Dr Brown’s Natural Flow Microwave Steam Steriliser includes the unit (that’s the base and cover), plus insert tray, which is designed especially for Dr Brown’s bottles and component parts, tongs and two 240ml wide neck bottles. It can fit four wide neck bottle or four taller standard bottles.
The steriliser takes five minutes in a 1000-1100 watt microwave, six minutes for 800-900 watt, and eight minutes for 500-700 watt. As with other brands of sterilisers, three minutes cooling time is then recommended for all microwaves. So the quickest you’ll get your bottle back is eight minutes.
What we love
Because it’s made of plastic, the Dr Brown’s Natural Flow Microwave Steam Steriliser requires no descaling the way electric sterilisers with metal elements do. Huzzah!
The steriliser is also quite compact. This means it’ll take only four bottles plus parts, but it will fit in smaller microwaves. And, take the lid of, pop it back in its box, and it’ll take up a tiny amount of room in your car if you’re off to stay with the grandparents or on holidays.
The tray has been created with specific cut-outs and grooves to show you how to arrange Dr Brown’s bottles and their component parts. As standard bottles are taller than the steriliser, to fit them in, you push the bottle into the crescent-shaped cut-outs in the tray, so they’re supported at an angle in the steriliser. It’s great to be able to fit these in without needing a taller steriliser. Small is best for me!
The tongs that come with the steriliser are good - they give you quite a bit of dexterity and offer a tight grasp compared to some of the plastic tongs other brands provide. Also the rubber ends help you grip bottles and parts. No more dropping bits and then re-sterilising!
What to watch out for
The cover doesn’t lock on, it just sit on top, so you can’t lift it by the handle on the lid.
The side handles you’re meant to use to move the steriliser in and out of the microwave are tiny, so it’s hard to balance the shifting water inside. Also, when trying to get the steriliser out of the microwave, one handle always seems to be around the back. And in a microwave our size, there’s no room to move your hand around the steriliser to reach it, so you have to slightly drag out the steriliser, balancing the hot contents til you can get to it.
The instructions showing how to arrange Dr Brown’s bottle parts (if you use Dr Brown’s) make it all seem rather complex. Persevere through the first read of the instructions though, because once you know where to pop the bits, it’s really easy to arrange your feeding kit correctly.
Who is the Dr Brown’s Natural Flow Microwave Steam Steriliser best for?
Mums after a smaller microwave steriliser and Dr Brown’s bottle users.
Dr Brown’s Natural Flow Microwave Steam Steriliser is slightly more compact than some other microwave sterilisers on the market, so is great for those who don’t have a huge microwave. The sterilisation cycle is reasonably fast and cleaning the unit is so simple. However, the small side handles and unlockable cove make it difficult to move the steriliser about when it’s full.
