Whwn do you stop sterilising bottles and weaning eq?

[nosferatu]

I have completely forgotten "what are the rules"on this- my baby is 6 months old, fully bottlefed, and I am thinking about packing a steriliser away, relying on hot water washing.
What do you say?

Yes that's a fine plan.

There's no need to sterilise weaning spoons etc. In fact I believe research suggetss it's a bad thing.

I sterilised nothing with DS2 and he has always been very healthy (he was breastfed, so no bottles).

I say do it. You don't need to sterilse weaning stuff anyway (and it's pointless as it wouldn't be sterile as soon as it's put away in the cupboard anyway).

As long as you're not making up bottles in advance and storing them in the fridge, then you don't need to sterilise at all.

Slight hijack - but do you have to sterilise bottles once baby is 12 months? My DD went straight from bf to cup at 11m, so no experience of this. However, my DS stopped bfing (his choice!) at 8m and has had bottles and formula since. He has just turned 1 and REFUSES to use a cup for his milk. So if I carry on using bottles do I need to sterilise them?

No, as long as they're washed very well in hot soapy water and left to air dry, they'll be fine.

I'm guessing he's on cows milk now?

btw - if he won't try a cup, try a nuby soft spout cup? they're quite similar to the bottles, and we found them a very useful transition bottle.

Thanks Jareth - that means I can pack away the giant microwave steriliser - phew!

He is on cows milk, but he really isn't a fan of milk generally - hence stopping bf - and its a real effort to get him to drink more than about 6-8ozs a day! I tried one of those soft spout cups last week but he wouldn't even entertain it! Its a bit of a shock to the system as DD was downing 9ozs morning and night out of a sippy cup by 11m, and I was always a bit snooty about people who gave their 1+yo kids bottles still. Now karma has repaid me with the incredible non-milk drinking boy!!!! That'll teach me to be judgey!

heh, I have a 2yo that still has a bottle at night. I'll tackle it in a couple of months when we deal with the dummy.

His teeth are brushed straight afterwards.. I don't see the harm.

Never sterilised anything.

Mainly bf, but didn't even sterilise breast pump and bottles, just washed in hot water or stuck in top shelf of dishwasher.

None of mine ever had a tummy bug till they were at school.

I wouldn't bother unless as a PP said if you are making bottles up in advance then I would sterilise.

Great, thanks, I think I will now safely pack it away!

Sorry to hijack, but i was also wondering that for when we start to wean our DS. I thought it would be from 6months but read somewhere that u still need to sterilise bottles as the residue bacteria in the milk can be harmful if not cleaned or sterilised properly or something like that