When to stop sterilising?

[tammybear]

Just wondering as Ive stopped sterilising my dd's bottles, but just wanted to double check its ok.

i think its supposed to be up to a year if you listen to government guidelines. my hv said between 6 and 9 months....when they are mobile and sticking everything in their mouths. No point sterilising then.

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With DS1 I stopped at about 13 months.
DS2 about 11 months.
DS3 8 months when he started chasing the dog and drabbing handfuls of the poor thing!!!

Textbook sterilising says 12 months.

I stopped at 6 months - but they did go through the dishwasher on a hot cycle. There seemed little point when her fav. thing seemed to be licking the floor - any floor, carpet, lino. The worst was when I turned round to find her sucking the pram wheel! Can't see that anything found in/on a milk bottle can be worse than that.

Only recently did my DH admit that he had found her chewing a piece of gum she had picked up off the ground in the park. He had guiltily kept that one to himself for months. You still have to watch her now aged 26mths!

Grabbing handfuls even

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Ok : for people who do use the dishwasher, what do you do to stop the bottles,teats and lids turning over during the wash and ending up with a load of scummy water in them? I would happily use a dishwasher but my bottles need washing and rinsing afterwards. What really obvious thing am I doing wrong?

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Flea, I get the same problem

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JoJo Mamam Bebe sell them - that's what I use, but I still rinse them afterwards as I don't like leaving the rinse aid chemicals on teats etc.

how old is you baby tammybear?

I got my dishwasher basket from PHP

here

Mothercare also do dishwash baskets, c 3.50 I think. Got mine from toys r us ... godawful place

my dd is 18 months, i stopped a few months ago, but thought id just double check as i was told its about 12 months

thanks

this may sound like a silly question, plus i can't remember with my first..do u sterlise the the spoons when starting to wean baby?..also when freezing pureed food do u sterilise the pots / ice cube trays?

Sandi , afaik youi sterlise spoons and bowls till 6months and yes you are supposed to sterilse ice cube trays - which I have never done - bad mummy!

I did all food stuff (spoon, bowl, Or I used a botel lid at first, ice cube trays till 6 months (in a bowl of milton) and milk till 12. Haven't got a dishwasher (its one of my dreams when I get a house/kitchen big enough).

or do as I did and sterilise nothing beyond first few weeks of first baby. Other than dishwasher.

Go Jasper! I stopped sterilising for dd at 12 months but for ds I think I will only go to 6 months (lucky enough to have a dishwasher though). I only did feeding spoons, never bowls, plates or ice cube trays - did not see the point.

I went with the standard advice of 12 months for bottles, 6 months for everything else. (DD was onto a cup and cows milk by 12 months anyway)

What many people don't realise though (I only just found this out) is that formula milk is not actually a sterile product. It is produced and packed in normal, non sterile factory conditions. It could be argued therefore that sterilisation is pointless. I had always assumed that until you opened the pack it was completely sterile.

Tests on bacteria levels were carried out on a freshly made up bottle and one that had been left for 20 minutes and the levels had doubled. They also found rising bacteria levels in an opened box of formula.

There is talk that in the near future mums are going to be advised to keep the formula tin in the fridge to inhibit bacteria growth and also only to make up one feed at a time rather than 24 hours in advance. (I beleive that this is already the advice in some European countries)

Off the top of my head I don't know the statitics for instances of gastro enteritus in bottlefed babies but it is much higher than in breastfed ones.

I stopped at 6months because it seemed pointless... everything ends up in his mouth! I still sterilise a bottle if i leave a bottle of milk for him though.

Well I never started! Dishwashed breastpump and occasional bottle, that was it. Am a proud Mummy who has never owned a sterliser! (and have 3 kids who have never been ill bar an occasional cold!)