Forgive me if I'm being a tube...

[firsttimer78]

But if I'm planning to breastfeed do I still need to buy a steriliser for e.g. soothers?

No you can just put them in a bowl of boiling water or a margerine tub with Milton steralising solution

you can always use a steamer (or colander over a saucepan) if you need to steam sterilise anything... e.g. you may want to express and would need to sterlise breast pump bits and bottles.

You can also get a small soother steriliser for the microwave - costs about £3.

I had a (second hand) full size steriliser as I gave DS expressed milk as well.

Fab! Thanks!

No - I never sterilised a dummy. Sterilised bottles for expressed milk once and never bothered again (only gave a bottle occasionally) - breastmilk has anti microbial properties, so if you wash the bottle really well and use the milk straight away rather than storing it e.g. overnight, then it's fine.

Hot soapy water is enough to sterilise.

Dishwashers do the same job as a steriliser too.

If you decide to use a dummy 6 months is the best time to get rid ime.

If you are planning to express as well keep an eye out for the Tommee Tippee back to nature one because when I bought mine it had a box with it to use in the microwave to sterilise it all so you could stick dummies in that. You won't need anything more sophisticated.

Bear in mind though your baby might not like or need a dummy mine didn't. She acted as if I had given her poison when advised to use one to help her colic.

Thanks. I'm not decided on the soother issue, but would like to express once I've got the hang of feeding myself so that a. hubby can get in on the feeding action and b. bub can continue to have breastmilk once I've returned to work at around 6 months.