If you’re bottle-feeding full-time, however, and need something reliable that will fit in all of your gear, the Dr Brown’s Electric Steam Steriliser is a good choice.

Nuby’s electric steam steriliser comes with a drying function so equipment can immediately be reused without having to wait for it to cool down or dry off. Our tester loved this feature and found it very useful. They are essentially a large, round, plastic box with a screw-on lid, usually with an internal basket to hold the bottles. Water is poured into the bottom (under the basket) and in the microwave it boils to create steam. Last year’s Mumsnet Best winner is a spacious, professional-looking steriliser with a main compartment for six bottles and a top compartment for smaller items like dummies and teats. After cleaning, rinse off each item in cold, clean water and then you’re ready to sterilise. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly, especially when positioning items in the steriliser and adding the correct amount of water or sterilisation solution. The sterilisation cycle is just five minutes, one of the shortest from an electric steriliser we tested. If the lid isn’t removed, everything inside stays sterile for 24 hours after running a cycle. While the initial outlay is more than a microwave steriliser, it’s considerably cheaper to run. Altogether, the Tommee Tippee Super-Steam is a reliable, thoughtfully-designed steriliser that’s widely available, well-supported and should do its job consistently over time – a lifesaver to an overloaded new parent and a worthy winner of this year’s Mumsnet Best Steriliser award.As well as baby bottles, teats and breast pump parts, you'll also want to steriliser dummies and teething rings, ideally once a day unless they are dropped on the floor outside.

With no need for steam, tablets or a microwave, this innovative UV steriliser from Nuby is a game-changer. While it looks a bit like a big makeup bag, the steriliser blasts bottles and dummies with ultra violet light, killing 99.9% of germs in just 3 minutes. Kate Bennett says, “This is such an individual choice. It depends on what you find easiest, what your budget is and how much space you have. That’s before you think about what you’ll be sterilising and how you plan to feed your baby.” Items inside stay sterile for 24 hours and the lid is designed with a flat lip so it can be laid horizontally in a smaller microwave – a useful feature we didn’t find in any other travel steriliser. She investigated best practice safety recommendations from the NHS and sourced expert advice from Kate Bennett, a midwife of nine years and course teacher with antenatal education provider, New Life Classes.Through innovation and advances in technology, our NURTURE advanced pro UV steriliser & dryer is here, and it’s better than ever How does the Vital Baby Nurture Advanced pro UV Steriliser and Dryer compare to a steam steriliser? By the time they’re a year old, your baby’s immune system is much better developed so you can ease off sterilising toys and dummies then.

Tommee Tippee has put a great deal of thought into the redesign of their electric steam steriliser and it really shows. The Tommee Tippee Super-Steam Advanced Electric Steriliser is made from tough BPA-free plastics and is exceptionally straightforward to use, with plenty of room for bottles and breast pump parts over two tiers.Not the most budget-friendly electric steriliser we tested, and a more expensive initial outlay than microwave or travel versions