Replacing bottles/microwave steriliser - necessary?

[vallinnapod]

It hadn't crossed my mind to replace bottles or our microwave steriliser. In fact I was going to keep them for future babies but then my SIL told me these things should be replaced every 3 months as the plastic can start to break down...

DS was BF until 7 months so all of this stuff is relatively lightly used.

What is the general consensus on this?

i would keep it

no way would i replace a steriliser

my BF baby had 1 bottle of BM a day from 6 weeks to 4 months old (and wont take a bottle anymore) i will definitely be keeping these for the next one, it wouldnt cross my mind not too.

i dont know anyone who replaces the bottles every 3m either.

Ummm... I haven't done this. Had one steriliser for microwave for both DCs and still seems fine to me. I was planning on selling it when we finish TBH.

I did inherit bottles from SIL (who used for her two children) that were hard plastic and had hairline cracks in them from boiling water. I have thrown two of those away after the cracks got big enough to leak milk, but that's it.

As long as you sterilise to get germs out of those cracks, I don't see the problem.

I would reuse bottles that didnt show any signs of wear/cracks, etc. I would also reuse the steriliser. I would replace the teats as it is the teats that are advised to be replaced regularly, not the bottles themselves

I mix feed my twins so for the first few weeks/months we were giving 7 bottles a day ie 14 in total so you can imagine how many times each of my bottles has been used! I 'replaced' them at 3 months in that we went from 5oz bottles to 9oz, and have replaced the teats every couple of months. Have chucked the odd bottle when it has been in the dishwasher and gone orane. Still using same steriliser though at 7months.

Thanks for the advice!