Determining what to buy for the baby is something that new parents can struggle with. There are so many products out there that pre-birth shopping can be overwhelming, and deciding where to invest the available budget can be really hard. One of the items that parents might wonder whether it is useful or not to have is a bottle warmer. While knowing if a bottle warmer will be useful is something that parents can only answer with complete certainty once they have actually tried to feed their baby, parents can find below information to make an informed decision before that moment comes of whether they want to buy a bottle warmer or not.

What is the purpose of a bottle warmer?

The purpose of a bottle warmer is to quickly, conveniently, and safely warm a baby’s bottle. Most bottle warmers in the market use either water or steam to heat the bottles, and they run on electricity, so they must be close to an outlet to work. Bottle warmers have heat controls and different settings, including shutting themselves off when the bottle reaches a specific temperature to prevent it from getting too hot for the baby.

A way to see it is that a bottle warmer is a commercial product aimed to solve a specific need: warm the formula or breast milk in a bottle. Since it is a very specialized gadget, it solves the need effectively. The gadget will be very useful as long as that in which it specializes is a need of the baby and the parents. While considering buying a bottle warmer is a reasonable consideration, parents should keep in mind that there is probably no budget and no home that can include and store specialized gadgets for every specific need. 

Is it always necessary to warm baby bottles?

The short answer to this question is no, it is not always necessary to warm baby bottles. In fact, the temperature of the breast milk or formula given in a bottle to a baby is irrelevant from a health or well-being point of view. The temperature of the bottle is really all about the baby’s preferences. That is, the only reason to warm baby bottles is if the baby prefers to drink them warm, at least up to the point where they reject the bottle if it is below a specific temperature. Apart from the baby’s preferences, there is no other reason to warm baby bottles.

Do you need a bottle warmer if you are breastfeeding?

The answer to this question depends on what exactly is meant by breastfeeding. If a baby is only getting fed directly from the breast, then the answer to this question is no, a bottle warmer is not necessary. If, on the other hand, a baby is being exclusively fed breast milk but sometimes directly from the Mom’s breast and sometimes with a bottle, then the answer to this question could be yes, a bottle warmer could be necessary. In other words, if a baby is given breast milk through a bottle, he or she might prefer to drink above a specific temperature, which is where the bottle warmer would come in.

It is important to mention that not all bottle warmers are meant to be used with breast milk. This is because while formula and breast milk are similar in some ways, breast milk needs to be taken care of in a certain way to ensure it does not lose its nourishing properties or go bad. Not heating breast milk above a certain temperature is part of that care. While other more homemade approaches to heating breast milk do risk overheating it too, a bottle warmer that the manufacturer warns was not made to be used with breast milk will almost certainly ruin the breast milk.

Are baby bottle warmers necessary?

As with other baby-related matters, this question has no definitive answer. Some parents swear by their bottle warmer and how important it is to their baby’s feeding routine, while other parents go through the entire bottle-feeding phase of their baby’s development without having used a bottle warmer once. It is safe to say that a bottle warmer can be very helpful in some cases, but it is most definitely not an essential part of a baby’s bottle-feeding routine.

From the perspective of a baby’s health and well-being, the temperature of the breastmilk or formula they will consume in a bottle is not relevant. Put simply, babies could drink breastmilk or formula, either warm or cold, and neither would impact their health. When the baby is breastfed, the breast milk that comes out of the Mom’s breast is warm, so it is common for babies to get used to that temperature. If babies get used to drinking their milk warm, then a bottle warmer might be essential because if the bottle is colder than what they like, the baby will not eat. Even so, the need for a bottle warmer is based on the baby’s preferences instead of the baby’s needs.

What are the disadvantages of bottle warmers?

As with other baby items, bottle warmers will make parents’ lives easier if their baby is set on only eating from a bottle above a specific temperature. In such a case, some parents would even argue that the bottle warmer is fundamental. Even if so, parents should know that it does come with certain disadvantages that will be considered below:

1. Space: A bottle warmer is typically not a small item, so parents should know that it will take up space in their kitchen, for example, or wherever they decide to put the things used to feed the baby. Parents, especially new parents, should know that baby items pile up and take up considerable space, so every decision to buy yet another baby item should be made considering space availability.
2. Habit: Babies can get used to anything, even if it takes time. That is also the case with the temperature of their bottles. If parents decide to warm the baby’s bottles regularly, the baby will most likely reject bottles that are not at the temperature that they prefer. Keeping in mind that the bottle’s temperature has no impact on the baby’s health, parents should consider going through the ordeal of breaking the baby’s habit and opening the door to the possibility of not having to have the bottle at a specific temperature.
3. Overspecialization: As mentioned above, bottle warmers are specialized gadgets that, in essence, fulfill only one goal: warming bottles. Other methods to warm bottles, such as heating them in water on the stove, exist. In other words, they are ways of warming baby bottles with items that can later serve different purposes.

Bottle warmer thoughts from new parents

Bottle warmers are a very convenient way of addressing the need of heating baby bottles. They are efficient and fast. They are also, however, very specialized and will most likely not serve any other purpose. For this reason, it is our advice to new parents to frame the decision of buying a bottle warmer in the following way: I will only have so many opportunities, due to budget or storage space, to purchase specialized items - is a bottle warmer going to take up one of those opportunities? The answer could perfectly be yes, of course. Here is our Honest Nesting Checklist, where we detail further the purchases we think are essential for the baby’s first month.