Washing bottles in dishwasher?

[ClarasMummy]

Just wondering if anyone does this? I haven't seen any one do it so just after some advice really.

Thanks in advance.

If you wash them in the dishwasher you don't have to sterilise them. I've washed bottles and dummies in the dishwasher in the past but don't have one at the moment.

Not true I'm afraid! It's common advice in American books on baby care, but their dishwashers wash at a higher temperature than European ones, so your bottles will not come out sterile. (There was a footnote to this effect in a UK edition of one book I had). No reason why you can't wash them in the dishwasher and then pop in the steriliser, though. You'll have avoided the most time-consuming bit of the task that way.

To be honest there's no reason to sterilise at all - just a wash in hot soapy water and being left to air dry is fine. So I don't see why a dishwasher wouldn't be adequate.

In the absence of any information about the age of OP's child, I think that's a bit dangerous as advice. If it's a 6 month old, and you're moving from BF to FF, you might get away with it (though personally I kept sterilising to 1 year as recommended by the NHS guidelines), but with a newborn, I think that you'd be crazy to put them at risk by not sterilising. The sort of D&V that's sufficiently serious to require hospitalisation is about 3 to 4 times more common in FF babies, and I don't think that's just because formula doesn't contain antibodies, I think in some cases it's because corners have been cut in preparing formula/keeping the bottles clean.

i dishwashed or handwashed AND sterilised until DD was 1 year old. now I just dishwasher them.

I agree making up formula correctly is very important, and I suspect lots of those hospitalisations are due to people making up powder with cool water instead of 70c+.

So long as you wash bottles carefully removing all traces of milk residue, it isn't necessary to sterilise. Of course, everyone must do what they are comfortable with! But you aren't putting your baby at risk so long as you ensure your bottles are clean and dry.

You might be interested in an alternative view about sterilising here

I think the guidelines have changed so that you only need to sterilise until 6 months or crawling age. By this time they're picking up everything and putting it in their mouths anyway! I think the issue is more with bugs in the formula so the tempertaure of the water to make it up is important - although too hot could also kill a lot of the nutrients - you can't win! Follow what it says on the pack I would have thought...

It isn't necessary to sterilise at all. Hot soapy water is fine but I understand that people are happy sterilising. I never bothered. Dishwasher is fine btw in place of a steriliser.

I dishwashed and then sterilised (in the UK). You certainly don't need to scrub away with a bottle brush if it's all going in the dishwasher.

Just one thing about the dishwasher - as someone who does this 99% of the time, DON'T put in with anything that has tomato, especially the teets unless you are happy with orange coloured ones (personally not as a bit fussy and particular ), if this does happen stick in a bowl with milton sterilizing tablet overnight and they should fade down again!