Sterilising bottles while travelling

[slug]

We are off to Barcelona for four days next week (delayed honeymoon). The sluglet is 4 months old and is mixed breast/bottle fed. What's the best method of steralising bottles while we are there? Should I not bother? Should I use bottled water? and if so, what brand is best? We are staying in a four star hotel so I imagine there should be access to kettles etc. Aaarg! Who would have thought it would be all so complicated!

[Enid]

On holiday last year, my SIL had some really dinky little disposable travel sterilising bags that you fill with water and heat in the microwave. I think she got them from Blooming Marvellous. Perhaps you could get the hotel to do them for you.

On the water front (hey, wasn't that a film...) I would prob use boiled, cooled Evian (low sodium).

Have a lovely time!

[Pupuce]

Barcelona is great - I am envious
Evian, Volvic and Vittel are all absolutely fine for babies (that's what most mums use in FR and BE) - They don't boil water over there as they use bottled.
In France they now sell disposable bottles - pre-sterilised. Not sure it's available in ES but maybe.
I would not be sure that you'll find a kettle in your room that's a very British thing. What about calling the hotel ? You can also ask the restaurant of the hotel, I am sure they'd be happy to help - maybe avoid asking at peak meal times.

[MotherofOne]

You have my empathies (if that's the right word). We went to Rome when our son was 6 months old and I found it all so stressful too (although dh couldn't see what all the fuss was about, of course).
Firstly don't assume there will be a kettle to make formula. We have twice travelled to European 4& 5 star hotels to find the hotel without one, and they even sometimes find it difficult to source one quickly for you, as there is such a strong 'coffee culture' they simply often don't use them! For peace of mind I'd definitely recommend you try to take a little travel one.
It's also worth calling to check to see if your room has a fridge/minibar to store milk in? (Although be warned that these don't always run at as low a temperature as you would a fridge at home).
We used the bathroom sink to thoroughly wash & rinse bottles (take some washing up liquid, and your brushes!)and then sterilised them overnight I think with the cold water sterilising tablets you can buy from places like Boots.
We also used still bottled water to make milk, and there is one which everyone says is OK for babies, but I can't remember - perhaps someone else knows?
To be honest, you're probably OK with tap water if its boiled first - I think we used it when we ran out of water, and all the whole faffing around was just getting to me! Good luck & have fun!

[alison222]

Yoou can get disposable bottles from boots here if you don't want to worry about sterilising.
Look for bottled water with low sodium - they say on the bottle and often say suitable for babies on them - cant remember the Spanish though.
I found cold sterilisation a pain as you have to have a container big enough to submerge the bottles
I loved Barcelona. Have a great time

[Pupuce]

I am absolutely sure that you can use Evian straight from the bottle with some formula. We had a discussion last summer on this topic. All of my friends (we're talking at least 10 on 3 different countries) on the continent use Evian or Volvic and none of them BOIL WATER. That's a very "English" thing. The regulation for bottled water is much more stringant(sp?) - hence doctors recommend it.

[Bugsy]

Slug, don't get too stressed by it all. You'll find that once you get there everything will pan out and the Spanish love babies & children.
You can get sterilising kits from Mothercare. Each sachet contains a sterile bag which you just hang from the bath or shower and two sterilising tablets, which will keep the water and any kit contained within sterile for 24 hours. These kits take up no room and are dead easy to use.
I go with all the others regarding Evian. We used it each time we travelled when ds was under 1 year and you don't need to boil it. I would recommend taking a couple of the small bottles with you just in case you arrive at a time when the shops are shut etc. Also you may want to think about taking a couple of cartons of ready made stuff too, just to save faffing around with containers or sachets of powder.
Have a wonderful honeymoon, Barcelona is a lovely city.

[Crunchie]

Worst comes to worst I would go to boots and buy a few packs of Steri-bottle, one use sterile bottles (if you are only there 4 days I guess you'd need a couple a day) also buy the prepacked formula cartons and you are sorted, no faffing! Bit heavy but at least you don't need to worry about keeping the bottle cool if you go out, just open the carton, slosh in the milk and you are ready!

[anniesophia]

Check out the www.travellingwithchildren.co.uk website it has all you need to know about looking after babies and young children whilst abroad and the shop sells all types of sterilisers and loads of other great ideas.

[Minky]

When we went to the Canaries for a week I took cold water tablets. We bought a huge plastic bottle of water and cut the top off to use as a container to sterilise. There is a travel kit you can buy which uses plastic bag bottles with a special holder and teats that can be sterilised and then last for up to 24 hours, also comes with a box that you use for the sterlising.
I would definitely take the long life milks as they would be great for whilst you are travelling or out and about.

I started by boiling tapwater and making up bottles - then I had a cup of tea and tasted it and it was foul because of all the minerals. Started using bottled water then but I did boil it up as it wasn't a name I knew.

[pob]

Slug, congratulations! I used Evian with dd from 4 months and cold-sterilized her bottles - bung the washed bottles into water with the tablet (like the cut bottle idea!), then grab when needed - they stay sterile out of the water (read packet), so you can take them around with you. I became very attatched to thermos flasks - they keep the water warm, so all you do is pour into the bottle and add the powder (from one of those sectioned pots). I found a really dinky one in stainless steel which held enough for two bottles - so when you find someone to heat your water you can store it until needed....and you don't have to lug loads of stuff around with you.

[Elderberry]

Slug - I went armed with cold sterilising tablets from tesco and a one litre ice cream tub - very easy, can use tap water and it's all done in thirty minutes. The tub makes a useful container for bottles, brushes etc.

[Izaak]

Boots do a great little portable sterilising kit (don't forget to buy tablets which go with it), we also used the local Italian bottled water or boiled water to fill the bottles. Happy Honeymoon!

[KPPIP]

Hi there, my first time on mumsnet, have found it very interesting.
Went to Cannaries couple of years ago with an 11mth old. My health visitor told me not to use bottled water at all and to pre boil tap water. Maybe if I had read all your comments on Evian etc it would have been easier. Going again soon with an 8mth old, will definately use premade milk or Evian, thanks for the tip.

[JudeB]

When we went away last year, we used cold water sterilising bags which are a doddle to use. But as you are only going for 4 days, and you are mixture of breast/bottle, why don't you use premade milk? They come in handy 7oz cartons & much easier to pack & far less hassle.

[slug]

Just an update, we are back from Barcelona which was beautifully sunny and warm. In the end we took a combination of the mothercare cold steraliser bags (very good) and disposable bottles for those awkward moments. It wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I had imagined it would be. Dh discovered that he is quite a babe magnet, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that he walked around with his daughter in the baby bjorn, facing outwards, waving her hand at ANYONE who showed any interest.

[Marina]

Glad you had such a lovely time, Slug, and that there were no headaches with keeping the Sluglet topped up.

[sar71]

oops

[Blackduck]

Know this thread is 'old', but a godsend to a new mum. Went to Portugal last week, took a plastic box and sterilising tablets (thanks for the tips...) and used bottled water (no Evian/volvic/vittel in sight so went for low sodium as suggested - all fine...)and apart from the odd 'hot' strop all went fine. Only added tip - take a larger than usual T'shirt so that you can strip to nappy and have a long loose thing over the top....oh and BTW if your babe is small enough (mine is) the bidet makes a great bath!!

[Enid]

Ooh yes, I agree with the big t-shirt idea, dd2 (10 months) wore one of dd1's (3.5) smaller t-shirts pretty much all day. It seemed much cooler than her normal size.