Mam Anti-Colic Self Sterilising Bottles

As those who follow my reviews will know we welcomed our little boy into the world earlier this year. Since then I haven’t had much time to write reviews but I have missed doing them so much so have decided to try and make a little time to get back into writing them.

As first time parents you enter into a confusing world of baby products – bottles, sterilisers, prams, car seats, cribs, nappies, bouncers, high chairs the list is endless. Of course every company tries to make you think that their product is an absolute must have but as we have learnt over the past 8 months (yes 8 months have gone already) not everything is as good as it seems.

When breastfeeding didn’t work out for us and we had to buy some bottles I went for one of the two most popular and well known brands, Avent which worked well and suited us until we were going to stay with my parents for the weekend. Not wanting to pack a bulky steriliser plus bottles and all the other paraphernalia that goes with a small baby I noticed MAM self-sterilising bottles whilst in my local supermarket. The bottles claim to be self-sterilised in a microwave in just three
minutes and also provide protection against colic – as Jack was suffering from a lot of trapped wind these seemed like they may help so I decided to try them out.

The bottles come in four different colours, blue, green, pink and lilac so there is something suitable whether your little one is a boy or a girl, I opted for the blue which is a lovely medium shade. They are available at most major retailers and supermarkets. The bottles themselves are a clear colour and they have a coloured base and teat ring with a clear lid. They are made up of five main components – screw on base, main bottle compartment, teat, teat ring and lid. They can be purchased singly in a small or large size or in a start pack which contains a selection of bottles in different sizes, teats and bases.

The bottles come ready assembled and once used have to be washed out with hot water and all parts given a good scrub with the enclosed bottle brush. To sterilise you simply fill the base with 20ml of water, the lid cleverly also acts as a measuring cup and has the correct level marked on it so you just fill to the line with water and then pour into the base. Then you take the teat and place inside the base, ensuring the rim is held in place with the little clips enclosed in the base. You then place the coloured teat ring around the top of the teat which fits just inside the edge of the base. Screw on the main bottle compartment and rest the lid on the top and then place in a microwave for three minutes. Once done your bottle is totally sterilised and ready to re-use – simple and no need for additional sterilisers, tablets or special liquids.

These bottles are perfect for using when you are travelling, staying at friends or relatives houses as they take up much less room than taking an extra steriliser with you. Obviously they will need to have a microwave but on occasions where friends don’t have one (which is rare) I just take along a couple of sterilising tablets and use those instead. I find that now I have a couple of these bottles I use them all the time and the Avent bottles and steriliser are only used on rare occasions. You can replace the teat with faster flowing ones as your little one gets older (which is what we have done) so the bottles should last you all the way until you start using a trainer cup.

The only thing that I would say can be a downside to these bottles is that you do have to be careful to assemble them correctly when putting them together to use. I have found on a couple of occasions that I haven’t quite screwed the base in correctly to the main compartment and there has been a small amount of leakage from inbetween them. I find that this can be eased by screwing them together a little more tightly and slightly tipping the bottle to check if there are any leaks.

I did find that Jack’s trapped wind seemed to ease when we started using these bottles whether that is down to the actual bottles or the fact he was a little older when we started using them. I would like to believe it was the former but I have no evidence to support that.

We have a small bottle which I received for free after a promotion in a parenting magazine and two of the larger bottles which were £3 each from Asda (promotional price) . I think that if we have another baby I will invest in one of the MAM starter sets as you get 12 mixed sized bottles plus teats, bases and teat rings for around £25 which is fantastic value once you add up how much you would spend on a separate steriliser plus bottles.

I’d give these bottles 4.5 out of 5. I would recommend these to any parents – they are so quick and easy to use and not only are great bottles to use for feeding but also so easy to keep clean and sterilised which we all know is important for babies up until the age of 1.