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.

.

I'm in the US and we aren't told not to sterilize, but we are told that if we have a dishwasher and public water the dishwasher sterilizes for us. However if we have well water (uncholorinated) we need to sterilize dishwasher or no.

Gemmitygem

I am sure that EBM will be the same as Formula

like you say if you have to handle all the pipes etc

Thanks for the linking

Yes if you read the email I received from the MICROBIOLOGIST she says she can only guarantee the water in UK iyswim

BUT I ONLY WANT YOU TO DO THIS IF YOU ARE HAPPY TO

IT IS YOUR BABY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But if you are happy then SET YOURSELF FREE

BUT I AM NOT MEDICAL SO IT IS MHO ABOUT EBM

Your breasts are not sterile are they???????

How many times do you dip them in MILTON??

Or how many times do you shower???

ebm less risky than formula if anything

i stopped sterilizing with dc2 an dp gave me a lecture about it saying that was the reason he had diahhorea! i always wash with real hot water so didnt see the point to sterilizing

RTKM, the notion about Breasts neding to be sterile or to compare FF with Bm from teh bresast is ridiculous, the reason why there can be problems with FF is when it isn't made up fresh and has got time to breed nasty bacs (and obviously bm is always freshly produced and on tab) and if milk remains within teets or bottles that aren't cleaned properly and are hard to get to in those nooks and crannys, and again make an ideal breeding ground for bacteria!
You simply don't have that when breastfeeding...because Breastmilk is not a "dead" fluid.

3andnomore sorry it was a joke

I know people shouldn't sterilize their breasts or have frequent showers

I was joking sorry if you thought I was being serious

Ooops, that didn't come ourt right, lol...
RTKM, the notion about Breasts needing to be sterile or to compare FF with Bm from the bresast is ridiculous, the reason why there can be problems with FF is when it isn't made up fresh and has got time to breed nasty bacs (and obviously bm is always freshly produced and on tab) and if milk remains within teats or bottles that aren't cleaned properly and are hard to get to in those nooks and crannys, and again make an ideal breeding ground for bacteria!
You simply don't have that when breastfeeding...because Breastmilk is not a "dead" fluid.

doh, crossposting there, lol!
That is o.k. then, but I have heard this all before and in all seriousness, iykwim, and that is why I felt I should say something to combat such myths, lol!
Feel rather stupid now, lol! Not for the first time!

It is totally up to you if you want to sterilize

I am just giving my opinion and that of the Microbiologists who are responsible for giving advice to very premature babies as they leave hospital ITU NNU and have been extremely ill and on life support systems etc.

You can believe me and them if you want or chose to keep sterilizing

It is YOUR CHOICE and YOUR BABY

Also just only now read the post that you must have replied too....damn these to fast fingers....should remember to engage brain first next time oh and read the messages (but in my excuse there are mighty loads in this thread, lol!), lol!

3andnomore oke doke

Luckily sterilising is a matter of the past for me anyway, lol.....my youngest Baby is 2 already!

The point of me doing this thread is to spread the word that if you don't want to sterilize then IME and IMHO and that of the microbiologists you don't have to

BUT it is DEFFO YOUR CHOICE cos it is YOUR BABY

But if you want to set yourself FREE then you can

BUT be careful

Dh and I are microbiologists (not clinical) and have been saying for years that sterilising is a bit of a waste of time. I remember saying this at ante-natal classes when pg with ds1 7 years ago, and my god, anyone would have thought I'd suggested force-feeding the baby human faeces! Seriously, the midwives were appalled that anyone would consider not sterilising.

So, anyway, does anyone have any ideas why the govt and other health care professionals are still so insistant that sterilising is essential

daisymoo - haven't read all of this - but as non-health prof. my view is that sterilising is a good idea esp. if you are worried or have ever had thrush, esp. if you bf.

I know they say thrush has nothing to do with hygiene, but this seems a contradiction in terms to me, as I am pretty certain my son got thrush due to the fact that I had probably not sterilised by breatpump properly.

I have read that the only thing that kills thrush (a form of bacteria) is very high temps (over 50 degrees), acidic environments like vinegar, or things like Milton sterilising solution (I am not advertising them but their labels state that their liquids kills the thrush bacteria). I was using a steam steriliser which apparently doesn't get hot enough to kill thrush. Boling everything for 20 minutes does the job though.

If I have another baby, I will sterilise for the first year as I did before, only because thrush is a real nightmare to get rid of. I got it in my milk ducts too which was bloody painful !

Also just read what 3andnomore said earlier - exactly true what you say about bm always being fresh at the source but bm left in a breastpump or in a bottle of ebm can still go off and bacteria like thrush thrive on gone off milk !

Having suffered from nasty thrush, I would always sterilise any way, although I would love not to. FF babies get thrush too plus excl. ff babies have lower immunity than bf ones.

I thought it would be important to re-post this email I sent to the Microbiology dept and the reply I got

As this thread is very long and I thought this very important message had got lost

By RTKangaMummy on Wed 21-Sep-05 17:03

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

Daisymoo

I don't know why the midwives have been brainwashed

I got the same response from HV when I said it in the post natal group

BUT THIS STUPID WOMAN HAD ABSOLUTLY NO IDEA ABOUT PREEMIES ANYWAY

Yellowrose

If you are happier to sterilize then fine it is YOUR CHOICE and YOUR BABY

I don't want anyone to be unhappy or feel pressured to change their mind and stop sterilizing if that is what they want to do

HAPPY MUMMY = HAPPY BABY

RTKanga - thanks so much for the copy of the expert opinion. But I am a paranoid mummy, so think that the year 1 I spent sterilising breastpumps and feeding spoons, plates, were a pain in the perverbial, but defo. would do it again.

As for brainwashed HV's, MW's, GP's I have a theory: LITIGATION. The NHS doesn't want to get sued (not more than it already does) so they tell their staff that you should tell mums and dads never to co-sleep (my HV kept telling me this scare mongering story about one particular woman who had fallen asleep on top of her baby, etc.), you must sterilise, don't take ANY meds. when bf (even ones that are considered to be safe by experts), etc.

For example I was told that it was unsafe to take any kind of suppository for constipation while I was bf...so you get the gist of what I am saying !

Yellowrose, I know what you mean, had reoccurant thrush whilest bf with ms, ad it is a nightmare and sooooooooooooooooooooooooo painful, only the longtermhassle of making bottles saved me from giving in(had that experience with es, and hated all the bottle malarky, lol)....so, yes, if expressing you must be careful.....I have to say, wheneverI did give bottles or did express I always sterilised as I just never was sure that I had gotten rid well enough of all the residue, even with a dishwasher, and I could always smell sour milk when ff or expressing....but then maybe I am just paranoid, lol! With ys I just leanred my lesson and well, fed from teh source...so, bottles and whatever weren't an issue...lol

3and... - I once put some ebm in the fridge door over night (then found out you shouldn't do this as the fridge door isn't cool enough) and it had gone off very quickly - luckily I tasted some in a spoon before giving it to DS - it had gone off and was the worst sour milk I have ever tasted ! Nasty ! Very sweet and delicious when it's fresh though

now, that is something I could never bring myself too...tasting ebm or fresh bm for that, but then I also can't taste Formula neither, makes me wanna vomit!

yellowrose

You're welcome I thought it was a good idea to repost the microbiology response as it had been buried in the thread

You may be right re Litigation and also all the profits that the makers of sterilizers and milton tablets make for continuing to tell parents that they MUST do it

I do wonder though about the effects of all the chemicals in Milton tablets on babies

But I just want there to be

HAPPY MUMMIES + HAPPY DADDIES + HAPPY BABIES