Expressing milk for 19mo DD - do I need to sterilise?

[TheWiseOldElf]

DD1 hasn't been breastfed for over a year but as I am now bfing DD2 I wondered about expressing a bottle a day for DD1 (I doubt she would breastfeed after such a long time and now she has a mouthful of teeth I wouldn't fancy it!!). Do I need to sterilise the pump and cups etc if expressing for a toddler? I've tried googling but all advice seems to be aimed at expressing for babies.

I didn't sterilise for ds2 at all.

We were readmitted (my health, ds2 was fine) at 9 days postpartum and I was expressing using a hospital electric pump. Advice from the midwives was that washing thoroughly in hot soapy water, leaving to air dry, and storing in a clean container with lid, was sufficient for both pump parts and bottles/teats.

I can't see why the same advice wouldn't apply to a 19 mo. Do you sterilise any other container she eats/drinks from?

All I've heard says it's formula related items you need to steralise and ebm related items are fine with hot soapy water. The bm comes out sterile anyway.

Thanks. No I don't sterilise anything else but didn't know if it was different for breast milk.