Sterilising in advance

[strawberrycrumble]

Im sorry for all the questions this morning, but Im a bit confused at the min!
Does something that has just been sterilised (steam steriliser) have to be used immediately, eg, Can I sterilise the bottles, put them together, teats, lids on etc and then fill them with the water a few hours later so Im not making the feeds in advance but also so the steriliser isnt on morning, noon and night.
I'm not very clued up with bottle feeding so any advice would be appreciated

I always used the rule that once sterilised and assembled that the bottles were ok for 24 hours (not that they were left for that long especially in the early days)

You don't have to use the bottles immediately after they have been sterilised - so long as you don't open the steriliser they will stay sterile for 6 hours or so. However, if you fill them with water and then don't add the powder within 30 mins or so (the temp is supposed to be more than 70 degrees) the water will not be warm enough to kill any bacteria in the formula once you add it to the water.

Better to leave them in sterilizer until you need them rather than put them together and leave them. I have taken a bottle put together with a carton of formula to put in it when im out & about though with no problems. Which sterilizer do you have? Mine (Avent microwave) says they stay sterile for 24hrs if you dont open it

it depends on the steriliser though - the one I had only kept them sterile for 3 hours and that is only if you didn't open the lid. As soon as the lid is opened they are no longer sterile. I always assembled them as then the teat/inside of the bottle is no longer exposed.