Cleaning Dr. Brown's Bottles

I love the Dr. Brown's bottles and they aren't hard to clean at all. For the first few months I was paraniod and only hand washed and microwave sterilzed them. Then I relaxed and started using the dishwasher and have ever since. They have been great and never smelled anything. Like others I have tried them all and this was the best one for gas control. Totally worth it.

I too was scared off of Dr. Brown's in the beginning. I had a couple of people tell me that there were so many little parts to clean and they were a pain. I decided to use a different brand. I switched to Dr. Browns. when my daughter was about 5 months old at the recommendation of my pediatrician. She was having a lot of problems with gas.

The minute we switched, her problems improved greatly. I wish I had used them from the beginning. To me, they are definitely worth it! I just cleaned them in the dishwasher and never had any problems with them at all.

It looks like you've already got a lot of answers so my response might not make a difference to you, but I really loved the Dr. Brown's bottles. We have a couple friends who had children before we did and their kids had horrible problems keeping food down. The ONLY bottle that worked (and believe me, the one friend tried ALL of the available bottles out there at the time) was the Dr. Brown's. So it was a no-brainer for us to just start using the Dr. Brown's bottles when our first son was born. There are a lot of parts to them (I believe it was 5 compared to most others 3), but I never had a problem cleaning them, and they never started to smell. In fact, we used them through 2 kids and they were still in good enough shape that I was able to donate them to the local women's shelter (after sterilization, of course!).
My opinion is this - they are great bottles. If you have already used other bottles that have fewer parts to clean, you probably won't like Dr. Brown's. But if you're starting out with these, it just becomes normal and you won't even think about it.

I used Dr. Brown's bottles with both my kids, I used the same ones with both. I used the dishwasher and never had any problems. I purchased the contraption that holds the bottle parts and let them air dry for a little before assembling togehter. My SIL is now using those bottles. Never an issue. Good luck!!!

Buy the Dr. Brown's dishwasher insert. It's a little basket that holds all of the parts very nicely. And the little brush works wonders too. My sister and I never had any issues with the bottles.

We use them and they're fine. No smell, dishwasher safe.

I would recommend using that little bottle brush on the inside 'air exchanger' brown thingy. We did that and sterilized the insides about once every couple weeks (nipple, brown air exchanger, blue tube)

We used for our little one and still sometimes for nightitme feedings and they were great. He was really gassy and these helped!
I would heat water in a big bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes, add soap and soak all the parts in it. I would simultaneosly fill all the bottles with hot soapy water from the tap. The I would start with the little brush to clean the two inside pieces and use regular brush to clean the nipples, the cover where the nipple goes and the bottle itself. Everything then got rinsed out in hot running water and I placed these on a bottle rack to dry...sounds like a lot of work but really only two extra parts to wash. And my bottle never stunk.

i love em and have never had a issue w them or a smell. Dishwasher safe but i cant wash the nipples in the dishwasher i guess mine shrink bc everytime i do the bottles leak around the nipple. So i just throw those in the sink and handwash em .... but other then that they are wonderful bottles

We use them & they do not smell. I clean them every single time with soap & water with a splash of bleach. They have a little brush that comes with them that you can use to clean them up and a bottle brush to clean the actual bottle. Good luck!

I never had a problem... I know they are dishwasher safe but since I did not have one I did them by hand. A bottle brush, the nifty skinny brush they come with soap and water and they were fine. I never had any issue with smells...

love, love, love them! No odors, no cleaning problems.

I don't have a brush, didn't know one existed! My daycare moms bring me the bottles. :)

Sooo here's my dorky way of cleaning them: I use a piece of paper towel to ream out the tube with a cake tester! & then I toss the pieces in the top rack of the dishwasher.

Being somewhat of a gadget freak....now I feel the need to buy a special brush! :)

I did the same as Kristina, we made sure we kept the tube brushes from each bottle, we would store some in case we lost one. And we did the microwave sterilization. And every other week I would sterilize the microwave sterilizer, too.

I used them with both my kids and had no problems. I ran them through the dishwasher. I used one of the bottle baskets that have a side attachment to put the "straws" in. Otherwise, I just put them in the silverware rack. No problems with smell or anything.

Used the dishwasher, top rack. No problems.

We washed ours in the dishwasher (all of the parts) and never had a problem.

We had to use Dr. Brown's for my youngest because of a specific medical issue. Our oldest just had cheapo $1 bottles, and we never had any issues. Just a thought, because unless I had a specific concern, I wouldn't waste my money on Dr. Brown's.

Several of my daycare babies have used them, I've never had a problem. Avent are my favorite, but I don't have a problem with the Dr. Browns. I just take them apart and put the individual pieces in the silverware sorter of my dishwasher and the bottle on the top shelf. Never noticed a smell, if you don't take them apart then I'm sure they would smell, gross!

M

We used them with my first son. My husband washed all of the bottle, so it was really easy for me. Never noticed a smell. With my second son, my husband asked if we could try another bottle because he didn't want to wash the Dr Brown's again. We went with the MAM bottles. Extremely easy to clean. Love them.

I had no issues, we just had to keep the little scrubber that came with the bottle handy. I had a plastic baggie that I kept it in near the sink. Then I used one of those sanatizers for the microwave to finish the job. No issues here - used them until he was 1.

yes, they are that bad... avoid them. I have fed many babies with many different types of bottles (I do daycare) and I HATE those. Not only are they hard to clean they don't work well at all, the kids have a hard time using them.

No smells on my bottles either. I was worried about the "extra" cleaning as well (and I did these by hand since no dishwasher for us) but it really wasn't a big deal. Just an extra little swab with the little cleaning brush on 2 parts, it really doesn't take that much more time.

I have never heard anyone saying anything about a smell. We used Dr. Browns with our twins and never had a problem. We did not have a dishwasher. I did it by hand. You do need the tiny brush for the beige part, it has a tiny opening. I had to order them from Babies R Us on line because I wasn't about to drive 60-70 miles to the store just for a couple of small brushes!
A good friend also used Dr. Brown bottles and I never heard her say anything bad about them either.