Reviewed: Milton Mini Portable Soother Steriliser

It’s amazing how much a dummy seems to polarise opinion. For years they seemed to be demonised, now they’re recommended to help prevent cot death. Even when you use them is subject to debate – recommendations seemed to suggest waiting for a month to avoid ‘nipple confusion’ if you’re breastfeeding, while I was told to start earlier to help Minnie settle and that it would be too late to introduce one after a month.

Given that I was becoming the equivalent of a human dummy, and that using one has helped her sleep (even if her preference is for me or another person rather than her perfectly comfy Moses basket), I picked up two cherry versions which are supposed to be better for developing mouths.

For now, I’m giving them a definite thumbs up. Of course, it does mean one more thing to sterilise – not too complicated at home, but whenever we head out, it’s good to have a way to keep them germ-free apart from pouring boiling water over them (as I inevitably seem to get that on at least one finger).

So I liked the sound of Milton’s new Mini Portable Soother Steriliser which lets me carry a spare dummy or sterilise one while we’re out.

A funky little spherical holder which unscrews into two pieces, you simply dissolve one of the mini sterilising tablets in some water, add in two sponge cushions, pour out any additional liquid, and you’re ready to go after 15 minutes. The top sponge has a small round hole in, designed for the dummy’s teat to slot in, and it stays sterile for 24 hours, killing bacteria and viruses.

I was given the purple one to review but it comes in two other colours, blue and green. There’s a Velcro strap if you want to clip it onto a buggy or it’s watertight so you can throw it into a bag as well. It would even be easy to set up once you’ve gone through security in an airport, so there’d definitely be a clean dummy if I needed it.

Priced £6.99, it’s available from larger Boots, Sainsburys, Mothercare, Babies R Us and online at www.healthcounter.com. There’s 10 free mini tablets included, and extras cost £2.99 for a pack of 50.