To ask for some help regarding sterilising bottles, dummies and how long bottles keep for - first time mum!

[elm26]

Hello everyone

What's the simplest way to sterilise bottles and dummies? How long will they last for?

I've seen the Milton cold water steriliser where you just pop cold water and a Milton tablet in along with washed and rinsed bottles for 15 minutes and done.

I've got MAM bottles which say to sterilise in microwave but I keep reading about the bottoms melting etc.

Can I make some bottles at 10pm and put them in the fridge so they're ready to go for the night feed and just warm them up? Or do I need to make every one fresh?

Having a bit of a panic and suddenly feel like I don't know anything 😩

With the Milton steriliser you need to keep them in the liquid until ready to use (and change the liquid every 24 hours). It's more recommended to make fresh every time but you can make them up, fast cool down and then in the fridge for uo to 24 hours.

Steam steriliser plugged in next to
Tommee tippee milk machine.
Make each bottle fresh.

Plug tommee tippee in upstairs at night for night feeds or have 2 if you're extra like me.

Milton steriliser is good whilst travelling I've always found but I prefer steam sterilisers in general - find them cleaner and more effective and also quick!

Also ignore any bad hype about the tommee tippee machines - use genuine filters, clean and descale regularly and its brilliant. Use fake filters and don't clean it - obviously it's going to go wrong.

Tommy tippee or the pour bottles probably best for over night.although pour bottles are pricey!
Few friends of mine done the bottles up every morning and kept in fridge

This.

We started off the old fashioned way - boil the bottles and then make then up. We also used Milton for a while.

I heard about the Perfect Prep machine and sold it to a sceptical DH by describing it as ‘it’s like your coffee machine, think of it as barista milk’!

We both bloody love that machine now!

Then I got an email from Tommee Tippee about their sterilizer. Easy sale. I just took one look at the saucepan on the stove filled with bottles and clicked ‘buy now’!

Best purchases ever! And FYI - their glass bottles are great and have good resale value when you are finished with them. The teats need to be replaced every two months or so.

We used MAM bottles for our child and never had any melt. Super quick and easy. I hate the smell of sterilising fluid so was very glad I didn't have that around me all the time.

You need a prep machine, they're an absolute godsend.

Be careful with TT machines, the picture is their insides if not ruthlessly cleaned is horrendous

Loved the mam bottles & so easy to sterilise when at someone else's house etc. I hate that Milton smells of bleach or something. Only used when travelling.

At night I got a good flask and then another bottle of boiled cool water & made the bottles up like the perfect prep machine. 2oz boiling flask water then pour milk powder in & add 4 oz of cooled water. Altho wi my first I carried the prep machine up at night lol
Also did the flask / cooled water when I was out and about. Might take time to cool if baby is on 4oz etc, was perfect for 6oz up. A lot cheaper than pre-made.

Mam dummies come in a little case for microwave sterilising.. keeps for 24hrs I think then

You don’t need to rinse the bottles after taking them out of the Milton bucket. Mam are good, easy to microwave. You don’t need a fancy steriliser. Perfect prep is the best investment if you are doing formula.

I feel for you OP, there is so much conflicting information out there regarding bottle feeding and midwives never seem keen to offer their advice.

We used an Avent microwave steam steriliser with both of ours and it was brilliant. No tablets needed, just water in the bottom, no need to rinse... and no melted bottles either! We made up a few bottles at a time and kept them in the fridge to heat up whenever needed - just make sure the bottle is cooled quickly after making (we ran bottles under a cold tap before popping them in the fridge) otherwise bacteria can form. We also had a Nuby bottle warmer which took three minutes to heat to the required temperature and pinged when it was done, which was much easier than faffing around with boiling water in the middle of the night.

This is what we did. It worked really well :)

Re sterilisation, we had the Tommy Tippee steriliser. That thing is fab. We used to put the dummies in it too so everything sterilised together.

Seems like a lifetime ago now though my son isn't even 2.5 yet 😂

Also - that feeling of panic you are describing - been there and done that. Make life easy for yourself by getting the time saving devices (perfect prep & steam sterilizer whether it’s by Tommee Tippee or any other brand you fancy) and learn your baby’s cues.

Babies actually like routine. But they like their own routine rather than the routine their parents want them to have! So pay attention and get the bottle ready when you see them start to get hungry rather than when they are hungry and crying. It only takes two mins with a Perfect Prep. The same is true for sleeping. If you see scrunchy faces and eye rubbing, get them ready for a nap, don’t wait until they are over tired.

Also, I’m going to make a recommendation that is controversial for Mumsnet. Get a copy of the Contented Little Baby by Gina Ford. Not so much for the routines that she describes but for the reasoning as to why she structures them that way. She shows cause and effect and that makes babies predictable. I wasn’t militant in following her routines but my baby still slept through (roughly 7pm to 7am with a feed at 11ish) most nights from about 4 months old. And when DC didn’t sleep through, I could always figure out why (usually a change in feeding or napping due to being out and about at the wrong time of day).

We have the MAM bottles and sterilise in the microwave which only takes a few minutes. Baby is 6 months now and we've not had any problems.

Also have MAM dummies which we sterilise the same way or sometimes pop in boiling water for 5 minutes, especially handy if there's a few to do at once.

We make up each bottle as we need it. Once or twice a day we boil the kettle with fresh water to fill a flask after leaving it to cool for half an hour. That keeps the water hot enough to safely kill bacteria without the bottle taking long to cool down under the cold tap.

One thing we did in the early days was use those ready made bottles of formula for night feeds. Works out a bit more expensive but we felt it was worth it to have some breathing space while finding our feet. We still keep a few in the changing bag for easy feeding when out and about - they've saved the day on more than one occasion!

Don't be afraid to try different things and you'll soon figure out what works best for you.

When DS1 was a baby, 25 years ago, I used a microwave steam steriliser for 6 bottles every morning. I then made up the 6 bottles with cooled boiled water, and stored them all in the fridge for the day.

Guidance will have changed now, and I'm totally out of touch with what's considered good practice nowadays. But that worked brilliantly for me.

I use the Nuby UV steriliser box, no water or steam, everything is sterilised in three minutes. Love it! It’s so easy to use i sterilise dummies, bottles etc constantly throughout the day because it’s so little hassle. As for making up bottles, I boil enough water for three bottles and leave it to cool in a measuring jug for half an hour or so. I then pour the water in feeding bottles and refrigerate them or leave out on the table in my room for night feeds. When I need a bottle made up I the add formula to the bottle I’m using and heat the bottle up, works for me.
If a bottle isn’t finished within 2.5 ish hours then I discard it. When the weather gets hot I’ll probably discard ti sooner. As someone else said, those single ready made bottles are pricier but amazing for if you’re out and about for extended periods of time, going on a flight, or just wanting something quick to pour in the middle of the night. They made that first week a lot easier.

Thanks everyone.

I'm really hoping to breastfeed but I've had a horrendous pregnancy, hyperemesis and my MH has taken a battering so I'm preparing in case I just cannot hack breastfeeding after a really hard, exhausting 9 months.

DH is keen on the perfect prep machine if we do formula feed so will buy one if that is the case.

I'm 33 weeks and may have to have a C-section at 36-37 so I'm up at night worrying about all sorts such as do I need a bottle warmer for when we go out etc.

So much on my mind!

Think I will try sterilising MAM bottles in microwave for ease and see how we get on.

Thanks for the tips! I will have a look at the book 😊

Thanks, I have a few that came in the sterilising boxes so will do that.

Just some encouragement, if you’re hoping to breastfeed then have confidence and I’m sure you will achieve it. A lovely lady doctor said this to me and it really helped.

At the beginning breastfeeding may be a littler trickier, but it’s definitely so convenient once it’s established, that it’s worth persevering. When my DD needs feeding I just pop a boob in her mouth - it’s easy and healthy! No sterilising or making up bottles.

If you decide to breastfeed then try not to use dummies for the first 4-6 weeks while your supply is regulating.

I’m lying in bed next to my 4 week old grandsons crib. My dd is in our guest room getting an uninterrupted nights sleep.

Weve got a Tommy tippe steam steriliser and my dd has a perfect prep formula machine. I’m cheating tonight though and have ready made formula all lined up.

Don’t get a perfect prep. We have one and never use it!

Always use the Nuby rapid cool.

If your going to spend money like perfect Prep levels then buy an instant hot water dispenser. If you already have one like a boil tap then Nuby will fresh, ready and cool before you have even constructed the bottle. And it’s portable. Anywhere a fresh 2 minute 8oz bottle.

I know it's the not the recommended way anymore but back when DD14 was a baby we made around 4 bottles up by using boiled water (usually left for around 20 mins after boiled) flash cooled in cold water and stored at the back of the fridge. Warm as and when required.

NHS states formula stored in fridge should be fine if consumed within 24 hrs and tbf it always was.

Now we are expecting again we have bought a nuby rapidcool and a perfect prep. I am trying to BF though so fingers crossed they won't be used much!

Congratulations

It sounds like we had a very similar pregnancy experience (I had severe hyperemesis until 24 weeks, although I continued to be sick all the way through). Then I had gestational diabetes and needed multiple insulin injections a day from 26 weeks. I then had a c-section after going into early labour at 35 weeks.

Pregnancy was horrendous but actually recovering from a c-section and looking after a newborn was fine (after the first week, he was in NICU so that was emotionally tough). Just to reassure you that a hard pregnancy doesn’t mean that the newborn phase will be difficult too!

I ended up exclusively pumping (if your mental health is fragile then I don’t recommend this- I really wish I hadn’t put so much pressure on myself and I’d just done a mix of breastmilk and formula).

The mam bottles were great (we’ve used them multiple times a day for nearly a year and never had a leak or any issues with them melting).
Depending on your child they might be willing to take milk at room temperature. In this case you won’t need a bottle warmer. Just take the premade milk bottles out with you (Hipp, Aptamil and Kendamil all do them). They’re expensive but so much less faff. If you get the baby brezza for home then it’ll make life fairly easy.

I’d buy plenty of bottles (we have 9) so you don’t need to wash everything so frequently (we just empty the leftover milk and rinse, then we have a separate washing up bowl where we leave all the bottles until we’re ready to wash up. Then we use ecover unscented washing up liquid, hot water and a bottle brush to clean them properly before sterilizing).
We also used the mam dummies (he wouldn’t take any others because he was used to his mam bottle).

@elm26 I've commented on your posts before re HG, just my experience but I was determined to breastfeed DC1 and was devastated I made no milk, it was anemia due to HG and I've tried with my other 2 but again, HG for me has stopped me producing milk.
It's rare but happens.
I'm currently going through HG again and this time I've bought 2 second hand tommee tippee machines because I'm not making myself feel like shit over no breastmilk.

Formula is wonderful stuff, I just wish I'd felt that way sooner!

I failed to breastfeed first time round because of sore nipples and a lactation advisor who told me never to mixed feed. I later met a friend who’d had tye same problem, and with advice had mixed breast and bottle and had eventually moved back to exclusive breast feeding.

Re bottles, we had an avent steriliser which fitted six bottles. We used to make up a batch of bottles, cool them under running water, then store them in the fridge. We also had a gadget that would warm the milk, though I don’t remember the make.

I always warmed them, but have other friends who ignored that and used them cold. Much more convenient if out and about with no means of heating.

I think there are lots of things that work, and many advisors who are inflexible in their thinking.