MAM self-sterilising bottle users - please can you answer my questions?

[MrsA6]

I'll preface this by saying that I am a big, big overthinker. I also am extremely anxious at the moment due to PND.

Have BF for six months and now going to introduce a bottle of formula so I can leave baby. I've bought the MAM anti-colic self-sterilising bottles which you can sterilise in microwave.

Opened the box and washed bottles and all bits in hot soapy water. Read the leaflet about the sterilising and have got myself in a state because it's not detailed enough for me. I'm sorry, they're such stupid questions but I'm so worried if I do something wrong my baby will get ill .

• when sterilising in microwave, I fit the six parts together as shown in pic BUT do I need to click down the rubber valve into the base and the teat into the collar? It doesn't say - all it says it don't screw the bottle down to base. I'm worried it won't clean enough if I don't do it 'correctly'
• after it's sterilised in the microwave, what do I do? Do I unfit it all and air dry because it's all wet and steamy? Will it grow bacteria then?
• how do I store them afterwards? I'll prob only use one a day. It says to store them 'assembled' but I don't know if assembled means in the normal bottle way or the sterilising way?

Thank you to any of you who can help allay my anxieties.

I didn't click it altogether for sterilizing and my now 6 year old is fine. I used to.let the rubber in the base stay loose when it was in the microwave. Storage wise I kept them fully assembled ready for use. I think.you don't have to sterilize after 6 months but we did anyway.

Click down the rubber valve.
Microwave
Screw base on tight and leave. Do not open or they won't be sterile anymore.
Open to make up a feed and then assemble the bottle for feeding.
Hope that helps, if you're still not sure you can still sterilze them in a steam sterilze or in Milton and they will be fine

You need to sterilze all bottles that are used for formula no matter the age of the child

I made them as above. I stopped sterilizing at 6mths.

Even if you weren't a big over thinker or had PND, moving from breast to bottle is a bugger as there definitely seems to be a gap in information. I remember thinking similar.

For your first question, we used to just loosely assemble the bits in the microwave, no clicking anything in place. Probably doesn't matter as the steam should probably get everywhere.

On drying them, I think we used to just put them on a clean tea towel until cool and dry, then assemble them. Like you I never could work out how long I could store them for, so we tended to sterilise a couple, let them cool, assemble (not bother drying) and make up the next couple of bottles to flash cool then put in the fridge.

We did become a bit more slap dash around 8 months when he started having tendencies to give a park bench a good suck or eating random dirt from the floor....

you need to click down the rubber valve as that is where you put in the water that sterilizes the bottle.
sit the rubber teat on top, then the heat ring, then the bottle body with the lid loosely on top.
I did 2 max together, removed from microwave, assembled and used within the day. It only takes a couple of minutes to sterilize so you can easily redo if needed.
Hope that makes sense.

Thank you all so much especially for the step by steps - that is just what I needed.

@Mokepon, when you say you assembled after microwaving, do you mean assemble into the bottle proper?

Does it matter about it being all steamy and a bit wet?

I agree I think there is a bit of a gap in information - I keep thinking surely it can't be that complicated, millions of people do it ten times a day!

He'd better take the formula now, after all this stress with the bottle before I've even used it

Yes, assembled into the bottle. I screwed in the body, gave it a good shale to get rid of any excess water then screwed on the rest.
Never dried with a towel or anything, just wiped the outside once assembled. I figured the wet/steam was also sterile!