The Chicco NaturalFit is a simple and safe bottle and food warmer. Compact, it has a single warming chamber that fits bottles of all sizes and materials with a removable basket insert for smaller bottles and baby food jars. With just two settings, one for bottles and one for baby food jars, the guesswork is eliminated for bleary-eyed parents. It has a temperature-mediated auto shut-off but will maintain water warmth for up to an hour, or until the dial is turned to the "off" position.
Performance Comparison
The Chicco NaturalFit is simple and compact in design. It includes just one accessory part, a basket for bottles or food jars.
Health and Safety
The Chicco NaturalFit Two-in-One scored a 9 of 10 in the health and safety metric. With temperature-controlled water bath, no hot steam is generated. In testing, milk temperature did not exceed 100F/37.8C.
The Chicco has two easy settings. Switch the knob to the left for baby food jars, and to the right for bottles.
With only two settings (one for bottles and one for baby food), there is no opportunity to "max-out" the dial and thus overheating is not an issue. And, at auto-shut off, 5 audible beeps are emitted and a light turns green to signal end of cycle. However, if a bottle of breastmilk is left inside the warmer after the beep, it will stay warm (for up to an hour in our testing)
without overheating. At this point, the light will turn itself off. help remind you to remove the bottle at the right time.
Ease of Use
The NaturalFit earned an 8 of 10 in ease of use. Out of the box, set up is very easy with a simple instruction manual, although we'd like to see its warming chart attached to the back of the device for easy reference. The warming chamber is compatible with all widths and materials of baby bottles including Best Value Tommee Tippee Feeding, Top Pick Comotomo, Playtex Nurser, AVENT Natural Glass, Dr. Brown's Glass, Munchkin Latch, and Born Free Glass.
Without a built-in reservoir, one must add a simple 1/2 cup of water with every use, but there are no complicated vials or tubes to fill like with the
Cuisinart BW-10 and
Boon Orb. The warming cycle is signaled by a red light and 5 beeps at the end and then the light turns green. It will stay on for about an hour if needed, keeping the bottle warm at an appropriate temperature, so you should remember to turn the dial to the "off" position when taking a bottle out.
Warming Efficiency
The NaturalFit scored middle of the road in warming efficiency with a 5 of 10. In our testing, auto shut-off occurred about 7.5 minutes when milk reaches 80F/26.7C. However, because it remains "on" in a maintenance mode, we found that it reached 100F/37.8C if left in the device for another 4.5 minutes. Our baby testers were okay with milk that was on the cooler side and we'd prefer that over milk that's too hot.
One efficiency issue is that for back-to-back use, you must first wait about 15 minutes for it to fully cool down before subsequent use. So, if you have multiples or are considering this device for a daycare, this may not be ideal.
Chicco Natural Fit's warming instructions specify that the device needs to be fully cooled before subsequent use (see bottom sentence); in our experience, we found this to take about 15 minutes.
Ease of Cleaning
This is one warmer that is easy to maintain and keep clean earning a score of 8 of 10. Regular cleaning involves emptying the water out and wiping dry. As needed, mineral deposits can be cleared by soaking the inside of the warmer in an equal parts water:vinegar solution overnight. Pour out solution, then run a cycle with 1/2 cup of water to rinse it out.
Best Applications
This no-fuss bottle warmer is a great option. Because it does take a few minutes longer than some of the other warmers, it best suits singletons on a regular, predictable feeding schedule. Because it needs complete cooling before re-use, it will likely disappoint for those with multiples.
Value
Chicco NaturalFit is a shoe-in for the Best Value award. There's simply no competition at this price point. The second most inexpensive warmer is the Boon Orb which we can not recommend because it compromises safety for speed.
Conclusion
We highly recommend Chicco's NaturalFit bottle warmer. It does its job well without any gimmicky features or complicated gadgetry. It does take a bit longer, but its warm water bath is consistent and in our testing it proved very unlikely to overheat a bottle of milk.
