Help clueless MTB

[PaigeMerritt]

Hi, mum to be here and trying to get ahead with baby prep. There are loads of ways to sterilise bottles and just want to know what peoples opinions are on the easiest/cheapest way to sterilise bottles?
Do I need the fancy machines or is there another way?

Hi, and congratulations! Personally, I like to wash them really well with either their own personal dish sponge or the bottle cleaning tools, and then throwing boiling water over them with some lemon juice (to sterilize and get rid of any smells that might stick to the bottles themselves).

UV steriliser. Super quick, dry, odour free, can chuck everything in it and not just bottles.

I found Milton sterilising tablets good later once baby was weaning for getting stains and odours out of everything (bibs, bowls etc.) and still use them for the occasional deep clean of my toddler’s water bottles.

ETA: agree with PP about using one sponge/ cleaning materials for baby’s things and nothing else (so no cross contamination).

Depends how you're feeding (breast / formula). If breast, you could get away with microwave steriliser bags as you'll need them less frequently. We never used the big fancy stuff we bought!

I used the Milton cold water steriliser- so bucket and the tablets.

Hey @PaigeMerritt have you decided what bottles you're using yet? I only ask because I got MAM bottles and bought their microwave steriliser as well... but you can sterilise the MAM bottles as they are in the microwave without a steriliser and I find this just so easy and handy! (Absolutely no idea why they even sell a steriliser it's such a waste).
For any bottles, you wash them really well in warm soapy water. I always use a bottle brush that is not used for anything but the baby things. If you're not using MAM bottles then I think simply boiling in a pot would be the simplest and cheapest x

I found the cold water with tablets the easiest, chuck it all in and pull it out as you need. The steam etc as soon as you open the thing you have to remove it all and reassemble it all or sterilise it all again

It depends on how much you'll be using it. We got a steam steriliser as a handmedown and have used it loads. I wasn't expecting this, but breastfeeding was not plain sailing so we were endlessly sterilising pumping equipment and bottles. We couldn't have done it in boiling water; there was too much stuff. We also use Milton sometimes, which is probably slightly easier but I don't love baby consuming a cleaning substance that isn't pure water, even though it's safe.

If I had managed to EBF successfully, I would have used Milton or the microwave bags.

As I ended up expressing and bottle feeding, I was glad to have the steam steriliser!

My DS had a terrible reaction to the Milton cold water sterilising tablets. We reported it and after doing some research it's not that unheard of. We ended up with a UV steriliser and love it. Great with so much stuff and you can do a storage mode on it which refreshes it or does another quick blast if they've been in a while and not used