What age did you stop sterilising baby bottles, dummies etc?

[LeahSMS]

Baby is 5 months now. I was thinking of stopping at 6 months.

It was at about 12 months for us (one dc). Nursery stopped sterilising for us then too and told us.

Dummies etc as soon as we hit chewing hands etc. I figured I didn’t boil his limbs so why bother with dummies. Bottles were only used very occasionally for an expressed feed so I used to cover in a kettle of water before using, but stopped when on solids at 5.5/6 months

Bottles should be sterilised until you stop using them. Dummies are not as important and yes I would stop sterilising those at 6 months. It’s because small particles of milk can remain in the teat of the bottle and the bacteria can multiply to harmful levels. Sterilisation prevents this. If you swap to a sippy cup at 6 months then you can stop sterilising. Cups don’t have a teat.

About 6 months, I just bunged everything in the dishwasher which gives a much hotter wash than I ever could by hand.

When they are mobile and licking toys at playgroup / chewing their siblings shoes when you're not in the room.... There's very little point in sterilising

I would keep sterilising anything used for formula that has tight spaces/crevices (including sippy cups if that applies). You're not sterilising off "normal" household dirt that they'd get from licking toys/hands, you're sterilising off really harmful bacteria that thrive in formula and may get to high levels in formula not cleaned properly from bottles/cups.

I agree with PPs. I sterilised bottles and teats (for formula) for as long as they were used regardless of age. This was the advice of my HV and GP.

Bottles need a damn good hand-wash. A sterilise won't get rid of actual milk, it just kills the bacteria while the bottle is being sterilised.

Bottles at 12 months when we stopped using formula. Dummies I think about the same time as it was easy to chuck them in with bottles.

For formula the guidelines are 12 months I think, due to the bacteria that lives in the milk.

For bottles or other drinking vessels, as long as I was using formula. Dummies I can't really remember...but there does come a point where it's just pointless given everything else they're shoving in their mouths.

I just bunged toys in the dishwasher after about 8 weeks. Didn't use bottles, cups went in dishwasher, no dummy

They're sterilised because formula can grow bacteria which is harmful, which is why it has such a short life span after the bottle is made up (I think it's 2hrs if I remember correctly from 5 yrs ago!) so I stopped sterilising when I changed to cows milk at 12 months old and began hand washing them at that point with a bottle brush for the teat. My son gave up his dummy at 4 months of his own accord so I didn't have to deal with those but I probably would have sterilised them until 6 months had he have kept them.

This is a good thread, thank you. Can I please jump on and ask about bottles used for expressed breast milk rather than formula?

@NeverHadANickname I sterilised dd’s expressed milk bottles till 6 months. Also, I only sterilised my breast pump once in the morning and kept it in the fridge for the rest of the day, which was my favourite bit of advice from my GP! Because I’m lazy

I sterilised all bottles for breast milk as well. Advice seemed to vary everywhere so I went with the most conservative approach. I also only washed and sterilised my pump once a day though - just make sure it's covered, either with a lid if it comes with one or pop in in a Tupperware box or something.

Thank you!