Playtex SmartSteam 3-in-1 Microwave Baby Bottle Sterilizer (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

If you're a parent that feeds your baby with bottles, you know that sterilizing bottles are a real pain in the butt. I've gone through my share of sterilizing bottles. In fact, I currently have 12 of them plus additional nipples and bottle rings for backup purposes. If you're like me and you used to do the traditional method of boiling water to sterilize, not only do you have to have a big pot (my biggest can only hold about 4 bottles at once), you have to wait for the water to boil and then boil for 5 minutes to sterilize. This process can take a LONG time.After about the 2nd time doing the boiling method, I decided I had to find another method to sterilize because I was spending at least an hour to do the whole process. I found that various companies make either a microwave sterilizer or a small appliance that does the job by itself. There are three problems I have with the latter: the appliances are expensive, some are limited in the amount of bottles it can sterilize at once, and they take up counter space.Because of those reasons, I opted for a microwave bottle sterilizer and I chose this one simply because all the the bottles I own are the following Playtex style:  Playtex 3 Pack BPA Free VentAire Wide Bottles, 9 Ounce (Colors may vary) . I like to stick w/ the same manufacturer for compatibility reasons.The sterilizer itself can store up to 6 bottles and it comes with the  Playtex SmartSpace Dishwasher Basket  so that you can sterilize up to 12 nipples or other parts such as pacifiers, valves, rings, etc. The Playtex SmartSteam sterilizer is really easy to use. You fill the water up to the fill line and then place the sterilizer in your microwave for the specified period of time in the manual. It is **VERY IMPORTANT** that you know what the wattage of your microwave because the chart in the manual tells you how long you need to run the microwave until the items are sterilized. Regardless of the microwave power, sterilizing only takes a few minutes which is much faster than boiling.So the question you need to ask yourself is do I need this item? It all depends on what you have at home and how much you value your time. There are four ways to sterilize bottles with my personal opinions on each:1. Boiling - Everyone should have access to this if they have a stove, but I prefer not to do it (anymore) because of the time it takes.2. Dishwasher w/ Sanitize Cycle - I do have a dishwasher that meets the NSF/ANSI standards for sterilization, but it takes a long time to run through that cycle, so I tend not to do it unless I have a load full of dishes. Some people however, especially those that live in apartments may not have this cycle available.3. Small Appliance/Microwave Steam Sterilization - Readily available and can be done instantly on demand.4. Cold Water Sterilization (Using sterilizing solution or tablets) - Nobody I know does this w/ their bottles. Plus solution costs money and you have to replace the solution every 24 hours.So for me, option 3 was the best choice for ease of use. That is why I bought this sterilizer.For the final question "do I have to sterilize bottles every time", that is your decision as a parent. Some people are germophobes while others are not. There are a wide range of opinions on this subject matter and some pediatricians will say yes on sterilizing every time while others say it's not necessary. You do have to sterilize if you're opening a new package baby bottles. Another thing to keep in mind is that you **MUST** sterilize if your baby gets sick or happens to contract thrush. As for me, I personally sterilize every other time and this product allows me to do it in a pinch and it takes no more than 5 minutes to have a sterilized bottle ready for my baby.

but it is bulky and takes up a lot of space, especially because it is and awkward shape. That being said it works well and I like it, but I never really use it. I just wash in hot, soapy water.

With our new baby, and limited space for all the baby paraphernalia we need, I preferred to get a microwave sterilizer versus one of the steam appliances that would need counter space. I'm really happy with my choice. We have a standard size microwave, and this fits exactly (as in, it fits, but it is unable to spin freely inside on the turntable). It's very easy to use: easy to load items into it, easy to see how high to fill the water basin. I have not used this dishwasher insert because I have a separate bigger one I prefer to use, but the insert is very convenient for removing dry items to store in the cabinet before bagging them and taking them where I need them. The main reason I prefer this to a sterilizer bag (of which I do have a package of the Medela bags) is that if you stack the items properly, they can dry while in the sterilizer, but if you use a sterilizer bag, there's obviously no dry spot in the bag so you must unload it to allow items to dry. The way I use this box sterilizer is to wash items and load them, put it in the microwave, come back when it's done and pop the box on the counter and pop open the lid, leave the items to dry for awhile, and return to finish drying and packaging them for leaving the house. Very helpful!

We needed a quick way to steam our daughters bottles without the hassle of using the dish washer and this worked out perfectly! Easy and quick to use. The only issue I have is that the bottle holders and spacing don't work well with wide neck bottles, so instead of 6 bottles we can only fit 4 wide necks. Other than that is a great purchase!

Doesn't fit tall full size bottle (e.g. Dr. Brown's 8 oz bottles) would be better off buying the medela microwave bags with the money spent on this.

I liked it until one of the tabs on the lid broke off after a few months . Customer service was zero help

I love my Ventaire bottles and I was so excited when this came on the market because I didn't have to use the medella bags anymore. A lot of people sanitize their bottles by using the dishwasher which is fine but if you don't do a lot of dishes, you could run out of bottles before they are all clean and sanitized. This works fast too!

I use the Avent Natural bottles and nipples and this works perfect!! The nipples take some strategic placing and I can only get 4 in without it being crowded, where as it holds 6 bottles, but this hasn't been an issue for me as I'm usually sterilizing multiple batches at one time and can get all the nipples in eventually.