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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Does everyone but me sterilise everything?

10 replies

peedieworky · 27/10/2011 13:38

Hi all,

DS is 22 weeks and having spent a while playing with cutlery etc while we eat is starting to dip his toe into baby led weaning. So far he's loving gnawing on cucumber and steamed veg (eg sweet potato) and as well as using his hands to eat, has great fun putting food in and out of a little bowl before giving them a good beating with the spoon and slurping the mooshed up remnants off. Now, the thing is..I wash his cutlery etc in a dishwasher but don't sterilise it. This wasn't deliberate really, just things naturally progressed from him playing with empty stuff stuff at mealtimes to grabbing for our salad to joining in with his own portion to be flung around. To be honest, the bowls I have wont fit in our steriliser and given the other things he grabs and stuffs in his face on a daily basis I thought it was a bit unnecessary. But, am happy to admit if am wrong & a fellow Mum at our baby group was horrified by this, so I sense I more than likely am...

So - should I start sterilising now and if so, how do you sterilise things that don't fit in a steriliser?

OP posts:
naturalbaby · 27/10/2011 13:43

i think i did with a few things for my pfb but they've been playing on the floor and putting all sorts in their mouth so hardly makes sense does it?! if you dishwash hot enough then that's clean enough. i do a few bits every now and then that get really dirty and the lids of some of the non-spill beakers can be tricky to clean so i put them in, especially if they've had milk in.

i never used much for blw anyway, it all just went on his tray.

LittlePoot · 27/10/2011 17:09

Hello. We've been blw since my little one was nearly 6 months and he's now 9 months and never has anything other than his milk bottles been sterilised. As long as you wash everything in hot soapy water before you use it then it's fine for food. The food isn't sterile, and neither are most of the other things they put in their mouths.... We also put all the food on his high chair tray - plates and bowls just get thrown around. And that definitely wouldn't fit in a steriliser! Enjoy the food fun and ignore over-zealous sterilising mums. x

Original poster
peedieworky · 27/10/2011 17:51

Thanks! Had a HV tell me off for not sterilising spoons when using as a toy! The bowl does get chucked but he seems to enjoy it and gets very annoyed if Mummy and Daddy have cutlery and he has no spoon..

OP posts:
VictoriaMc77 · 27/10/2011 18:09

I agree with LittlePoot - I only sterilise milk bottles. Everything else gets chucked in dishwasher!

HumptyDumpty1 · 27/10/2011 23:01

Doesn't top shelf of the dishwasher sterilise? This is what our hv told us Smile

cheekyginger · 28/10/2011 14:22

You are not alone!!

This might make some mum tut and shake their heads in horror.

We stopped sterilising everything at 4 months!!! My sis is a midwife and in her area their policy over the past few years for cleaning breast pumps, bottles etc, is to be cleaned in hot soapy water and not sterilised at all!!!! Shock

He's now 6months and is a happy healthy wee boy.

Think a lot of it is drilled into us poor vulnerable mums in the early stages when we are still a bit dazed and confused. As long as everything is clean you cant really go wrong!!

Yika · 28/10/2011 20:46

The advice I most usually came across was to sterilise eating equipment until 6 months and bottles until a year. But, that said, policy does seem to differ. I started supplementing with bottles right after the birth at the hospital, and, like cheekyginger, the advice I got from the midwives didn't mention sterilising at all - just to wash the bottles hot and then carefully dry them with a clean tea towel.

Off2CtheWorld · 28/10/2011 20:54

This seems to be such a geographcal qn! Sis and SIL sterilised everything, sis in particular, sterilised and kept sterile until used up to 12 months! Here where I am, advice is to sterilise new stuff, then anything in contact with milk and dummies at least once a day. The rest just gets washed (carefully). And tbh, the sterilising here only happens once every couple of days. Really can't see the point when they're putting all and sundry into their mouths anyway...

CoralRose · 28/10/2011 22:14

My Ds is nearly 6mo, I haven't even got a steriliser Blush

I do give his dummy a wash though occasionally

Off2CtheWorld · 28/10/2011 22:31

We don't have a steriliser. It's called a saucepan, with a little citric acid to stop the mineral buildup. Works just fine.

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