We may earn commission from links featured in this post. Read more.
A thermos flask or container is a common product in many households as it is able to keep food and drinks warm when you’re out and about. However, whilst many feel it’s more of a product for hiking, camping or long car journeys for adults a thermos is also a really handy thing to have for your baby as it can keep bottles of formula or expressed milk going without letting it go to waste or having to breastfeed in cold weather.
Here, we have a quick roundup of some of the best thermos on the UK market suitable for parents with babies and young children specifically, which work to keep the most common food and drinks that babies may need to be hot or cold (thermos can work both ways) and practical to be carried around by one parent or two.
Best Baby Thermos Reviews
Contents
1. Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Insulated Bottle Bag
The Tommee Tippee insulated bottle bag is specifically designed for baby bottles full of milk which needs to be kept warm. Although, they can equally keep drinks cold, too. It is stylishly designed and designed for Tommee Tippee’s own branded ‘closer to nature’ bottles but can be used with similarly sized bottles if you have them instead.
They are insulated and cushioned on the inside with a handy strap to help you keep your hands free. These are not hardcore products and best fit for casual use such as shopping trips or a walk around the local park. It will not keep the contents warm indefinitely. As with most baby thermos products they are impacted by the environment but typically they will keep the contents warm for up to 4 hours. Come in a pack of 2 and priced at around the £10 mark.
2. Thermos Stainless King Food Flask
But…if you’re here because you want a literal Thermos flask then out of all the models they make we think the ‘King’ stainless steel food flask is the most versatile for parents to use for their baby or toddler. It has a wide mouth so it may not be perfect to store milk but with the right bottle and utensils you can easily pour it out into a proper container. It’s one of the best food containers which keeps food hot or cold for 9 and 14 hours with a giant brand name behind it.
Perhaps its best feature is the fact that the outside of the stainless steel flask doesn’t become too hot to hold and make your hands sweat, equally it doesn’t become freezing cold either. The seal is childproof and leak proof so don’t worry about any accidental scalding incidents with your kid.
The official Thermos brand name does add extra to the cost but if you’re already set on getting a genuine thermos food flask for hot food for your kids then this model is the best out there.
3. Lekebaby Insulated Baby Bottle Cooler Bag
If you’re a breastfeeding mother and your objective are to keep the expressed breastmilk cool then you can’t go wrong with Lekebaby‘s insulated bag. It can keep 6 bottles nice and cold for up to 8 hours and ideal for long days out, particularly handy for dads on a solo trip where the mother isn’t there to breastfeed themselves.
It can equally be used to keep formula milk cool for short periods of up to 4 hours so it’s certainly not a breastfeeding-only product.
The bag itself is insulated and comes with a handy ice pack which does need prior preparation, of course. This is a seriously handy piece of kit to keep the milk cool before it can either be given as it is or warmed up later. Keeping the milk cool keeps the milk from spoiling quickly.
Considering its size and quality of contents this is an absolute bargain and you can buy this online for less than £20.
4. 720°DGREE Thermo Food Flask “wunderJar”
If you’ve started the weaning process from formula or breastmilk and you want a food thermos then we highly recommend the Wunderjar from 720 degrees. It is stainless steel, holds 450ml and looks amazing.
However, what we love about this steel food jar the most is it’s superior hot and cold storage capabilities – it can keep food hot for 9 hours and keeps food cool for 16 hours which is simply superb. This is an ideal purchase throughout the year for parents who have started feeding their babies foods such as soups, smoothies, yoghurt and other blended stuff.
It keeps the food hot and cold thanks to a double-wall vacuum design with a further copper layer of insulation. Whatever the temperature of the contents going in will stay that way for a long time. Stainless steel is easy to clean, tough and of course BPA free.
From a practicality point of view, it’s lightweight at 450 grams which won’t weigh your bag or pram down. It has a wide opening which makes it easy to clean by hand but it is also dishwasher safe. 450ml isn’t a massive amount of food to store for an adult but if you consider a tin of soup is between 300ml and 400ml then it’s an awful lot for a baby to eat making it a great baby thermos.
5. Mummy Cooks – Insulated Children’s Food Flask
This Mummy Cook’s children’s food flask uses the same technology as most another vacuum walled flask but it has been designed with children in mind rather than the adults. This could be attractive for babies who are close to becoming toddlers who are well into their eating and have started to take an interest in particular designs and colours. Some may refer to this kind of design as a ‘funtainer’. It is a bit of a gimmick but as many parents know – gimmicks can make the difference between a child doing something you want them to do, or not.
On top of this, you will get a free pack of stickers for your child to give it their own spin which again can entice them to always want you to bring it along on trips, we can’t emphasise enough how much of a difference something so small can make to the weaning experience.
Design aside, it holds 300ml which is around the size of a standard tin of soup so it’s pretty decent. It performs quite well and can keep food hot or cold for up to 6 hours. Stainless steel design, BPA free, leak-proof and dishwasher safe. For a full-fat stainless steel thermos funtainer this is excellent value for money in the £15 range.
Baby Thermos FAQs
Are baby thermoses safe to use with formula milk?
Yes, as long as you have used due diligence to have prepared the formula milk correctly before placing them in the thermos product. Thermos products only keep the contents warm or cold and do not offer anything else beyond that. However, you should not use the contents after a long period of time as many thermos products are not air sealed and bacteria can get in and spoil the food, drink etc.
Does milk need to be kept warm or cool?
Formula milk
Always follow the instructions provided with the formula brand you have chosen when preparing. Formula milk needs to be kept in sterilised containers and prepared with boiling water before you let it cool down. Once it has been prepared with boiling water, you can then put the formula milk into a baby thermos to be given to your baby later. Don’t forget, the best thermos is designed to keep things hot and formula needs to be cooled down before it can be given to your baby so always check before you transfer from the thermos to the bottle!
It’s fine to put in ready-made cold formula milk in a thermos, as well as manually prepared milk which has been allowed to cool down. Just make sure that it is consumed in a reasonable amount of time and definitely not more than 6 hours later. Frozen milk can last longer.
Breastmilk
Breastmilk is already sterile so does not need preparation and can be safely kept in a thermos warm or cold. However, breastmilk is still biological material that can spoil and will spoil quickly when exposed to air and heat. We recommend 6 hours to be the maximum time to keep breastmilk in a thermos when it is at body temperature, it can be longer if it is kept frozen.
What is the best baby milk thermos?
On balance, we feel the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Insulated Bottle Bag is the best thermos for keeping bottles cool or hot and much better than keeping the milk in its own unique thermos due to the hassle of them transporting it from one container to the other. Tommee Tippee is cheap and ready to be used with most brands of small bottles and not just their own branded ones.
What is the best baby food thermos?
We think the best baby food thermos is the stainless steel king food flask. It’s wide mouth makes it easy to get all kinds of foods out, it holds a generous amount of food and of course it effectively keeps food hot or cold for long periods of time.
Related Articles
