Help me with sterilisation!

[MissTwister]

Hi All

Very new to all this and need some sterilisation tips. I have an electric Phillips steriliser and understand that items stay sterilised for 24 hours unless opened. My question is, if I open it to, say, take out a dummy, do I then need to resterilise all the bottles that are in there? Am currently doing so but feel like I am sterilising 20,000 times a day!

I'm thinking this might not be necessary because if I fill a bottle with milk and then take it out it stays safe to use for hours no? Or is this because the teat is on?

Lastly it's okay to use your hands on sterilised items isn't it (if washed) - I hope so because it's impossible to make up Dr Brown's bottles with their inside mechanism without doing so.

Sorry if stupid questions!

Once the steriliser is finished I would remove and assemble all bottles and then leave them for use when you need them. Washed hands are fine for handling sterilised items.

No real need to sterilise if you have a dishwasher or wash in hot soapy water.

Really softhedghog? I thought it was really important with milk stuff

What pixie said - I wash, sterilise, assemble (with clean hands) and leave up to 24 hours. Seems to be working so far!

Both of mine are still alive a d I used a steriliser very half heartedly for about a week! It's one of those things you mainly do with a first child....

First children aren't less able to cope with germs though!!
I am on dd2, still sterilising away, after washing in a dishwasher- that's what the advice recommends.

The basic problem is that germs can grow in milk residue , especially formula rather than ebm. Washing well is what deals with that. Sterilising is an additional step which even many doctors and SCBU don't believe adds much. Generally people worry far too much about the sterilising and not nearly enough about the bottle washing (esp teats)

I've never put baby bottles in the dishwasher, the discolouration would drive me nuts.

I sterilised all my dc bottles & dummy's for at least a year. All 6!

I used to wash the bottles in very HOT water, basically too hot to out your hands in, I would let them soak in this hot soapy water till it was cool enough for me to scrub them properly, then I'd sterilize them, assemble them, and use them as I needed them.

I do the same as ginger.
very hot water, then sterilise.

Libraries is entirely right. And in fact I read a few years ago now that often people don't clean bottles thoroughly enough because they rely on sterilising them. It is the milky residue that causes bacteria hot soapy water and a thorough clean in all thr nooks and crannies is plenty.
Bit baffled as to why anyone would give themselves the extra work on sterilising bottles that have been in a dishwasher. It sterilises everything anyway.

if you are using the different sizes of brushes to scrub all parts of the bottle, then sterilise, then assemble with freshly washed hands and put on teat covers, you're all set!