IMHO and the opinion of microbiologists there is no need to sterilize

[RTKangaMummy]

As many of you already know

My DTs were born at 27 weeks and spent 3 months in NNU

We were told not to sterilize when we got home

We were told to wash everything in hot soapy water and leave out to air dry on kitchen roll

The hospital microbiologists advised that this was the best way to clean everything

And considering how ill DS was, in NNU, we followed this advice and he never had an upset tummy as a baby and was completley fine

So my advice to everyone is to not worry too much about it, wash it in HOT SOAPY WATER AND AIR DRY {washing up liquid}

This was in LONDON btw.

When I was preggers I planned to sterilize bottles, teats, nipple shields, dummies etc.

But now, I think, thank goodness that we listened to the microbiologists at the hospital. And didn't waste all the money and time on it.

DT2 {DS} was very very very ill in NNU ITU etc.

IMHO if he can come out of hospital and not have everything sterilized and not have a tummy bug or vomiting/diarahea, then why an earth should healthy normal babies be at such a risk of being ill?

If you give a baby a toy teddy it is not sterilized, now I know that won't have any milk on. But they will still put them in their mouths.

If you wrap teats in cling film which is not sterile, then why bother?

IMHO it is all a con by the makers of sterilizing units to put fear into everyone

Saint George worked for a microbiologist and she says the same thing and that he said that as long as you were extremely clean, babies would be fine. And that all this sterilization has caused problems in maternity hospitals

So set yourself free BUT be very clean and use very hot soapy water and air dry.

Also you should make sure all the milk bits come from all the little areas IYSWIM

What about parents who put their little finger into the babies mouth to sooth the baby

What about the ones who breastfeed they are not sterile, are they?

What about older brothers and sisters touching, coughing sneezing etc over the baby? {Although I do realise that is not milk related}

I AM NOT AGAINST ANYONE STERILIZING TO THEIR HEART'S CONTENT, IT IS JUST TO SAY THAT WE DIDN'T AND DS WAS VERY PREM AND HE WAS FINE

So if you want to give it up and feel that you must carry on then I am giving you an example of where it wasn't used and the outcome was fine.

BTW when DS came home he was with his corrected age 4 days old {not 3 months}

That was during a very hot summer too.

.

All that wasted time!!

Now you could be on here for longer

As long as you are Very Careful with cleaning the bottles for little babies etc.

You are now FREE !!!!!

this thread makes me feel good! we are quite relaxed about sterilising with dd2 (10 weeks old) and were neurotic about it with dd1.Glad to hear that good old fashioned cleaning seems to be enough.

When I was a milk donor there were lots of strict sterilisation rules i had to follow, including discarding the first few drops of milk out of the pump (which itself was supposed to be sterilised)..clearly the milk banks felt it essential.

Donated EBM mostly goes to premies, btw.

Am not out to start an argument, but I always found my milk went off really fast (< 36 hours) so am glad I sterlised for my own EBM, don't think people who still feel "safer" sterlising should be considered as conned by some propaganda or such.

I'm free!! [john inman emoticon]

Quite agree Queenzebra - all about how comfortable you feel with it - I had just got round to the notion that it may be unecessary, and came across stuff that suggested it may potentially (and only potentially) harm. Very thought provoking for me. Then I came across this thread, and my personal opinion is now, that if RTKangaMummys preemies were good on that advice, it'd be good for my monster overdue baby at 7 months (yes, yes, I know )

Funny thing is, I always knew about the "overclean house" thing and packed in with the antibacterial everything before he was born - just needed a bit of confidence with the sterilising...

Oh dear I am not saying MHO is correct

I am repeating what the Micro biologists say about babies who have survived being very very ill like DS

I think donated EBM is completely different issue, after all it is a very kind thing to do but it is different to feeding your own baby, via a tube straight into their tiny tummies for 3 months, like I did, via a hospital breast pump

I am not saying that everyone should stop sterilizing

I am just repeating the experience I had to show that with care a very premature baby can be bottle fed without sterilizing ANYTHING

And he had a dummy to help when he was on oxygen

oh, and before anyone picks up on my grammar, he wasn't seven months overdue...

DS dummy was never sterilized even when he was only a few weeks old.

They were born @ 27 weeks so he had an unsterilized dummy while in the incubator.

He had a dummy to help with the development of the sucking reflex, as he was having the EBM via the tube, through his mouth as the oxygen was in his nose.

Hello,

Am a first time mum and my son is about 3 weeks old, and this thread is very interesting as I seem to spend my life in the kitchen setrilising, he is on expressed breast milk and I could latch him on. So bottles and the breast pump five times a day!

Is it only not okay to sterilise if you are using a dishwasher? As we don't have one!

Especially with the breast pump, would hot soapy water and then air drying or drying with kitchen towels do?

I used to wash bottles in hot soapy water and maybe once a week do the steriliser. ds has no allergies etc and I put this down to the fact we had a dog (till last week) and my house is filthy! He's 18mo and never had an upset tummy and I was lazy about his bottles from early on.

This is really interesting. I read this theory about the dishwasher being fine in an American book when I was pg with dd1 but still went ahead and used a steam steriliser religiously. Now we've just got it back after a long-term loan and I was eyeing it resentfully yesterday. I think I'm going to use the dishwasher instead but also invest in a couple of those tiny brushes to hand-wash teats in hot water. Hoorah!
Thank you!

I never used bottles - went straight from breast to cup, and never sterilised anything.
I don't have a dishwasher, and am highly averse to cleaning floors - I always wait until the dirt is very visible before acting!

I also think that my ds's doudou/comforter toy that he sucks on in his cot must carry more than a few 'healthy' germs....

he has never had a stomach upset (he's 13.5 months)

As someone said before, they put everything in their mouths anyway, so what's the point?

A very interesting thread. I so want to go for it and not buy a steriliser, I'm convinced it would be okay - but the sterilising routine is so indoctrinated into our society, there is always a niggling "what if?" at the back of my mind.

HERE HERE!!!

Its about time this was more publicly known! It just seems to be the normal to sterilise bottles. We stopped sterilising bottles when dd was 6mths, but never ever sterilised her spoons/dummies etc.

We sterilised EVERYTHING with our first born and he has excema and suspected asthma. Dd has not shown any signs of either. It may not be connected, but has anyone ever heard of a child becoming really ill due to a lack of sterilising feeding equipment? I certainly have not.

BE GONE WITH STERILISING!!

One of my closest mates lives in New York and you wouldn't believe some of the stupid and unnecessary precautions some of the mums she has met take with all aspects of feeding and child-rearing - so if they are happy with not sterilising, and just using a dishwasher then we must be ok!
The book I write about before is one of the Best Friends' Guides by Vicki Iovine who has had 4 kids and swears by just using a dishwasher and hot soapy. I don't need much more persuading - the steriliser can stay on top of the fridge where I put it yesterday!

Thanks TracyK (we have a dog too!)and everyone else too for the advice and experience. I think I am gradually going to stop with the sterilising and stick to hot soapy water. DS has started getting very grisly in the late evenings, so am a little worried about his tummy.

V interesting. I am extremely unclean at home so might sterilise again, at least periodically. I also would personally not use the dishwasher. I have just stopped using the dishwasher for ds's 2 bottles a day as I felt he was getting too much rinse aid in his milk and I haven't been able to get hold of a less 'scented' rinse aid. So I'm hot water and bottle brush washing, which feels better.

I am also very against anti-bacterial cleaning products due to an extremely non-knowledgeable vague feeling that I have read a lot of articles saying they are not a good idea!

.

Helloooooooooooooooooo

We do NOT have a DISHWASHER and the microbiologists

knew we didn't

And we had a dog and cat

Hot soapy water and air drying

I am so chuffed that you feel so free

And DS had a dummy that was also washed in hot soapy water

Wow, great thread...on pregnancy number 3, sterilised religiously with 1 and 2, but am going to agree with thread, and I feel free, free, free!!

No more sterilising in this house

Deffo brill

Just make sure you use very hot soapy water and air dry

Hmmm - my friend had twins in neo-natal intensive care at Chelsea and Westminster earlier this year. They were very underweight - 2.2lbs and 3.5lbs). Everything was sterlised that went anywhere near the babies. All bottles, teats were from sterile packs. Syringes (for expressing colostum) and pumps (later on) were all sterlised.

Advice given to her was to be scrupulous!

How long ago was this RTKM - is it possible that advice has changed recently?

I'd hate for people to take this as current advice and implement if it might put their babies at risk!

I must admit to only sterlising for DS for the first couple of months and then relying on the dishwasher. But he was a strapping almost 10lb baby - I imagine some babes might be more vulnerable

Hiya soapbox

when DS was in NNU ITU in a life and death situation

everything was sterilized

everybody had to scrub their hands in HIBISCRUB before going anywhere near babies

not allowed to visit if they had a cold etc.

No outdoor coats were allowed in ITU

No flowers allowed in NNU

SO yes on the NNU ITU everything was scrupulous and sterilized clean

DH wore a gown when he gave DS his first cuddle

I am saying that you must be SCRUPULOUS with cleaning with very hot soapy water and air dry the bottles

The USA babies don't have sterilized stuff do they?

I have emailed the microbiology dept at UCH to ask them what the advice is as of today and I will let you all know the answer.

I really do NOT want to cause any danger to any babies

Please do not do this if you are not comfortable with it

I am just telling you what happened in our experience

THIS IS A COPY OF THE EMAIL I SENT TO UCH THE MICROBIOLOGY CONSULTANT {I have deleted my RL name and the microbiology consultant's name also my DS name and dob and DS consultant's name at UCH}

Hello

Our twins were born in 1995, and twin 1 died but twin 2 survived and was in NNU for 3 months. He is now 10 years old.

We were told when he came home that we did NOT need to sterilize the bottles or dummies.

We were told that the microbiology dept advised that the correct way to clean everything was to wash EVERYTHING in very HOT soapy water and put on kitchen roll to AIR DRY.

I was wondering if this was still the advice that was given to parents when they leave the NNU.

Thank you for your time

This is the reply that I received this afternoon. So this is the advice given as of September 2005.

Thank you for your email. Yes you are right about the bottles. However I cannot emphasize enough the importance of cleaning the bottles so that there is no dried or caked milk at the bottom of the bottle as this will encourage bacterial growth. Clean and dry are the operative words. Bacteria thrive in warm moist environments. In addition the greatest attention needs to be paid to hand hygiene before preparing feeds. A bottle steriliser is not a substitute for proper hand hygiene and may even give a false sense of security. For those lucky enough to have a dishwasher, the hot cycle in the washer after removing milk debris mechanically is good and sufficient cleaning method for bottles, provided they are then stored clean and dry.

This advice obviously applies to this country only as we are confident that there is no faecal contamination of piped/ mains water supply. I cannot comment on the state of the water supply out of the UK.

Consultant Microbiologist
Department of Clinical Microbiology
Health Protection Agency Collaborating Centre
University College London Hospitals

Excellent - well done for following this through

I'll let my friends know - they are still merrily sterilising everything that moves