Do you rinse bottles each time the sterilizer is opened?

[WeeBeasties]

Need a bit of MN wisdom as I can't find any clear instructions online.

I have a 7 day old DS and after struggling with breast feeding and him loosing a bit too much weight I think I've found the answer in expressing breast milk to bottle feed.

I have the Tommee Tippee steam sterilizer that sterilizes up to 5 bottles, teets etc at a time. However it says 'bottles stay sterilized for 24 hours as long as lid stays on'.

So I wash my 5 bottles in warm soapy water, then rinse, then steam. I take a bottle out to use. Are the other 4 now useless? Do I need to go through the wash and rinse process again? Or for the next feed can I run the steamer again without re-doing the wash and rinse step?

Any advice gratefully recieved!

I'm sure someone tried to tell me that once the lid was opened the bottles weren't sterile anymore but honestly they will be fine. Just pop the lid back on. Infact I used to take all mine out and put them together with kids on until I needed them.

I couldn’t get my head around this either OP so I switched to Milton cold water steriliser- it changed my life. Make up the solution and pop the clean bottles in, take out as you need (no need to rinse) and then wash and put them back in as many times as needed. Only need to change the solution every 24 hours!

Make up all the bottles when you open the steriliser and then they last 24 hrs.

But agree re Milton being far simpler

You actually don’t need to sterilise bottles which have had breast milk in- just hot water and fairy. It’s the way they manufacture formula which means they cannot guarantee that the milk is sterile- hence the need to boil water when prepping, throwing away after one hour and sterilising bottles. I spoke to the hv about the obsessive compulsion to sterilise everything and she basically said that if I’d seen the state of some of the bottles she’d seen, then I’d understand why they give out the af I’ve to sterilise everything and to do it within 24 hours of using

Advice

I will need to use some formula to top up whilst I play catch up with expressing, but it's good to know breastmilk doesn't need the same level of obsessive sterilising.

I didnt think you were able to make up a day's worth of formula which is why the 5 bottle thing has thrown me.

Congratulations on your DS

As soon as you open the steriliser, put the bottles together (bottle, teat, lid), they will then be ok to use for the next 24 hours. No need to keep re-sterilising.

@WeeBeasties no you are not 'supposed' to make up bottles, and I defo wouldn't in this day i swear they put bacteria in the milk and thats why they have all these new 'rules', plus its just lazy... why not just make a bottle when your child wants/needs if

What Drogosnextwife says- I had the same dream steriliser.

You’re sterilising the bottles to eliminate any bacteria from the formula that wasn’t killed during washing, not to stop them coming into contact with normal household germs.

When you open the steriliser to get bottle 1, put the other bottles together (empty) and they'll stay sterilised for 24hrs x

Sterilizing bottles has nothing to do with formula. It’s so the bottles are clean of any common household bacteria that could hospitalize / kill a baby. All bottles, whether they’re being used for water / bm / fm should be sterilized.

The first time you open the steriliser, assemble all the bottles, that keeps all the important bits covered and sterile. Then use within 24 hours.

You absolutely can and should make up extra bottles and pop them in the fridge. They then last 24 hours. You may also choose to make up a big stock bottle that you can use to top up any expressed breast milk to the needed amount. Some HVs are funny about it but with my 4 month old they actually do this in the special care unit and my view is if it's good enough for vulnerable special care babies then it's fine in a family home. Sterilize all bottles and pumps for expressing after use and leave them to drain somewhere (kitchen towel on the worktop works well). Then make up your 24hrs of bottles.

The issue you'll find with doing them individually is that you'll either need a really good stock of ready made formula bottles from the supermarket (at £1 a feed) or you'll be stuffed when baby decides their hungry before a scheduled feed or you need to dash off somewhere in an emergency.

I have the steriliser and purely bottle feed. I get 6 MAM bottle in (which are all on 6 separate parts) so all get sterilised together and then when finished, all are put back together and are ready for the next 24 hours of use.

I don't need to pre-make bottles as I have the perfect prep machine that makes a warm bottle in 2 minutes. If formula feeding turns more long term then I would definitely recommend one, best thing we've bought and we got them second hand on Facebook so didn't break the bank. MN isn't usually keek on them though!

hjwt would you ever give over with your conspiracy shite.

Agree with cherries

I used to put my steriliser on at night and then use the 6 bottles; leaving them in the steriliser until I needed them. Then repeat 24 hours later and only re sterilise the bottles in there if they hadn’t been used. You don’t need to put the steriliser on again every time you open the lid and you don’t need to rewash bottles if they haven’t been used.
I used the tommee tippee prep machine so I never made bottles up in advance. The proper advice from my health visitor was not to do it but I know plenty of people who did and in the past it was normal practice

I never knew this! I used to just get a bottle out of th steriliser and leave the others there til I needed them.

I would sterelise then assemble all at once. As long as lids are on and teat is covered i should think theyre fine.

I used milton! Just used to wash them up rinse off bubbles and chuck them in until i needed them. You only need to change the water every 24 hours.

Hmm. I don't get this. I thought you sterilised bottles to kill any bacteria that accumulated in the bottle from the milk?

Opening the sterilised container exposes the bottles to the air. Air which isn't sterile, but still the same air that you and your baby is breathing? Why would you need the bottles to be sterile then?

Your not getting the dettol out to give your nipples a clean before latching baby on do I don't see why once sterilised the bottles are fine to be used until feeds are put in them?

As PP when you open the lid put all the bottles together and use within 24 hours. I used to keep them in the fridge once they were sterilized.

I asked this same question here 5 years ago. Got similar answers so I decided it was ok to sterilise, then shake any excess water out and make the bottles up immediately and keep in cupboard for 24 hours or until used. Worked out fine and it’s what I’m currently doing with dc2. All the best op

It's up to you, but hot soapy water is enough to clean bacteria thoroughly as long as you are meticulous in your cleaning. In australia and america this is the advice given. In UK the advice is to sterilise as catch all advice as some people unfortunately do not clean bottles and leave them out for ages with bits of milk in them etc. I was happy with my cleaning and washed bottles straight away so less chance of bacteria multiplying. Bacteria does actually multiply significantly less in breastmilk because breastmilk has anti bacterial properties and also contains antibodies. There's quite a bit of scientific evidence to support this.

Sterilizing bottles has nothing to do with formula. It’s so the bottles are clean of any common household bacteria that could hospitalize / kill a baby

Nonsense, otherwise we’d be told to sterilise anything and everything a baby comes into contact with, and having household pets would become a child protection issue.

No one is saying for op not to sterilise, but it’s not possible to keep anything truly sterile in a domestic environment.