Misono

We’ve been taking Mio outside the house a lot more lately, and I have been on the lookout for a good bottle warming system. Although Mio is solely on breast milk these days and we haven’t had to supplement with formula since the first couple weeks after she was born, I have been making sure to pump and bottle-feed her the expressed breast milk about half the time, so that she can be used to the bottle so that other people can feed her when I’m not available. (Don’t get me wrong — I do think nursing directly is the best way to feed the baby and I still do so over half the time — but I’ve heard horror stories of babies only wanting the breast and refusing bottles, and with me going back to work in mid-July, I would like to avoid that hurdle altogether.) We’ve been using Dr. Brown’s bottles at home, which have been awesome — they truly seem to be the best with their internal vent system that reduces feeding problems like colic. They do have a few more parts to wash and assemble each time compared to other bottles, but that has not bothered me and I really believe it’s worth it to prevent air bubbles that can oxidize the milk and deteriorate the nutrients in the milk.

When we go out, we usually take a bottle or two with us because we’ll often find ourselves in a place where it wouldn’t be so appropriate — or I’m not comfortable — to nurse in public. We put the bottle(s) in an insulated bottle holder and try to find a way to warm up the milk via hot water if it is too cold, but honestly, it is a hassle to find a way to warm the cold bottle every time Mio gets hungry while we’re out. I’m especially nervous about feeding Mio during my 6-hour flight to DC next week, along with all the time we’ll have to spend at the airports. And so the search for the perfect bottle warmer began. But all the ones that have traditionally been sold in the US market have had mixed reviews — there are ones that plug into the car, others that use a gel heat activation system surrounding the bottle, and others that are just plain bulky thermoses. All of them seemed to have disadvantages that seemed to outweigh the benefits. Virtually all of them take 10-15 minutes to warm up a bottle, which can be a long time when you have a hungry crying baby. I told myself that there had to be a more convenient solution out there that would warm up a bottle quickly without needing the help of plugs or hot water, and continued to scour the web to find it.

Then I came across what seemed to be just what I was looking for. The yoomi self-warming bottles.

The brainchild of husband and wife team Jim and Farah Shaikh, it is a self-warming baby bottle system that features breakthrough technology to warm up milk directly in the bottle to the ideal temperature for the baby. It’s already a hit in the U.K. where it was introduced, and was just made available to the US market last month. With yoomi, you don’t have to worry about overheating or losing valuable nutrients, and the best part about it is that once you push the button on the warmer, it only takes 60 seconds to safely warm up the milk so that baby can feed right away!

Here’s an illustration of how it works:

The cold milk flows through the heated warmer channels that is lodged in the teat, thus heating the milk inside to the appropriate temperature (86 to 90°F, or 32 to 34°C), never too hot or too cold.

The only aspects that are possibly inconvenient are the fact that the warmer unit needs to be recharged by being boiled in water for 25 minutes after each use before it can be used again, and the fact that after being recharged and used 100 times, it needs to be replaced. But honestly, if you are only using these bottles for when you go out or travel, it’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things since you’ll only have to use them once in a while. And once you recharge the warmer unit, it’ll remain recharged almost indefinitely and will be ready for use at any time.

Also, based on some articles I read while doing my research on the yoomi bottles, they are developing a new warmer unit that can be recharged in the microwave for two minutes, for those who don’t want to deal with the 25-minute boiling sessions anymore. It’s slated for release later this summer. (I have my eye on it already!)

The bottles are BPA-free and ergonomically designed, and the wide silicone nipple mimics the mother’s breast. The well-placed vents in the nipple also prevent air from bubbling to help reduce colic (which is important to us, since that is why we use the Dr. Brown’s bottles at home).

Below is a video on how it is prepared and used for the first time:

After reading about this self-warming bottle system and doing all my research on it, I was sold. I ordered two 5 oz bottles with two warmer units, along with two 8 oz bottles for when Mio starts drinking more in the months to come. They got here relatively quickly!

We tried the yoomi bottle out on Mio this weekend while we were out, and we’re happy to report that she drank from it just fine! 🙂 (Because as cool as the technology may be, it won’t be any good if our baby refused to drink from the bottle.) I was so excited!!!

So far, we’re very impressed by the yoomi bottle and can’t get over how cool the technology is! I feel a lot better about my upcoming flight back East, now that I have these bottles with me…. Going out and about Mio is going to be a lot easier now.

Every once in a while, a revolutionary baby product hits the market and changes everything. I’d have to say that this is absolutely one of those products. I would definitely recommend this for on-the-go parents with babies!