MAM Electric Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer review

Our MadeForMums 2020 Awards Silver winner, it’s a modern, versatile and multi-functional steriliser, designed to make life that little bit easier for parents.

Buy The MAM Electric Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer: Very, Argos and Amazon

Tested by

Sybilla Hart is a mum-of-5 and has most recently welcomed 7-month-old baby Benjamin to her brood. Sybilla is a freelance journalist and lives on the Essex/Suffolk borders.

What were your first impressions of the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

The steriliser looked good, but there were lots of different parts which I found slightly daunting. To me, it seemed quite wide and I felt it was large in terms of circumference, although compared to other multi-function sterilisers, it’s actually very average in size.

How does it compare to other sterilisers you have used?

Personally, I found it harder to use than the Avent and Tommee Tippee brand sterilisers I’ve tried previously, but I think this is mainly down to the fact the MAM model has so many different uses.

I did have a bit of trouble opening the steriliser to begin with, but the majority of parent reviews on John Lewis praised the steriliser for being really easy to use – something backed up by the many 5-star reviews on Amazon.

How do you use the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

To use the electric steriliser function:

• Check the sealing ring is present and pressed down firmly in its place. These never need to be removed.
• Pour 200ml of water into the metal base.
• Fit and twist the steriliser base cover onto the base, using the grooves to fix in place.
• Place the items to steriliser in the upper and lower baskets of the steriliser. Bottles need to be horizontal.
• Close the steriliser ensuring that the lid ‘clicks’ into place.
• Place the steriliser onto the base cover.
• Turn on the steriliser at the socket.
• Switch the device on. A light on the sterilising programme will appear along with a short beep.
• Press the programme selection button for 2 seconds to start the sterilising programme. You will hear a long beep and the lights will flash constantly while the programme is running.
• This programme runs for 7 minutes and automatically stops afterwards with 3 long beeps. The lights will stop flashing.
• The device starts to cool down, all the LEDs are lit. Allow the steriliser to cool before removing the lid. This stops after 4 minutes with 2 long beeps.
• Press ‘OFF’ to turn the steriliser off. Pour out any remaining water from the base and dry it with a cloth. If the programme gets interrupted, restart the whole process.

What are the biggest advantages of the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

What makes this steriliser stand out is that it can perform so many different jobs. While there are a number of 2-in-1 sterilisers on the market, like the Vital Baby NURTURE Pro UV Steriliser & Dryer , £119.99, and Tommee Tippee Advanced Electric Steriliser and Dryer, £89.99, or even a 3-in-1 Babymoov Turbo Pyre Steriliser & Dryer, £79.99, this is the only model that includes 6 different functions – although it does not have a drying function.

At £90 this makes the MAM offering great value for money if you plan on making the most of all of these features – plus it means you won’t have various machines cluttering up your kitchen.

Another big advantage of the MAM 6-in-1 is that it also comes with 2 anti-colic bottles (I really liked the pretty designs on these) and 2 soothers. Definitely something worth noting, as not all the companies include extras like this.

How effective is it?

As an electric steriliser I felt it sterilised everything quickly and thoroughly, and, although I wasn’t able to try it as a microwave steriliser (I don’t own one), the Amazon and John Lewis reviews say it works fantastically well and is really convenient to use. Once sterilised, the bottles can stay in the machine, sterile for up to 48 hours – twice as long as most sterilisers.

I found both the express (just 2 and a half minutes) and gentle bottle warming functions to be excellent, although I did think the food warming function was a little fiddly and took too long. When I tried using this function, steam went into the food I was heating up. This was very annoying, as I had to discard the food as it was too watery and made a lot of mess feeding the baby! Needless to say, you definitely need to place a lid on the pot of food you are heating up otherwise you will be left with liquid baby food.

How long does each cycle take on the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

The electric steriliser only takes 7 minutes to sterilise; it takes 2 and a half minutes to warm up a bottle of milk and 10 minutes to defrost breast milk.

The length of the microwave cycle depends on the power of the microwave you use. This can be anything from 5 minutes (plus 3 minutes cooling time) for an 1850W model, to 11 minutes (plus 3 minutes cooling time) for a 650W microwave.

Warming up baby food from the fridge takes 9 and a half minutes, which honestly feels too long for me!

It’s worth noting that the machine doesn’t indicate the time left – you need to keep track of this yourself ­– but it does flash when it is working.

What capacity does the steriliser have?

It says it can take 6 MAM bottles, but I’d say more like 4 comfortably. This is a view backed up by a number of Amazon reviews, which agreed that the steriliser works best with 4 bottles at a time. Our MadeForMums 2020 Awards home tester, Karen, was impressed with the capacity, saying “it’s compact but allows me to sterilise more bottles than other sterilisers I own.”

How easy is it to stack items in the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

Not that easy. You have to lay the bottles on their sides, rather than stacking vertically, which is my personal preference.

Does it have removable trays/accessory trays?

Yes; it has 2 trays – a larger one and a smaller one for teats and dummies etc.

How portable is the MAM steriliser and warmer?

The microwave steam steriliser is great for overnight visits to the grandparents or breaks away – our MadeForMums home tester, Karen, agreed it’s “perfect for travelling.”

However, I wouldn’t take it out and about to heat up food or use as an electric steriliser. It’s just too large and the metal plate heats up a lot, so I’d be worried about burns.

Is the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer easy to clean?

It’s pretty straight forward to clean, using a damp cloth. It’s not dishwasher-safe and you’re advised not to use a scourer or any strong cleaning products.

I would say that when used in electric mode its slightly irritating having to tip so much water out of a shallow metal dish (you need to use 200ml rather than the 60ml needed for my usual Avent steriliser) as it tends to spill. Also, given that the dish is metal, it is important that you let it cool right down before you get rid of any excess water.

If you get a build-up of limescale on the metal plate you would need to descale it. MAM recommend doing this at regular intervals using household vinegar or a decalcifying product.

How large is the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

Coming in at 28x28x16cm it’s not exactly compact, but given everything that it does, the overall size is quite impressive, especially as you save room only having one device.

Size-wise, it’s actually similar to or smaller than many other multi-function sterilisers which can also fit 4-6 bottles in, like the Vital Baby NURTURE Pro UV Steriliser & Dryer at 28x28x23.5cm and the Tommee Tippee Advanced Electric Steriliser and Dryer at 38.5x33.5x23.5cm.

What’s in the box?

• 1 x Electric Steriliser
• 1 x Express Warmer
• 2 x 160ml Easy Start Anti Colic Bottle
• 2 x Start 0-2M Soothers
• 1 x Teat Tongs

Is the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer easy to put together?

On the whole, the instructions were clear, and the diagrams were helpful, but the print is a bit small and in pale grey. Darker print in a larger type would have been appreciated!

I did struggle a bit with putting it together. The first couple of times I tried to sterilise I hadn’t clicked the 2 parts of the steriliser together properly, and it took me 3 attempts to sterilise my bottles.

The food and liquid heating function is easier to assemble in my opinion, as there are just 2 plastic parts to place on top of the main metal dish element.

What did you think of the look of the steriliser?

Stylish and modern – which is good as you’re going to have this out on display in your kitchen for a while!

Who would the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer be most useful for?

It’s a really versatile piece of kit and would work well for a parent who has a lot of items to sterilise, for example, a mum who is bottle-feeding, pumping and/or using nipple shields (or a combination of all 3). The microwave steam steriliser option is particularly handy for travelling, too.

What would you have wanted to know before buying the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

That the steriliser only fits in 23L microwaves and up. A number of reviews on Amazon pointed out that their old 20L microwaves weren’t big enough for it to fit in.

Also, it’s important to know that you cannot open the steriliser one-handed, as when you click one side open the other side shuts, so not suitable if you’ve got your baby in the other arm.

Are there any design elements you find particularly useful?

The fact that in the electric mode it sterilises in just 7 minutes is excellent and I love that it heats up milk so quickly and easily. The ‘keep warm’ function – that heats bottles to the ideal temperature for up to 45 minutes before shutting down – is great for when you get distracted with a nappy change mid bottle-making.

Is the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer value for money?

With a price tag of £90, it is a bit of an investment. However, this is much more than just a simple steriliser, so overall I’d say it is good value and offers more versatility than other similar priced devices. It also comes with 2 bottles and 2 soothers, which I believe adds extra value.

How does it compare to similar multi-purpose sterilisers?

Where can I buy the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer?

You can buy it from, Very, Argos and Amazon.

MadeforMums verdict:

I think the MAM Electric Baby Bottle Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer is a great ‘does it all’ product that can see you through from birth up until weaning. At £90, it sits in the middle of the multi-function steriliser market price-wise, but its longevity of use makes it feel much better value.

It may be larger than some of the 2-bottle sterilisers, but with a capacity to fit up to 6 bottles in at a time, as well as the ability to work as an electric or microwave steriliser, being able to warm bottles, defrost breastmilk and warm up baby food, it means you just need to fit one machine on your kitchen top.