?Need to sterilise bottles and teats after 6 months?

[Ouisie]

I read somewhere that you don't need to keep sterilising bottles etc after 6 mths - ?true

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Twiglett, following you tonight stopped sterilising about 9mths, but still put them through dishwasher, but now ds2 is 1 sometimes just give them a good wash.

I sterilised bottles and teats up to about 11 mths and just poured scalding water over plates and dishes e.t.c.

how come dishwasher is ok- because they use v v hot water? twiglett you must be nearly due?

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Big confession.......I have not sterilised anything with DD at all. Admittedly she is BF so there is a lack of stuff to actually sterilise, but as soon as things started going into mouths (eg fingers, toys ,DSs very grubby fingers) I don't see the point of trying to sterilise bowls and spoons which have been very nicely washed by DH.

Go on, shout at me

melon same here ... oh the putrid shame!

melon ooh errr I did mean lemon, what is it about you LOL

you really have it in for me don't you!

although as I'm still BFing melons is a damn sight more accurate.

I have never sterilised anything either. My ds is also bf, but the occasional bottle of EBM has just been in a dishwashered bottle.

What ... don't you sterilise your boobs then?
I think the thing is that nasty bacteria can grow if you don't clean the milk off bottles and teats enough (the milk residue can stick)
I sterilised DS' bottles and teats for 12 months but never sterilised any of his food stuff (plates etc)

I always rinsed everything out straight away. I was kind of hoping that would be enough.

I never sterilised either. Both boys were breastfed and I used the dishwasher. Didn't have any problems with tummies or alergies.

I sterilised up to 12 months, and then discovered that I had had no need to sterlise since 6 months when we stopped making up feeds, but instead put boiled water in the bottles and added the milk powder when we needed it.

Next time round I won't ever sterlise. It is so much easier to do the water first and powder later, both with not having to sterilise and with transporting it, heating it etc. Why does no-one ever tell you this?

My dd is 9 months and I've always done the water, add powder at the time thing but I've also always sterilised the bottles and still do. SO am I making loads more work for myself then? Seems sensible that dd is old to cope now but I just keep thinking that as soon as I stop, she'll get a bout of gastro or something!!! Have thought about washing them well, then filling them with boiling water and leaving for a while, then emptying out the water and filling with water to drink, as a compromise - what do you reckon?

I thought that too, but my hv said that the only reason for sterlising is for the milk. She said that all milk is in sterlised containers, whether for adults, children or babies. The only reason why we sterlise the babies' bottles is because they are going to store milk. We do not sterlise glasses when we pour ourselves a glass of milk, and we don't need to sterilise baby bottles if we are only putting it in there to be drunk straight away. Still, it is scary, isn't it?

never streilised any of them!

fisil
Join my gang!

Great - no-one ever asked me to join their gang before. Do we have a special gang sign that no-one else knows, like a muslin that has no sick on it cos our babies never get bugs?

There is no need to sterilise plates and the like after 6 months, but bottles and teats should continue to be sterilised until the baby doesn't drink formula any more - this is because bacteria grows very quickly in formula and even if you wash the bottles straight away after use, the bacteria won't be killed unless sterilised - a dishwasher will do the same thing as a steriliser as the temperatures reached will be the same. My hubby is a Chemical engineer and specialises in purification.

fisil we wil wear our puke wiht pride.

what I dont get is the fact that they put all this crap in their mouths and also the minute a bottle is removed form the steriliser is isnt sterile

Three healthy dsses cant be wrong

hmm, would like to disagree with yankiegirl,or her dh! Unless you dishwasher has a boil programme, it won't get items inside to the same temperature as a steriliser (assuming you mean steam steriliser). Having said that, a dishwasher is probably rather more thorough in terms of cleaning than a hand wash, so probably few germs left anyway.

I breastfed, and expressed for work, and steam sterilised bottles and teats up to 6 months, but no longer. Dd hasn't ever had gastroenteritis.

I breastfeed, but I haven't been sterilizing the pump and bottles for her one bottle a day because the hospital told me not to bother, washing them in hot soapy water and air-drying them was quite sufficient (and using a dishwasher when I got home was fine, but we don't run the dishwasher every day). I'm in the US, but how different can the germs be?

I never sterilised anything. I used a breastpump from the start and dd had a regular bottle of EBM, but we just put everything through the dishwasher from the very beginning.

None of our 3 kids have ever been ill, and the only time any of them have vomited (apart from posset) was when dd1 ate a daffodil and boy did that make her throw!

Dh (as you know) is a doctor and is very into the fact that sterilising and therefore not exposing to bugs is a cause in the rise of allergies, especially asthma. As he is asthmatic himself he was very against anything that would increase the risk for our children, and we've never had a wheeze. We obviously know a lot of other doctors from Uni etc and we don't know a single one who bothered to sterilize.

Slap wrists maybe, but it did save a lot of time and effort!!!! (lazy mummy!)