Do you NEED to buy a steriliser..?

[bigredtractor]

Hi,

I'm 27 weeks pregnant with our 1st baby (I'm a MN virgin!) and intending to breastfeed and was wondering whether it is essential to buy a steriliser and all that faffy equipment if I'm just planning to express milk now and then to get a break?

Surely a good scrub and a rinse with boiling water would do the same job? Are we frightened into buying all this sterilising stuff by clever 'guilt' marketing?

Your thoughts please..!!

If you plan to breastfeed you might want to not have bottles etc in the house to start with. I bf and only gave the odd bottle of ebm, so didn't have a steriliser. For me hot soapy water and a good scrub was enough.

you can sterilise perfectly well by boiling in a normal saucepan for 5 mins or so - that's what people did before they had sterilisers, after all!
dishwashers get pretty hot too.
yes, you can manage easily without one.

Phew - thank you. That's another thing crossed off the list!

I wasn't planning to even introduce a bottle initially (unless we have to for any reason) as I'd read that it can cause confusion. Thanks for replying though

I have never had one,although I've never used bottles either.

The very cheap and basic breastpump I bought came with a box for microwave sterilising and 1 bottle which is all you'd need for occasional feeds. Certainly wouldn't bother buying it all seperately.

I would get one, i struggled to bf ds1 and ds2, I expressed quite a lot during the first week and needed to sterilise the breast pump, bottle/cup etc and all that paraphernalia.
dh had a hard enough job being given a list of breast pump/bottles/nipple shields etc without worrying about finding a steriliser too.
bf is bloody hard (well was for me, with all 3 dcs) so best to be prepared IMHO

I have never sterilised a thing, and ds is 7.5mo. He is bf, no dummy, so nothing needs sterilising anyway.

Thanks everyone. What about the microwave bags - has anyone tried them?

I got this pump that comes with its own microwave sterilising box, that was enough for me. Think it was on special at the time too so a real bargain

you know you can also buy a pack of sterilising tablets and do cold water sterilising in a pan with a lid or a big tupperware?

I'd second cold water sterlising as easy if you don't plan on doing much bottle feeding- just wash v thoroughly and then stick required amount of Milton (or whatever) in a big tupperware with water and the stuff for (I think) a couple of hours.

Some people say you don't need to sterlise at all, but I was always a scaredy cat and did.

Fab - thank you. I'll look into the cold water tablets.

just remember that milton is diluted bleach!

I used the microwave bags on holiday and they worked fine - if you are only going to need to do it occasionally they may work for you.

As I understand it, it isn't diluted bleach. Can't remeber the science, but whatever it that makes bleach toxic is removed (metal ions? Would that be right?) - hence no need to rinse. Happy to be corrected though.

Fair point Daxi - maybe the chemicals needed to sterilise aren't really a better option. Sounds like the boiling-in-the-pan-after-a-good-scrub suggestion is a good one! Ta!