Expressing - what do you sterilise?

[JJ82]

Up until now I've been sterilising the pump, the bottle and teat and any containers I'm going to use for storage. A friend told me recently that you don't have to sterilise the pump and my local La Leche League website says the same, but I'm not sure I can get all the fiddly bits of it clean with just soap and water. And if I don't have to sterilise the pump, what about the feeding bottle? I would if I was formula feeding (right?) so is there any reason it would be different?

I expressed for a year and didn't ever sterilise except for before the first use.

Do you sterilise your breasts before pumping? Mums who feed directly certainly don't get the sanitiser out before feeding baby several times each day! Breast milk has antibodies which help stop your child from getting sick, it's different to formula.

You may need some sort of pipe cleaner to get the tubes cleaned, if the milk is getting in there.

At the end of the day, it's whatever makes you feel comfortable. If you had a sickly child (fingers crossed not), you may feel better sterilising. But I don't think it's necessary.

Breastmilk has antimicrobial properties so in theory no need to sterilise as long as it's clean. But it doesn't do any harm to sterilise.

Breast milk kills germs whereas formula breeds them, so no point sterilising the equipment apparently. :-)