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If you’re in the bottle-washing phase of your life, you know what a task it is to sanitize them. Sure, hand washing the nooks and crannies of parts with a bottle brush is tedious, but the real toll is the precious time the chore takes away from your baby. And you don’t know chapped hands until you’ve been wrist-deep in hot, soapy water multiple times a day.
Enter the baby bottle washer: A unicorn for new parents. Just plop in the dirty bottles, fill the water reservoir, and in less than two hours you have sparkling-clean, ready-to-go bottles. It’s a game changer, and I’ve lost count of “well in my day …” comments I’ve received during the testing process of these miracle machines. The technology is pretty new, so there aren’t a ton of options on the market. But here at WIRED, we’re getting ahead of the curve and have tested every baby bottle washer available to see if the appliance is worth it.
Be sure to read our other baby gear guides, including the Best Baby Carriers, Best Breast Pumps, Best Baby Monitors, and Best Strollers.
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Best Overall
Photograph: Nicole Kinning
Grownsy
EaseClean Bottle Washer Pro
Having never heard of the Grownsy before I tried it, I was really impressed by this sterilizer. The interior cavity is deep, and the tray is wide enough to hold a variety of bottle and pump parts without issue. I had no trouble fitting everything from tall eight-ounce bottles to short, wide ones and pump flanges inside the machine.
The machine has four core modes—Quick Wash (19 minutes), Normal Wash (29 minutes), Sterilize and Dry, and Storage—customizable into nine combinations, so you can mix‑and‑match cycles to suit your schedule. After the cycle is done, the machine enters a 72-hour storage mode, circulating HEPA-filtered air to keep bottles sterile inside the chamber.
The Grownsy is surprisingly quiet—there are no rumbling sounds, just the subtle sounds of swishing water, which I find calming in a quiet house during nap time. The dirty water output is via a hose, so the device must be placed next to a sink to empty during the cycle. So if you’re tight on space near your sink, this machine may not be for you. But if you’ve got the room, it’s an efficient and reliable option, and it’s less expensive than its competitors.
Dimensions 16.5 inches tall by 12.5 inches wide by 12.5 inches deep Bottle capacity recommendation Up to 4 Parts storage Adjustable Cleaning modes 4 modes (Quick Wash, Normal Wash, Sterilize and Dry, and Storage) Full cycle length 81 minutes Detergent Grownsy detergent tablets only Drainage method Hose Sterile storage window HEPA-filtered chamber for up to 72 hours Water jets 26 high-pressure jets -
Most Reliable
Photograph: Nicole Kinning
Baby Brezza
Bottle Washer Pro
I like to think of the Baby Brezza Bottle Washer Pro as the pioneer of bottle washers. It paved the way for what I think will be a booming baby product in the next few years, and the Brezza specifically is consistently a top seller across retailers, so it felt like a natural to try first.
The Brezza does what it promises. It washes and sterilizes well, and it uses less water than many competitors—great if you’re working with limited filtered or purified water. Like most bottle washers I’ve tried, some pieces may still come out a little wet even after the dry cycle, but that’s pretty standard.
With that said, this bottle washer comes with some trade-offs—the biggest being its size. Not only does it look (and sound) like a rocket ship on the counter, but you also need to take into consideration the clearance needed above the machine so that steam won’t warp your cabinets. For something that takes up that much space, it’s surprisingly particular about how you load it. The racks are fixed and shallow, which works fine for standard bottles, but wide bottles or pump flanges can feel cramped or tip over if you’re not meticulous. And taking the lid off when it’s full can be awkward; it’s easy to knock things over if you’re not careful.
If counter real estate is limited or you need flexibility for various bottle sizes and pump parts, it can be a bit picky, but if you’re looking for a dependable, hands-off solution to bottle cleaning, the Baby Brezza is a solid pick.
Dimensions 16.5 inches tall by 12.5 inches wide by 12.5 inches deep Bottle capacity recommendation Up to 4 Parts storage Fixed Cleaning modes 4 (Wash, Dry, Sterilize, and Full Cycle) Full cycle length 90 minutes Detergent Baby Brezza detergent tablets only Drainage method Internal water tank Sterile storage window HEPA-filtered chamber for up to 72 hours Water jets 20 high-pressure spray jets