Help I’ve been sterilising my bottle wrong

[Mn39501]

Hi my baby is 3 weeks old he was born at 33 weeks a stayed in nicu for 3 weeks. He started using mam bottles on Saturday , during the time nicu I was washing his bottles then sterilising them in the microwave and drying with a paper roll , then since being home I was washing in hot soapy water , sterlising them using the MAM electric steriliser and then drying with tea towel , the tea towel were only used on the baby equipment. As a first tkme mum I didn’t no I shouldn’t dry the bottles . I would dry them assemble and leave tk one side . Today I also used a bottle the. Had been washed an sterilised an assembled for more then 24 hours , I had no idea . Am freaking out can shall I contact the drs for possible bacteria ? My baby has already been through so much , I was doing the same with his dummy’s as I though all water had to be out . Please help advice. I have been used f the ready made formula as I came home with an few bottles from the hospital

Hi, I have 3 children but none that have been in NICU, if your baby hadn’t been in NICU I would’ve just said to stop drying the bottles and go forward leaving them sterile once sterilised but I am unsure due to your child being in NICU.

I’ve always had a steam steriliser for mine, Dr browns &Tommee tippee. I use mam bottles so they definitely fit. I just wash, sterilise and leave in the steriliser and make them as I go from there. No issues with my kids.

sorry to be unhelpful RE nicu etc, wanted to post to boost you a little in case anyone has experience with a NICU child.

don’t beat yourself up, we’re all learning and the worst bit about experience is we learn what to do after the time we actually needed to know what to do 🤔.

im sure and hope all will be fine X

I always just left it without drying. You’ve killed the forums bacteria by sterilising so you should be fine.

As long as baby is showing no signs of being unwell I'd just do it the right way from now on and if any signs of unwell straight to the Dr. Don't beat yourself up, we've all done something the wrong way at some point.

Thank you everyone , am super nervous first time mum , I’ve have the neonatal nurse doing a home visit tomorrow so I’ll see what she says :)

I had a NICU baby and i never dried the bottles. I bought a bottle rack, let them air dry on there and then once dried, reassembled them and put the lid on to store until needed (within the 24hr period). Not sure how many bottles you have, but we found it helpful to have 8, so that you only had to wash & sterilise once a day (DH did that for me each evening when he got home from work), and then I would use each bottle over the next 24hrs. You don't need to contact the doctor unless baby is unwell. Its scary bringing baby home from NICU but there's lots of extra support out there for NICU mums - my HV was able to refer me to some specialist baby groups and was generally very helpful. So worth reaching out to her in time. Great that you are seeing your neonatal outreach nurse as well.