warm the contents, based on the initial temperature and the type and amount of food you're warming. You plug the insulated bottle carrier into your car, using the adaptor supplied. Additionally, the carrier keeps bottles and jars cool.

"This is an interesting concept and a bit different to the other warmers I tested," says our tester Nansi Hitchman, mum to Jesse, 12 months. "It has to be plugged into the car, as it's specifically designed for on-the-go warming. Therefore, it's only practical for travel use."

However, this portable device has an auto shut-off feature and an internal thermostat. That means it's safe to use without overheating your baby's milk or food.

Nansi says: "This doesn't look like other warmers – it comes in a bright case and, when unplugged, it can fit nicely into a changing bag or stroller. However, it took around 45 minutes to an hour to heat my bottle to the desired temperature, so it would only really be suitable for a long car trip."

Overall, our tester feels this is a little impractical, except for use on long car journeys. However, she likes the fact that it keeps a bottle warm once it reaches the desired temperature.

Stock note: This is temporarily out of stock at Amazon but you can still place an order and they'll email you with an estimated delivery date.

What is the best bottle warmer to buy?

The Philips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer gets our vote. That's because it can be used for warming both milk and baby food, and it does so quickly yet evenly. This prevents hotspots and overheating. In addition, as well as warming 150 ml/5 oz of milk in three minutes, you can use this to warm milk from frozen. In conclusion, it's really intuitive to use and easy to operate.

What do bottle warmers do?

“Effective bottle warmers heat the milk in an even and relatively fast manner without overheating, so that there aren’t hot zones that could burn a baby’s sensitive mouth – like heating milk in the microwave would,” explains Chandani DeZure, M.D., FAAP, a board-certified Paediatrician and a member of the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board.

Regardless, parents should be testing the temperature of all milk that is given to a baby prior to feeding by drizzling it on the back of their hand, Chandani advises.

Chandani DeZure

Chandani DeZure, M.D., FAAP, is a board-certified paediatrician and a member of the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board. She is a neonatal and paediatric hospitalist in Palo Alto, California.

Dr. DeZure specialises in the care of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit and paediatric patients in acute care settings. In addition, she cares for healthy newborns in the well-baby nursery and attends deliveries of high-risk infants that may require assistance at birth. She is also qualified and trained to treat paediatric patients in the outpatient setting.

Is a bottle warmer necessary?

It’s not, but Chandani points out that babies prefer warm milk. 

“There’s no harm in drinking cold milk, and getting a baby to like or drink cold milk is a win for most mums,” she says.

However, if you’re using frozen breast milk, it would need to be thawed or warmed.

Chandani says it’s OK if you don’t have a bottle warmer, and you can still heat the milk up by placing the bottle in a mug or bowl of warm water and checking the temperature before giving it to your baby. 

Is it safe to use a bottle warmer for formula?

Chandani says it is safe to use a bottle warmer for formula if used as directed, just like for breast milk. 

“Before giving any formula to a baby, the temperature should be tested by placing a few drops on the back of your hand,” she adds.

After reading about the best way to warm a bottle, you might be wondering is the Tommy Tippee bottle warmer worth it? Find out in our Tommee Tippee All-in-One Advanced Baby Bottle and Pouch Warmer review. Plus, you can never be too careful when it comes to your baby’s health, which is why so many parents choose the best bottle sterilizer to prevent germs and bacteria from spreading in the kitchen.