The Best Baby Bottle Brushes and Sterilizers of 2024

This is our staff favorite thanks to the smaller cleaning brush that stashes so neatly in the end of the wand, and the stand that catches water drips before they pool on your counter. (It's easy to clean the stand as needed.) "The nipple cleaner piece is essential," a mom of a 7-month-old told us, "And the little stand keeps you organized — always having a place to set the brush."

We like that this brush combines soft bristles with firmer ones. It's a long-handled bottle brush, a little over a foot long, and the wand flexes a bit so you can really reach every part of a bottle. It got no complaints from our staff moms, but we noticed that some online reviewers wrote that the bristles can mash down over time.

If you're looking for a brush that can handle water bottles with straw tops, like the kind that older kids and adults use (hello, Stanley cup fans!), see the brand's OXO Tot Water Bottle and Straw Cup Cleaning Set instead.

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Some parents we polled swear by this sponge-top bottle brush. "I just think it gets in the little crevices better," one mom of two told us. You get three bottle brushes in this affordable set, which has more than 47,000 five-star Amazon reviews.

The sponge top can lather well and is softer than bristles. However, our Home Care & Cleaning Lab Executive Director, Carolyn Forté, cautions that sponges also break down faster than bristles do. Rather than a detail brush, the small end of this wand is simply ridged plastic meant to scrape out the inside of a bottle nipple. The brush can stand upright in its suction-cup base, or you can suction that base to the side of your sink or fridge and hang the bottle brush from it — it works either way.

If your baby uses Dr. Brown's bottles with the vent down the middle, the brand also sells detail brushes specifically made to clean the vents.

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This wins for the most adorable bottle brush set since it looks like a little collection of cacti on your counter. The largest cactus lifts up to reveal a bristled bottle brush head. The three smaller ones are various detail brushes for scrubbing straws, bottle nipples and the threading where a bottle top meets the bottom.

Not surprisingly, the online reviews are mostly about this being cute, but the brushes are also effective. If you like the faux-garden effect you could pair it with Boon's Lawn, a countertop drying rack that mimics a rectangle of green grass.

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Some parents may prefer silicone to sponges or brushes with plastic bristles. Silicone is nonabrasive, so the brush itself is very easy to clean and sanitize, and food doesn't get stuck in the nubs. However, if you're strictly using this to clean the inside of a baby bottle, gunked-on food is not really a problem. We think this silicone brush might be more useful for cleaning out something with food inside, such as an older child's thermos when it comes back in the lunchbox.

For effectively sterilizing baby bottles, bottle parts, pump parts, pacifiers and anything else that can handle steam sterilization, we like the simplicity of this machine that both sterilizes and dries. Bottles go in the large bottom and smaller parts fit on a rack that sits above them. Add water to the reservoir (don't go over the capacity line), hit a button and your baby goods will be sterilized in about 10 minutes and dry after about 40 minutes. We like that it shuts itself off, in case you want to set it and go to sleep. It comes with tongs if you want to remove bottles right away while they're still hot.

Note that you still want to wash items with soapy water and rinse them clean before you sterilize them to kill germs. It's not necessary to sterilize bottles every day unless your infant is very young, immunocompromised or sick. You can just sterilize bottles when they are new and when they get germy. At about a foot long and 7.5 inches deep, this needs some counter space but not too much.

A less expensive sterilization tool is a microwave sterilizer, though of course, you'll need a microwave to make it work. Place up to four bottles plus smaller parts inside and add 200 milliliters of water — you can use a baby bottle to measure. Close and lock the lid and microwave the whole thing for two minutes. The bottles and parts will all be sterilized — though still wet, so open the lid and let the parts air-dry or set them on a drying rack or clean towel.

Like with an electric sterilizer, you'll need to clean your bottles and nipples with soap and water before you sterilize them. Sterilization doesn't remove milk residue, it just kills germs. Some online reviewers caution that their local water leaves residue and that they need to clean the sterilizer itself frequently. Others say they solve this by using distilled water for the steaming. The brand manual says to "only use water without any additives."

If you'll be traveling somewhere with a microwave — whether it's a hotel room or rental house or a relative's house — you can sterilize bottles and pump parts in these reusable steam bags. They're also genius for sterilizing pump parts and bottles at a workplace. Each bag can be used up to 20 times so if you use a steam bag once a day, five days a week, a bag might take you through a month and the 12-pack might last you a year.

You can only fit a maximum of three narrow bottles in a bag, so this will sterilize fewer pieces at a time than an electric sterilizer. Always clean bottles and pump parts with soapy water and rinse them clean before sterilizing. You'll add 60 milliliters of water to the bag along with your baby goods, seal the top and then microwave it for 3 minutes. Then, pour out the hot water before you remove the hot items inside and let them air-dry.

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Just the details, please! If you've got bottles, sippies or straw cups that call for extra-skinny bottle brushes that can reach deep into vents and straws, this accessories set is made for just that. The fattest one is made especially to clean the threading around the inside of a sippy-cup lid. Clean freaks, and, from our experience, parents who never pictured themselves scrubbing a breast pump valve end up loving this set, which hangs together from a key chain.

To scrub the inside of the main part of a baby bottle you will still want one of the larger brushes on our list, but this is an excellent add-on purchase for the smaller pieces. You are likely to use some of the brushes more than others, so some brushes may wear faster than others. Some reviewers are disappointed that they have to rebuy a whole set to replace just one brush. But the price is so low, we think it's still worth it.