In this post, we will do a complete review of the Tommee Tippee Closure To Nature Complete Feeding Set, including a review on all the items that come with it. The link points to Mothercare which is where we got ours from. We’ve used it for 12 months now, and here’s our review.
What The Set Contains
| Set Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Electrical Steam Sterilizer (x1) | Bottle sterilizer that uses electricity and steam, can fit 5 bottles. |
| Electrical Bottle Warmer (x1) | Bottle warmer to easily heat up the milk. It can fit 1 bottle, heats up in 10-15 minutes. |
| 150ml / 5oz feeding bottles (x4) | Small bottles for newborn babies, up to 5oz. |
| 260ml / 9oz feeding bottles (x4) | Medium bottles for newborn babies, up to 10oz. |
| Slow flow teats (x8) | Teats suitable for newborns until 3 months old. |
| Medium flow teats (x2) | Teats suitable for 3 months ++ until 6 months. |
| Milk Bottle Dispenser (x6) | Used to store milk powder, enough for 1 serving. |
| Insulated Bottle Bags (x2) | Used to keep the bottle warm over a longer period of time. |
| Bottle Brush (x1) | Quite a good brush for cleaning the bottles. |
| Pacifier (x1) | Standard pacifier. |
| Teat Tongs (x1) | Used to carry the teats out from the sterilizer without using your hands. |
Electrical Steam Sterilizer (x1)
The sterilizer has 2 layers. The upper layer is shorter, and it’s used to place the bottle caps, teats and anything you can fit in. The bottom layer is spacious enough to sterilize the bottles, breast pump equipment, and other stuff. We use it to sterilize our boy’s cup too. Each layer is designed to fit 5 items.
The sterilizer uses steam, so you need to add 80ml / 2.7oz of water before using it. All the bottles come with an 80ml indicator so you can easily use it to fill in the exact amount. If you put too much water, it may leak a bit during sterilizing. The only troublesome thing is that there will be quite a bit of water left after use, and to pour them away you need to unplug the device from the power. Sterilization takes about 5 minutes, and you can leave the stuff there for a few hours. To take note that not all silicone made products can be sterilized by steam, so double check before putting it in this sterilizer.
This sterilizer has saved us a lot of time and effort. We especially feel it when going to places without 1, when the alternative was boiling water to sterilize the bottles.
Electrical Bottle Warmer (x1)
The bottle warmer is a small device that works separately from the sterilizer. Pour some water into the bottle warmer, and dunk the bottle in it. Warming up takes 5 minutes, takes longer for frozen milk.
There are 3 levels of heat you can use, and we always use 3. The instruction gives you a lot of steps but here’s how we use it. Just permanently set it to 3, and turn it on and off from the power socket. You can use this method regardless of the current bottle temperature, including frozen milk. When you’re done, take the bottle and leave the water in the bottle warmer. The next time you use it, just dunk the bottle in and top up water if required, easy. When the bottle is heated up, press the base of the teat to release the air inside before feeding, if not the milk may shoot out and cause your baby to gag and cry. Try by turning the bottle upside down after heating, and there are bound to be a few times it’ll shoot the milk out like a water gun, not good at all! Always release the air before feeding.
This bottle warmer doesn’t have a timer, and it will run until you turn it off. There were a few times where we forgot to turn it off and it just continued to operate for hours! Once, it continued overnight and evaporated all the water inside the bottle warmer, and continued to operate dry, fortunately, it didn’t damage the device and it is still working fine. I’d say the build quality is pretty good!
Like the sterilizer, the bottle warmer has saved us a lot of time and effort! Without it, we would need to warm bottles using boiled water, and you’ll probably need to do it twice because the first round won’t do much before the cold bottle makes the water warm. This device makes everything so much easier.
150ml / 5oz feeding bottles (x4)
The bottle comes in 3 parts, the bottle itself, the middle ring holding the teat, and the teat. The curved shape of these bottles makes it easy for you to hold them. Measurements come in ml and oz. There’s a special dotted line indicator at 80ml / 2.7oz, this is used to fill the exact amount of water for the sterilizer.
Cleaning the bottles is easy, it’s big enough for you to put your hand in to clean if you choose to without using the brush. There are no small areas to trap dirty stuff. It fits nicely into the sterilizer and bottle warmer, and you can buy new teats to replace the old ones. Pretty good bottle overall, no complaints.
260ml / 9oz feeding bottles (x4)
Exactly the same as the smaller bottle, except it is bigger. Just take note that the teat that comes with this bottle is the same that came with the smaller bottle. More on the teats in the next section.
Slow flow teats (x8)
The slow flow teats come together with the 8 bottles and are meant to be used for newborn babies and up. The hole is smaller and helps the baby avoid gagging when drinking because of a slower flow. The number 1 at the base of the teat means this is a slow flow teat.
Like the name of the set indicated, these teats (including the medium flow) are closer to nature. Allow me to copy-paste what Tommee Tippee described. Tommee Tippee’s Closer to Nature Teats is shaped like a breast because babies prefer it that way. Well I don’t know about that, but my son has no problems feeding on this teat or directly latching on, great 🙂
Medium flow teats (x2)
The medium flow teats come in the box but not attached to any bottles. They are meant to be used from 3 months old onwards. Your baby will drink faster with this. The number 2 at the base of the teat means this is a medium flow teat. We used this until our boy was 7 months old. I’ve written an article on when to change bottle teats, check it out here.
Milk Bottle Dispenser (x6)
These dispensers are helpful to store milk powder when you’re traveling. Don’t store it for long though or the milk powder will dry up into a crust. If you’re purely on breastfeeding as we do, the dispenser can still be useful to store puree, pretty handy.
Insulated Bottle Bags (x2)
The insulated bottle bags fit the Tommee Tippee bottles nicely. These bottles are tall and wide, so the bags can likely store most other bottles. It can keep things cold or warm. For us, we use it on very short trips to store cold breastmilk, then find a source to heat it, likely boiled water since we don’t carry our bottle warmer around. Something good to have.
Bottle Brush (x1)
Nice brush, but you probably won’t need it for the Tommee Tippee bottles that came with the set because the mouth is big enough to fit your hands in. It becomes handy when it comes to washing bottles with slim necks. The brushes don’t split or come off even after using it for 7 months (shown in pic), good quality there.
Pacifier (x1)
Normal pacifier, nothing to shout about. It doesn’t come with a cover and our son doesn’t like it. We don’t use it.
Teat Tongs (x1)
I cannot find a reason to use this. It is built for you to carry the teats out of the sterilizer without using your hands, apparently, so you don’t contaminate it. But then you’ll have to fit the teats back into the bottle with your hands, so I really don’t know. I don’t use it, but hey, can’t complain about extra stuff.
Final Verdict
We love it, the set was worth the money. The main equipment (sterilizer, bottle warmer) has been a big help! There are times we don’t have it around us and things are very noticeably more difficult. The bottles are good, and the other stuff is good to have. The set does cost a bit though, we got it from Mothercare for RM688.50. Mothercare has a set that cost half the price, called Innosense, you may want to check that out. I’ve not used it so I can’t give a comparison, but if you can afford it, the Tommee Tippee set is worth the money.
