Showing posts with label bottles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bottles. Show all posts

Drying My Baby's Bottles *REVIEW and WIN with OXO Tot*

Drying bottles. Impossible to do in a hygienic way if you had have asked me right up until the beginning of last week.

Oh, I despaired over the 'germs' on the draining board and not only that - I had no bloomin' space to dry my actual dishes. I came up with the idea of sitting them on folded kitchen towel, a decent one like Plenty, that would suck up all the excess water. This was costing a fortune but I was also paranoid that the cleaned bottles were then sitting in stagnant water (once the kitchen towel had soaked it all up).

It was making a big task out of bottle washing, simply for germ fears and space issues. I took to washing each bottle, rinsing and shaking, placing straight into the steriliser. Problem was, I had to then wait to wash any other bottles until the steriliser was free - so I was constantly looking at a row of used bottles every time I entered the kitchen. Depressing.

When OXO Tot got in touch with me asking if I'd like to review one of their products, I had a good look at their site www.oxouk.com and stumbled across the bottle drying rack.




This was it's description...

Keep bottles elevated, secure and upright with the OXO Tot Bottle Drying Rack. The Drying Rack accommodates at least eight bottles and corresponding parts. Raised ribs on the bottom of the tray ensure items don’t sit in a pool of water, keeping them clean, sanitary and dry. Additional space at the front of the Rack is useful for small parts. A removable cup can be attached to multiple areas of the tray and is ideal for kids’ utensils, straws and medicine droppers. The corners of the tray are optimally shaped to easily pour out excess water, and elevated non-skid feet at the bottom of the tray make it easy to lift.

The timing was impeccable so I grabbed their kind offer with both hands, so hopeful that this could resolve my annoying predicament. On arrival, I tore open the box as fast as I could! And was, probably for the first time ever, got excited to wash bottles!!




For the purposes of reviewing the claims, I washed 3 varying bottle sizes first, just to get an idea of whether or not it could truly hold 8 with all corresponding parts.
Ok, fair enough, I have large bottles - but they're also very commonly used bottles so I would have to disagree and say approximately 4-5 bottles can be comfortably stored on here unless you are using slimline bottles and are all the same type/brand.




I certainly wouldn't let that detract from the practicalities of the product though. The bottles and teats are securely held and the removal of excess water really is easily done. The removable cup is a great feature too, perfect for dummys, bottle seals or Carson's drink straws!

Overall, it has answered my space problems, and hygienic drying problems too. It also looks great in my kitchen!
My cousin has an 11 weeks old little girl, she visited me on Friday and, as you do, you head straight to the kettle when a visitor arrives. Her first words...
"I LOVE this Jo, where did you get it from? I NEED one!"  ... not just me then!
You can buy these at the moment for a very reasonable £15.32 over on OXO Tots's website www.oxouk.com or click the link HERE to go directly to the product's page.


DISCLAIMER: PR Sample provided free of charge but all opinions are my own: open and honest, as always. I was not paid for this post.

*********************************************************************************
Do you want one? Well OXO have been super kind enough to offer one up to one of my blog followers. All you need to do is confirm you follow my blog via Bloglovin' or NetworkedBlogs. Please make sure you do this via the rafflecopter widget else your entry won't count. You can also gain optional additional entries once you've followed, you'll have a better chance of winning then!

 1. This is open to UK residents
2. Winner has 5 days to acknowledge and respond before another winner will be redrawn
3. All reasonable efforts and channels will be used to attempt contact. 
4. Competition closes at 11.59pm 21st June 2014.
All entries are checked so, as tempting as it may be to skim through the Rafflecopter entry, you will be doing yourself out of a genuine chance to win a cracking prize. 
So enter genuinely because as, you've probably gathered, I do check guys.
GOOD LUCK!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

*Review and Giveaway* Dr Browns Microwave Steam Sterliser

The importance of sterilising baby bottles thoroughly is immense. Germs are something that I think I may have a slight fear of at the best of times (normal, right?) never mind when it involves a helpless new born.

*Shivers*

My previous steriliser, way back when Carson was a tot, was a Tommee Tippee microwave one - very roomy/deep with lots of bits and pieces to stack up.

At the time, I knew no different and was extremely happy with it, but by the time Carson was 6 months old, I must admit I resorted to using the deep container as a cold water steriliser instead - I was simply fed up of the jigsaw puzzle every time I needed do do a sterilising run.

I have never had experience of an electric steriliser and for the extra cost associated with them, I'm unlikely to nip out and buy one just to say I've had a go!

I was very kindly sent a Dr Browns Microwave Steam Steriliser to give a whirl (geddit?!) and review for you guys to get an idea of what to expect with them.


Here are my thoughts...

Contents are interesting as aside from the steriliser itself and tongs, it comes complete with 2x wide neck 240ml baby bottles. I have heard great things about their natural flow feeding system, particularly in the prevention of colic, so I'm really chuffed that you get a couple of bottles to start you off. It also comes with a reservoir tube cleaner for the bottles too - bonus!


Incredibly light! This is not a big, bulky, kitchen-worktop-living item (as I imagine electric steriliser to be). In fact, on the contrary, it's small, compact and neat enough to go in the cupboard along with the casserole dishes. It will fit 4 wide neck or standard neck bottles so size and weight can be deceiving. Especially when you pop it in the microwave - it literally only just fit in. Having said that, my microwave is a pretty small one so I can't see this being a problem for many at all.



Usage instructions are very simple to follow although I personally found the imagery on the back of the box easier to understand than the written instructions.

Once your bottles have been popped into place, simply pour in 180ml of water, pop the lid on and boom! You're ready to go.

Ensure the wattage of your microwave is taken in to account when you're deciding as to how long to sterilise for. Mine is only 700w (like I say, it's a small microwave!) so needed the longest time of 8 minutes to sterilise, followed by the additional 10 minutes to cool.
18 minutes can seem a long time but that is a) my piddly microwave's fault and b) ensuring that the steriliser's content have sufficiently cooled so as not to cause harm to you. You can't really argue with that, in fairness.




I mention the cooling period of 10 minutes as well, particularly as the lid DOES NOT LOCK. So there is a danger of scalding etc if you do not have your wits about you, even after the cooling stage.
There are, however, 4 quite deep ridges to use as the handles which gives for decent, sturdy handling.
This would be my ONLY negative about the steriliser. Having said that, the fact that it comes with 2 of the natural flow feeding system bottles and still only retails at £24.95, I would be more than happy to recommend this item to any new mum or mum-to-be. You can purchase the Dr Brown's Microwave Steam Steriliser for £24.95 from John Lewis.

With massive thanks to Dr Brown's and John Lewis, I have a Microwave Steam Steriliser up for grabs, simply fill in the rafflecopter below and keep your fingers crossed.

Pop on over to their Facebook page and let them know you're entering this competition, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to hear from you! 

 1. This is open to UK residents
2. Winner has 5 days to acknowledge and respond before another winner will be redrawn
3. All reasonable efforts and channels will be used to attempt contact. 
4. Competition closes at midnight 5th May 2014.
All entries are checked so, as tempting as it may be to skim through the Rafflecopter entry, you will be doing yourself out of a genuine chance to win a cracking prize. 
So enter genuinely because, as you've probably gathered, I do check guys.
GOOD LUCK!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

... Remember, sharing is caring so go ahead and feel free to use the g+ or other share buttons below :-) 


DISCAIMER: I was sent this item free of charge for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own and I have not bee paid for this post.
Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com