S-Bottle warmer from Difrax

Product Tested By Rachel
Melton – Eoin 6 Months

Rachel Awarded The Difrax S-Bottle Warmer which comes with
S-Bottle 4.4/5

On reading about the product I thought it might be useful as
Eoin is impatient when waiting for his bottle. On seeing the bottle I thought
that it could have been bigger as it didn’t have the volume I needed to give
Eoin as he is on much more. The packaging is brightly coloured and eye
catching. There is a flap which enables
you to look at the product itself not just rely on the photos on the outside. The
instructions were clear and concise, easy to follow. The bottle and warmer are
of a good quality. I had confidence that the product was sturdy. For the amount
of times I would use it, it is very expensive. I am not very keen on the bottle
either. If someone I knew was expressing breast milk I may suggest this product
but it is a little expensive. The product is good quality but I don’t think it
is particularly practical for my circumstances. This product would be great if
it was portable. I use pre made bottles
of formula when we are out but it can be difficult to heat the bottles as some
places are reluctant to give hot water out.
If this product could be taken anywhere I would have used it more. If you have breast milk or use pre made
formula then it is a good product although the bottle needs to be bigger in
volume for older babies. If there was a way of only using the warmer with any
bottle that would also make it more attractive. Rachel Melton – Eoin 6 Months

Product Tested By Rachel
Bridge – Sebastien 3 ½ Months

Rachel Awarded The Difrax S-Bottle Warmer which comes with
S-Bottle 4/5

My initial impression of the product when it arrived was
that the packaging looked very good. The way the item is packed shows you how
the product should look once assembled and in use. The packaging is bright and
very well thought out. The transparent cover inside shows exactly how the
product should look when in use which I found helpful. The instructions
although thorough were quite contradictive. One part says ‘you must shake the
food to ensure heat is spread evenly’ and then at the bottom of the page says
‘never shake the food in the bottle as this could create a pressure build up’. The
quality of the product was obviously great. The warmer itself is very sturdy
and heavy which reassured me that it would not be knocked over easily. All
components including the bottle are also sturdy and are relatively easy to keep
clean. However we did find that the parts that need screwing on were hard to
attach as the screw tops would keep sticking. Personally, I do not think the
value for money is there. For £69.99 I would expect much more ease of use and
time saved. There are bottle warmers out there for around £20 that provide the
same kind of function. For the higher price I would expect it to be able to warm
all different brands of bottles and be able to contain a higher temperature of
water. We found that using this bottle warmer actually took more time and
effort to use than our traditional warmer. The warmer and bottles really aren’t
suitable for reflux babies as the bottles cannot contain hot water. The problem
we had with the screw tops were frustrating; when you have a hungry baby the
last thing you want is a bottle that you can’t attach the lid to. The idea of
warming milk to 35 degrees and no more is good, but I think that the additional
complexity of the product operation does not make it worthwhile. Overall, I am
really disappointed with this product. For a bottle warmer to be £69.99 I would
expect it to be easy to use and really be a benefit to our feeding routine.
However we found using the product to be a bit of an inconvenience. At the
start of the week, our baby was using anti reflux milk which when using these
bottles and warmer was really difficult, and ended up taking a long time to get
right. However for the last 3 days we’ve moved back to standard infant milk
which has been easier. We had to purchase a bigger bottle as the one that comes
with the warmer can only hold 6oz of food. We found the price of the additional
bottle excessive (£8.99 for one) and therefore would not consider buying
additional bottles to use the warmer exclusively. The bottle when attached to
the heating element is very heavy; after about 10 minutes of feeding my baby my
wrist began to ache. I really did like the idea of the warmer warming the feed to
an ideal temperature, and then switching off and was excited to try the
product. To summarise, this may suit a family that have whole range of Difrax
products, but it really didn’t work for us. Rachel Bridge – Sebastien 3 ½ Months

Product Tested By Suzanne
Davies – Benjamin 9 Weeks

Suzanne Awarded The Difrax S-Bottle Warmer which comes with
S-Bottle 4/5

When I first saw this product I was really impressed and
couldn’t wait to try it out. Receiving the bottle warmer, it came in a nice
yellow box and you could see the actual product inside. It has a lovely design
and made me even more excited to try out. I read the instructions a few times
before attempting to use the product. I didn’t think they were very clear, I
was so unsure on how to sterilize the heating element I ended up having to seek
advice. The product is advertised as being able to heat milk within 3 minutes
but when reading the instructions it actually states that it depends on the
temperature of the milk to start, I thought this to be misleading. The bottle
warmer seems very sturdy and well made. It would have been nicer if the wire
was a bit longer and if you had the option of using it in the car. I loved the
design of the bottle that goes with the warmer so much I actually bought more.
It was light and easy to hold and comes in lovely bright colours. Again the
bottle seemed well made. Due to the nature of how you sterilize this product I
would not say it is value for money. For the cost of £69.99 it would be much
more economical and just as easy to buy a pack of other brand bottles and use a
kettle and jug to heat your milk. You only receive one bottle in this pack so
if you like to measure out your breast milk in advance you would need to
purchase extra bottles at more cost. The product is a great idea but due to how
you sterilize it really put me off. It may not be so bad when your baby is
older and sterilizing is not so much of an issue. I would only recommend this
product if someone was planning on giving one bottle a day…but then if your
only giving one bottle a day is this product really worth the price tag? I
couldn’t wait to start using this product! Taking it out of the box it seemed
fairly straight forward to use but after reading the instructions they left me
confused. The bottle warmer comes with one heating element, part of this goes
inside the bottle so is surrounded by milk. Because the heating element is
metal it is unsuitable for a microwave sterilizer, cannot be boiled and after
seeking advice I found you cannot put it in a cold water sterilizer, the only
way for it to be cleaned was to put it on the top shelf of your dishwasher.
Straight away this product is useless if you don’t own a dishwasher! I was a
little unsure if a dishwasher would sterilize properly but as the instructions
said it was the only way to clean I went with it. I used the bottle warmer for
my babies feed and thought it was great! The milk was warmed to the perfect
temperature and took away the guess work. Suzanne Davies – Benjamin 9 Weeks