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the only problem I found with the cold water sterilisers were that it made the bottles and teats / dummies all look odd after a time, sort of cloudy and unclean. They also smelled really bad of sterilising fluid / tablets which often puts baby off the bottle / teat.

the steam sterliser is quicker which is handy if you need some fast (my fridge broke and i needed bottles quickly - so it was a gods send) - it keeps the bottles nice and clear, and has no smells - however once you have sterilised you pretty much have to make the bottles up straight away or they arnt sterile anymore.

I am due in August and will be buying another steam steriliser - it suits my needs which is most importnant

I think that a "Steam Steriliser" is best, i use one and i feel confident that my baby is getting the best and cleanest sterilised bottles and dummies.

The Steriliser that i have here is an "Avent" one and you fill the resevoir in the bottom of water and you then put your bottles and so on in the steriliser and then microwave on high for 8 minutes, it works great.

I wish you luck in your research..

by cold water I'm assuming you mean the ones where you at a tablet or liquid chemical to water and then soak the bottles, teats etc in the solution...

i used this type with my first child using "Milton" tablets.. i found this awkward and annoying as they had to be immersed in the liquid and it took up a lot of bench space and a lot of water as the liquid had to be changed ever 24 hours..

i think steam is better, and thought i have been clever this time as I've brought myself a George foreman steamer, i can use it for regular cooking as well as separately for sterilizing bottles.. and as they come with three tiers that stack on top of each other it doesn't take up bench space, or use heaps of water... i can set it to turn off after 10 mins so no having to make sure it doesn't destroy the microwave or boil over on the stove..

Personally I prefer the microwave steam steriliser. The reason for this is they only take 5 minutes to steralise.

My cousin had the one that you plug in, it was very big and bulky and took twice the time to steralise.

I'm not familiar with cold water sterilizers for home use...I thought they were only large pieces of equipment. However, I will tell you that steam sterilizers work really well. Be cautious of microwave sterilizers, check all the recalls, because they have been known to cause fires. I used the medela sterilizing bags....they're cheap, reusable, and very portable...

i would think the steam steriliser would be the best

cold water is not going to kill the germs unless you put some chemical in it and thats not healthy is it go with boiling hot water or steam.

steam is better.