Why do I need a steriliser?
According to the NHS, sterilising feeding equipment is necessary for the first 12 months to keep your baby free from bacteria that could harm their brand-new immune systems. If you’re planning on expressing breast milk, combination feeding or using a dummy during your baby’s first year, you’ll need to sterilise all the relevant baby equipment after every use.
Midwife and antenatal teacher Kate Bennett says, “Babies are particularly vulnerable to infections from bacteria, viruses and fungi in their first year of life as their immune systems are very immature. It’s good practice to reduce the risk of needless germs from feeding equipment in particular as this can make your baby very poorly, including symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and oral thrush.”
What should I use a steriliser for?
As well as baby bottles, teats and breast pump parts, you'll also want to steriliser dummies and teething rings, ideally once a day unless they are dropped on the floor outside.
Baby plates and bowls, cutlery and sippy cups will also need to be sterilised if they’re used before six months but, after that, washing in hot soapy water should be sufficient.
Should you sterilise baby bottles every time?
By the time they’re a year old, your baby’s immune system is much better developed so you can ease off sterilising toys and dummies then.
However, Kate says, “It is always recommended to sterilise your baby’s bottles and teats for as long as you continue using them. This is because milk and milk curds can remain in small amounts in the teat and bottle, and the bugs that feed on them can cause stomach upsets.”
How do I sterilise baby equipment?
The NHS advises that all used equipment – bottles, teats and breast pump parts that come into contact with milk – are cleaned as soon as possible after use using hot soapy water. A bottle brush should be used to clean inside bottles and teats can be turned inside to get into the nooks and crannies.
If you prefer, you can put bottles through the dishwasher (check your breast pump instructions to see which parts are dishwasher-safe, if any) – just make sure bottles, lids and teats are facing downwards, and remember that dishwashing cleans items but doesn’t sterilise them so you’ll still need to do that.
After cleaning, rinse off each item in cold, clean water and then you’re ready to sterilise. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly, especially when positioning items in the steriliser and adding the correct amount of water or sterilisation solution.
After the sterilisation cycle is complete, you can leave the items inside without opening the lid and they’ll remain sterile for a set period of time (often 24 hours, but it varies between products). Or you can take them out and use them once they’re cool.
It’s best to use sterile tongs to handle teats afterwards to prevent contamination, and the majority of sterilisers come with a pair – put the tongs in with the cycle and you know they’re OK to use.
Don’t rinse equipment off again afterwards as the water won’t be sterile. You don’t need to dry them as the cloth likely isn’t sterile either – just shake off the excess moisture and make sure it’s cooled down completely.
When can you stop sterilising baby bottles?
Guidance from the NHS recommends sterilising for at least the first 12 months. After your baby's first birthday, you can start phasing our sterilising as their immune system will be strong enough. However, it's important to continue cleaning all bottles, dummies and other feeding equipment thoroughly even after you've said goodbye to the sterilising tablets.
What are the different types of steriliser?
The type of steriliser that’s right for you will depend on your baby’s routine as well as your environment, so it’s perfectly alright to wait till after the birth – maybe buying a box of sterilisation bags as an interim measure – and assess your sterilising needs in the days and weeks afterwards.
Kate Bennett says, “This is such an individual choice. It depends on what you find easiest, what your budget is and how much space you have. That’s before you think about what you’ll be sterilising and how you plan to feed your baby.”
There are four main sterilisation units on the market: cold water sterilisers, microwave sterilisers, electric sterilisers and travel sterilisers. They all have their own pros and cons.
1. Cold water steriliser
Cold water sterilisers involve filling a container with water and adding sterilisation tablets or fluid to make a sterilisation solution. The active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, which is a mild bleach that has been through a purification process to make it stable and non-toxic. It’s perfectly safe to use, but does smell vaguely of swimming pool.
The great advantage of cold water sterilisation is its flexibility. The Milton Cold Water Steriliser, for example, is a large five-litre bucket and, with the right number of tablets, an even bigger container could be used, which puts no limit on the amount of equipment you could sterilise at once (great for parents of multiples!).
The items are sterile after a manufacturer-recommended 15-minute cycle – the NHS recommends 30 minutes – and remain so for as long as they’re in the solution. Plus, they don’t need rinsing off when they’re needed. Items can continue to be added and removed as necessary over 24 hours when the solution will need to be remade.
The disadvantages are the smell, the need to continually buy new tablets and the inconvenience of keeping a large container full of water in a corner of your kitchen – especially relevant if you have other small children.
2. Electric steriliser
Electric sterilisers are units set over a heating plate that heats up water and sterilises the contents with steam. They’re usually generously sized, so can handle up to a day’s worth of bottles all at once, and require almost no preparation and no further outlay to use them regularly.
To sterilise, simply add the right amount of water to the heating plate and press a button – it’s quick and easy to do. The sterilisation cycle also tends to be shorter than with cold water sterilisation. The electricity required to run a cycle in one of these will almost always cost less than using a microwave steriliser.
On the downside, the heating plate will almost certainly attract limescale over time so the steriliser will need descaling once or twice a month. You can buy descaling liquid for this, though all steriliser brands now include instructions for natural descaling liquid from store cupboard ingredients which is a more eco-friendly option. Electric sterilisers are also the most expensive to buy.
3. Microwave steriliser
Microwave sterilisers also use steam to sterilise their contents, which may appeal to you if you prefer to sterilise without chemicals.
They are essentially a large, round, plastic box with a screw-on lid, usually with an internal basket to hold the bottles. Water is poured into the bottom (under the basket) and in the microwave it boils to create steam.
The advantage of microwave sterilisers is that they’re more capacious than travel models but smaller than electric ones, so they can be stored out of sight. The length of the cycle is almost always shorter than using an electric steriliser, too, which might come in handy with a very hungry baby.
Usually, they’re of a size that isn’t truly portable, however, and you still might find it inconvenient to find the cupboard space or take it with you to a grandparent’s house. Some of the larger models might not fit inside more compact modern microwaves either.
Plus, they’re usually more expensive to run than electric sterilisers as they have a smaller capacity (so you’ll be running more cycles) and microwaves ultimately use more energy.
4. Travel steriliser
Babies still need feeding on holiday (who knew?) so travel sterilisers are designed to provide a portable solution that works on the go.
Most of them are cup-shaped microwave sterilisers large enough for one bottle or one breast pump – though you might not always have access to a microwave when away from home so look out for ones that can be used with cold water solution as well.
Microwave steriliser bags have also become more popular in the last few years. These are reusable pouches made from a tough plastic and work by sealing baby equipment in the pouch with some water and microwaving for a set time. These tend to be more roomy than the cup model, with the best fitting two bottles in at a time, and able to be reused around 20 times per bag.
If you’re using bottles and breast pumps regularly but not intensively, you might find that a travel steriliser is sufficient for your needs – it’s certainly cheaper to buy and easier to throw into a drawer. If you’re bottle-feeding full-time, though, sterilising one or two bottles at a time will be too inefficient and labour-intensive to manage.
5. UV steriliser
Relatively new to the steriliser market are UV sterilisers, which use UV light to kill bacteria. Their versatility means that you can use them to pretty much sterilise anything, including mobile phones and keys, however some UV sterilisers may not be suitable for sterilising natural rubber and latex (think certain dummies and the ever-popular Sophie La Girafe).
While they tend to take longer to sterilise things than a steam steriliser, the advantage of a UV steriliser is that you don't have to contend with equipment that's hot to the touch after sterilisation, making them a safer option for most households. You also won't need to do any descaling after use.
What makes a steriliser safe?
Electric sterilisers sold in the EU should have the CE marking somewhere on the box or instructions. This indicates that the steriliser complies with relevant EU legislation on health, safety and environment standards.
Plastic used in any steriliser part should be BPA-free – the manufacturer almost always declares this on their website, but if they don’t you can follow up with their customer service department.
Electric, microwave and travel sterilisers using steam will all get very hot, so the usual cautions apply: wait the recommended amount of time before opening the lid after a cycle has completed, open the lid away from you to redirect any steam, use oven gloves to retrieve from the microwave if necessary, and of course keep any hot items away from children.
For cold water sterilisers, a full container will be very heavy and should be kept away from children so they can’t pull it over onto their head. Sterilisation fluid is made from sodium hypochlorite, a mild, non-toxic bleach that decomposes into water and a small amount of salt.
If sterilisation fluid is accidentally ingested by a child, Milton advise: “Because of the salt in the solution in the bottle, the child will usually spit the fluid out, or, at worst, be sick. If they are not sick, there should be no need to worry but a concerned parent can give the child a drink of milk. Because milk is a protein, it will neutralise the Milton solution. The Milton Sterilising Fluid should be neutralised by the saliva proteins and break down into salt and water. However, it is always best to seek medical advice or contact your GP to ensure complete safety."