when is it ok to stop sterilising bottles, teats etc?

bossykate · 2002-02-03T19:13:44+00:00

...everyone i know seems to have stopped doing this around the 6m mark, but i'm sure i've read 12m somewhere? i would appreciate any views on this. thanks very much in advance

Tinker · 03/02/2002 19:22

I think the official line is 12 months but those on their second child seem to give up a bit earlier. If I had a second I would give up around 6 to 9 months.

honeybunny · 03/02/2002 19:41

I didn't give up until 12months, but only because it was such a habit and I didn't find it a chore. Wasn't so diligent when we were away, ie with grandparents, as couldn't be bothered to take the steriliser. I read 6months was ok, can't remember where, especially if you wash your bottles/teats etc in the dishwasher on a hot cycle.

SueDonim · 03/02/2002 19:44

I think it's 12 months, different to things like plates and dishes because bugs are more likely to proliferate in the residue left by milk, especially in the teats.

dm2 · 03/02/2002 19:50

I'd go for bottles/teats, for as long as they are used with milk.
Wouldn't sterilise anything else after 6 months though.
As Suedonim says, bugs love milk, and the inside of teats is bug-heaven.
Mind you, I have qualifications in microbiology so I can visualise the colonies quite easily - YUK!

jodee · 03/02/2002 20:39

I know I sterilised up to 12 months, but I think when it's your first you tend to do things rigorously by the book. Second time around I would probably go for the dishwasher at 6 months (if I had one) - I've read that some people just use the dishwasher from the beginning and the kids have been fine.

The same goes for warming bottles; I always stood the bottle in a jug of hot water - next time I will probably just use the microwave, it's so much quicker (I'd read warnings about 'hot spots' when using the microwave, but I now stick ds's beaker of milk in there and give it a good shake).

jodee · 03/02/2002 20:40

I know I sterilised up to 12 months, but I think when it's your first you tend to do things rigorously by the book. Second time around I would probably go for the dishwasher at 6 months (if I had one) - I've read that some people just use the dishwasher from the beginning and the kids have been fine.

The same goes for warming bottles; I always stood the bottle in a jug of hot water - next time I will probably just use the microwave, it's so much quicker (I'd read warnings about 'hot spots' when using the microwave, but I now stick ds's beaker of milk in there and give it a good shake).

jodee · 03/02/2002 20:40

blasted computer!

helenmc · 03/02/2002 21:13

My DH used to sterlisemy dd toys!!! we gave up sterilisingafter6mth- she was eating spiders etc whatever was on the floor. But wealso got a dishwasher about that time.

Snugs · 03/02/2002 22:17

I stopped at 6 mths with both kids.

I think if you go overboard on the sterilising at this age, they can't build up a natural immunity so it can have a detrimental effect when their older.

Apparently my mum didn't sterilise anything for me (3rd child) and it doesn't seem to have done me any harm.

helenmc · 04/02/2002 12:30

Snugs - having spent a night with a nephew who had gastro-enteritus (however you spell it, but he spent the whole night vomiting and screaming) - I think you were darned lucky not to have picked up any bugs!

do you get colds and things now, or ones of those preople that are unhealthily healthy??

Hilary · 04/02/2002 13:06

I'm with Snugs on this one. 6 months seems to be a good age because by then, they are finding all sorts of things on the floor to eat anyway. I kept sterilising for a bit longer with my first but looking back, I don't know why. By my second though, we had got a dishwasher which has been brilliant.

Inkpen · 04/02/2002 18:13

How embarrassing! My dd is two and I'm still sterilising ... mind you, she does pick up a lot of tummy upsets so I've got a bit paranoid and I find teats so hard to clean. She only has a bottle at night so I just do a batch once every few days and stash them in the fridge, along with a pile of dummies. That way I don't stress about my washing up ...

Original poster

bossykate · 04/02/2002 21:20

as he is my first better stick to the 12m! thanks very much everyone

OP posts:

Snugs · 04/02/2002 22:29

Helenmc....I have about 2 colds a year I guess, better than dh who seems to be catching everything going at the moment!

Selja · 05/02/2002 10:14

My poor ds seems to have been neglected. We sterlised until six months if we remembered to put the thing on and when he had a bottle we never warmed it up - just took it straight of the fridge. He's the healthiest kid I know so he must just have a cast iron constitution. Me, however, am always catching colds etc. I think ds has stolen all of my immunity from me.

Lizzer · 05/02/2002 11:04

Just to take this thread a bit further if you don't mind, bossykate. I sterilised til about 9 months, but a friend of mine will probably carry on til her children are 18! She is always mopping everything with bleach, anti-bac sprays, a-b washing up liquid, in fact not one germ would be allowed to live in her house. Subsequently she has the snottiest, most tummy bug striken kids in the world!! As opposed to dd who is fighting fit (and not one cold this season-touch wood, pass the echinacea!)and has been, for want of a better word, abandoned with a houseful of bugs since she was tiny. I know they say this is how to strengthen the immune system and my friend knows this too, but how do you tell a perfectly intelligent woman to stop using all the products that she does to see an improvement in her children's health? Also, does anyone think this is just co-incidence and that her children would be just as prone to colds etc if she wasn't so generous with the anti-bac products?!

Must dash, dd is currently licking the skirting boards! (joke )