TT steriliser has packed in!

[caseymoo]

Dd is 10mo now and has always been ff no issues. Went to do a usual cycle of sterilising her bottles tonight and noticed the steriliser (tommee tippee electric one) turned off after about 1 minute and didn't feel hot, just a bit warm. Anyway after googling a bit it seems it's quite an issue with them and doesn't seem likely to be "fixed" so I'm going to have to get a new one!

Anyway my question is, at her age is she going to be ok with non sterilised bottles until I can get a new one? (Can you tell I'm a pfb mum) should I even bother? She eats really well now and will only take a couple of bottles a day, sometimes only 1.

If you have a dishwasher you can wash the bottles in there and they won't need sterilising.

Yes I do Nanny I usually wash them in the dishwasher and then plop them in the steriliser. Didn't know I could skip a step! Thanks for that info

I use a cold water steriliser and it's fab. You can basically use a tub, fill it with water and put a Milton tab in and it keeps them sterile for 24 hours. Tabs are pretty cheap, I think it's about £2.50 for 30 ish. Saves you buying an expensive steriliser if you're not going to get much use out of it

I’m not a mum quite yet but just bought a tt steriliser in prep for baby’s arrival so was doing a bit of reading on these.
Apparently they need to be descaled regularly and this is often a cause of them going wrong. You may already descale frequently but thought it was worth a mention.

The advice from the NHS is to continue up until a year. Here in the US it’s ‘at least 6 months’ but then again we’re also told it’s ok to make formula with cool boiled water which would probably have a health visitor fainting with the sheer horror!

I think the NHS thinking is that there can be bugs in the milk powder so best to keep everything as clean as possible but it does seem a little OTT when your DC is trying to share the dog’s chewy toy and all the usual germs a crawler comes into contact with!

For what it’s worth I have 10 month old and don’t sterilise. But I also use ready made formula (you can get it in massive bottles here so it’s so easy) so no concern about bugs in the milk as it’s definitely sterile. Personally, I wouldn’t bother even with powder though.

I do wash bottles on the hottest dishwasher setting though!

Phone TT customer services if its a faulty product - especially if it's under a year old! They were able to arrange for a new perfect prep machine as a replacement when mine broke recently

I stopped sterilising when my dc started licking the floor etc at about 7+ months. I just made sure the bottles and teats etc were really clean with no milk residue on them.
BTW for anyone else who, like me, doesn't have a dishwasher, you can sterilise in a big pan with a lid. Put some water in the bottom to stop it boiling dry, put it on a low heat with the bottles etc inside and the lid on and leave for 10 or so minutes. It's a bit more of a faff than a TT machine but good in a sterilising emergency!

Thank you for all the info, I probably do need to descale it actually I haven't don't it in a while so I will try that.
And yes it does seem a bit silly really when I find her chewing the manky dog toys and stuffing fluff and god knows what else from the floor in her mouth!

You can sterilise bottles by boiling them in a saucepan of water on the hob. Make sure the bottles, teats etc are covered and then bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Obviously allow to cool before giving to your baby!

I stopped sterilising both our sons bottles when they started crawling. I figured if they can suck on a shoe / dog toy / toys that have been all over the floor, a dishwasher washed bottle is safe enough!

It's not always due to it needing to be descaled. Mine did this not long after I bought it when my ds was about 2 months old, I googled it and read so many people saying theirs was the same. Maybe look into buying a cheaper microwave one? The Tommee tippee microwave one is £20 I think