4 Tools For Easily Washing and Sterilizing Baby Bottles
Get baby bottles and sippy cups clean—really clean!—with tools recommended by experts and parents.
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There's more than one way to clean your baby's bottle. Many pieces can be washed in the top rack of your dishwasher, or for quick turnarounds, you can use a bottle brush to hand wash items at the sink. But there are also tools that will sanitize bottles and sippy parts, as well as breast pump parts, to keep everything as germ-free as possible—and to keep small pieces from getting mixed up among your regular dishes.
Our top picks:
• Best Overall: Baby Brezza Bottle Washer Pro
• Best Value: Medela Quick Clean MicroSteam Bag 12-Pack
• Most Compact: Growny EaseClean Bottle Washer Pro
"It’s important to clean and sterilize a bottle before the first use, then clean it after each use thereafter," says Mona Amin, D.O., IBCLC, a pediatrician and mom of two. Bottles can pick up germs from your kid's mouth or from other surfaces. "They can also grow mold or fungi and spread infections like thrush, a common fungal infection of the mouth," says Dr. Amin, which is why at least occasional sterilization is recommended. All four of these tools can help with that.
Best Deal
Pros
- Easy to use and quiet
- Washes, sterilizes, and dries all in one cycle
- Six cycles available, including just sterilization
- Especially great if you have more than one baby
Cons
- Requires a 10" x 19" footprint on your counter
Why we like it: We've tried this in our Home Care and Cleaning Lab and with home testers. “It is easy to use and quiet,” one mom said. “I threw in other items like pacifiers and sippy cups and they all came out perfectly clean.” Our Lab pro liked that the exterior did not get overly hot to the touch.
Tester notes: I've also used this myself, to wash bottles for my cousin's baby twins. She uses the 88-minute cycle which washes, sterilizes, and dries four bottles at a time, in one cycle. You can also only wash (19 minutes), or only do a 9-minute sterilization—there are six modes altogether.
Add one detergent tablet for each wash. Fill the top drawer on the back with clean water, and after the cycle, the dirty water fills the bottom drawer. Empty it down the sink and then you're ready to go again.
This does take up counter space. The footprint is about 10 inches wide and 19 inches long. But my cousin says she tells fellow twin parents to "not even hesitate" to get this.
Bottom line: One of our consumer testers said, "If you are using bottles frequently and formula feeding, this can really come in handy."
Features at a Glance
| Capactiy | 4 bottles |
| Sterilization time | 9 minutes |
| Wash, sterilize, and dry cycle time | 88 minutes |
| Power | Electric |
Pros
- More affordable and portable than electric sterilizers
- Great for travel if you have access to a microwave
- Fast way to sterilize pump parts and bottles at work
Cons
- Fits a max of three narrow bottles
- Bottles will need to air dry
Why we like it: If you'll be traveling to someplace with a microwave, you can sterilize bottles and pump parts in these reusable steam bags. They're also genius for sterilizing pump parts and bottles at a workplace.
Tester notes: I used these when I was a pumping mom. Each bag can be used up to 20 times so if you use a steam bag once a day, five days a week, a bag might take you through a month and the 12-pack might last you a year.
You can only fit a maximum of three narrow bottles in a bag, so this will sterilize fewer pieces at a time than an electric sterilizer. Always clean bottles and pump parts with soapy water and rinse them clean before sterilizing. Add 60 milliliters of water to the bag along with your baby goods, seal the top, then microwave it for 3 minutes. Pour out the hot water before you remove the hot items inside and let them air dry.
Bottom line: These provide reassurance that you can sterilize baby-world parts when you work or travel.
| Capacity | 3 bottles |
| Sterilization time | 3 minutes |
| Wash, sterilize, and dry cycle time | N/A |
| Power | Microwave |
Pros
- Fits up to eight small bottles
- Slightly smaller footprint than other electric models
- Nine cycles available, including just wash or sterilization
Cons
- Must sit this next to your sink for drainage
Why we like it: Grownsy's electric bottle washer and sterilizer has an option to stack items inside, so you can fit up to eight small bottles or four large ones. It's slightly smaller than our best overall choice at about 10 inches wide and 14 inches long.
Tester notes: There are nine cycles to choose from, including a 10-minute sterilization cycle and a 19-minute wash cycle. The standard cycle can wash, sterilize, and dry bottles, pump parts, and pacifiers in 99 minutes.
One tester noted that it dried parts better than her dishwasher did. It comes with 60 detergent tablets; after that you can buy more detergent.
The EaseClean works with one drawer for clean water and a drainage hose for the dirty water. That means you must use it next to and slightly above your sink. "It isn't a problem for us as we keep it on the counter near the sink, but it is a limitation to where you can put it in your space," one consumer tester said.
Bottom line: A consumer tester told us this saved her sanity, adding “It’s a product I would recommend to any new mom.”
Related: Good Housekeeping Parenting Awards
Features at a Glance
| Capactity | 4 large or 8 small bottles |
| Sterilization time | 10 minutes |
| Wash, sterilize, and dry cycle time | 99 minutes |
| Power | Electric |
Pros
- Cheaper and easy-to-store option that only sterilizes
- Sterilizes in two minutes
- Thousands of five-star reviews
Cons
- Doesn't wash or dry—just sterilizes
Why we like it: You can save countertop space and money with a microwave bottle sterilizer, though you'll pay in the time it takes to hand wash bottles or run them through your dishwasher. Sterilization doesn't remove milk residue, it just kills germs.
Tester notes: Place up to four bottles plus smaller parts inside and add 200 milliliters of water—you can use a baby bottle to measure. Close and lock the lid and microwave the whole thing for two minutes. The bottles and parts will all be sterilized, though still wet, so open the lid and let the parts air dry or set them on a drying rack or clean towel.
Some online reviewers caution that their local water leaves residue and that they need to clean the sterilizer itself frequently. Others say they solve this by using distilled water for the steaming. The brand manual says to "only use water without any additives."
Bottom line: I've used this one myself and it works well, though it doesn't offer all the washing and drying capabilities of the new electric machines. It's got thousands of five-star reviews on Amazon.
| Capacity | 4 bottles |
| Sterilization time | 2 minutes |
| Wash, sterilize, and dry cycle time | N/A |
| Power | Microwave |
How I chose the best baby bottle washers
Real-world families and our Home Care and Cleaning Lab tested the Baby Brezza and the Grownsy as part of our Good Housekeeping Parenting Awards program. I've also personally tried the Baby Brezza, Medela, and Philips Avent sterilizers at home.
For each of the four choices, I read online reviews at Amazon to confirm consistent positive feedback from users. I considered factors like capacity, ease of use, and speed.
What to consider when shopping for a baby bottle washer
New parents should ask themselves:
✔️ Do you need a dedicated bottle washer? Bottle washing machines are a fairly new category in the baby gear world. They make it easier to keep baby bottle, pump, and pacifier pieces together. You can also clean bottles on a separate schedule from when you're running the dishwasher. But mostly, parents love that these machines can do all the washing, drying, and sterilizing right on the countertop.
Bottle washers machines cost a couple of hundred dollars but can last you through multiple kids and can be used to clean and sterilize sippy cups, too. You need dedicated counter space for the appliance.
✔️ Do you just need to occasionally sterilize? If you're a nursing mom who only occasionally uses a bottle, a microwave sterilizer might be all you need. They're also sufficient for parents who like to hand wash bottles, or for those who prefer to use their dishwasher (without the sterilization cycle).
Microwave sterilizers are affordable. Alternatively, you can use boiling water—more on that below.
What's the best way to clean a baby bottle?
We asked Mona Amin, D.O., a board-certified pediatrician, IBCLC (lactation consultant), and mom of both a preschooler and a baby for her advice. (Amin also partners with the brand Philips Avent.)
✔️ For hand-cleaning: "To clean your child’s bottle, wash it with warm water, dish soap and a bottle brush," says Dr. Amin. "Do not use abrasive cleaning agents or antibacterial cleaners on the bottle."
✔️ For sterilizing: "It’s not necessary to sterilize bottles each time you clean them," says Dr. Amin. "They should be cleaned with soap and water daily. Sterilization is more important with infants under the age of 6 months or those at higher risk for illnesses, such as immunocompromised children or kids attending daycare. It’s also important to sterilize the bottle before first use and sterilize again after illnesses or conditions like thrush."
"A simple pot on a stove with boiling water can sterilize items well, but that requires ensuring all bottle parts are completely immersed in the water and can be a time-intensive method, especially if you have many parts to clean," Dr. Amin says.
If you have new parent brain fog, it is totally possible to melt bottles, pump parts, and pacifiers in a pot of boiling water if you get distracted in the middle of that sterilization process. You'll have a more stress-free experience using an electric or microwave bottle sterilizer.
✔️ For the dishwasher: Our Nutrition Lab Director, Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D.N, a mom of a toddler, runs bottle and pump parts through the dishwasher, on the top rack, using the sanitize cycle. If you don't mind mixing baby stuff with the rest of your dishes, this streamlines your cleaning method.
More baby bottle cleaning products
Looking for the best baby bottle liquid soap or a great bottle drying rack? Here are a few of our favorite things for cleaning anything that touches breast milk or formula, from bottle parts to pump parts to sippies:
✔️ Baby-specific dish soap such as Dapple is fragrance-free and formulated to target the residue from breast milk and formula.
✔️ Unscented dishwasher soap, such as the fragrance-free gel from Seventh Generation, helps ensure that silicone baby bottles, spoons, plates, and more don't take on the taste of the soap.
✔️ A dishwasher caddy such as this Munchkin basket keeps small things, such as sippy tops and pacifiers, from falling to the bottom of your dishwasher.
✔️ A drying rack might save your sanity, from the early days of drying breast pump shields to school days when you're airing out water bottles. This space-saving Oxo Tot drying rack earned one of our Parenting Awards. We also gave a previous Parenting Award to the Boon Groove.
✔️ Baby-accessory cleaning wipes can be a lifesaver if you pump at your office or are traveling and lack a dishwasher, microwave, or bottle brush. See the Quick Clean Wipes from Medela.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Contributing writer Jessica Hartshorn, the mom of two young adults, has been reviewing baby and kid products for 25 years. She previously worked as an editor and writer for Parents magazine and before that, American Baby magazine.
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