If you're supposed to make up bottles as needed, what do you do about sterilising?!

[MimisMama]

Surely you're not meant to sterilise bottles one at a time as needed?

Can you sterilise them, put the lids on and leave them empty in the fridge?

I've read all about not using water if its been boiled for more than 30mins but can't find what you're meant to do about the bottles.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated!

Yes, you can sterlise them and keep them in a fridge. You can also pour the boiled water in them and keep that in the fridge so all you have to do is add the formula.

Where have you heard not to use water that has been boiled then cooled for more than 30 mins? believe me, if all mothers out there were doing this they would NEVER get out of the house or get anything done.

Once I moved to formula with both my LO's I sterlised 5 bottles in the morning, filled them with the boiled water and left them to cool in the fridge and then just took them out as needed.

How old is your LO? If you think about what they can potentially pick up from just sucking on their toys, then you realise that there can be such a thing as being over stringent about the technicalities of sterlising.

Cold water steriliser keeps them all sterile for 24 hours.

the issue is with the formula milk though as it is not sterile. If you go by the guidelines then the water must be left for no more than 30 minutes so it is still over 70 degrees so that the bacteria in the formula itself can be killed. I didnt go by the guidelines and left the water at room temperature and added the formula powder as and when it was required. I was always under the impression that once the bottles were sterilised and assembled then they were ok for 24 hours though.

Me too Seona - I hear what you are saying but I couldn't imagine trying to make that work - especially not with DS as by then had a toddler running around. When they are wailing for their milk and you are boiling, waitng to cool etc it just becomes too much of a headache. I never had any problems doing it the way I outlined in my earlier post.

It is important though to use water that is at least 70 degrees, as it needs to be that hot to kill of specific bacterias ( e-sakazakii is one, and is rare but can be fatal - it is a different issue to the germs on toys, dirt etc ).

I used to sterilise my bottles in the morning, half fill with boiling water (half a feed, so when dd was having 8 oz = 4oz in each bottle), cool, keep in the fridge. When it was needed I would microwave one bottle for 1 minute add formula, shake then add contents of another bottle - which would make it the right temp to drink. If going out I took, empty sterilised bottle,hot water in a flask, and a bottle of cold.

But to answer the op, I think if you sterilise all your bottles and close them, they should be ok for the day, as I'd have thought the inside remains sterile.(Not sure you'd even need to put them in the fridge)

Thanks for all your advice - I would have got back sooner but its been a busy day!

Well, here's my final way of doing it - sterilise bottles, add 4oz freshly boiled water, once cool put them in the fridge, when needed add 2oz just boiled water, add powder and go!

Thinking back to how we did things five years ago for our DD, I think this is much more careful than we ever were and she's fine!

It's still not the recommended way of doing it at all though. I know what you're saying about it being easier, but the advice is to prepare each bottle as needed. The guidelines changed quite recently.

You usually have some idea when a feed is going to be due... can't be that difficult to start doing the kettle water for the bottle half an hour before the due feed. Stand in cold water and it cools really quickly.

Btw, there have been lots of threads on MN about sterilising being a total waste of time anyway!

Confusing isn't it!!