How old was your baby when you stopped sterilising his/her bottles?

Question

My son is 12 months in 3 weeks and I am considering stopping sterilising his bottles, but I keep getting this niggling feeling at the back of my mind saying it's too soon. What age is the right time?

Answer 1

I stopped at 12 months, by then he was dropping toys and chewing them before I got a chance to take them off him so I thought whats the point. They recommend 12 months to I think.

Answer 2

I stopped sterilizing consistently at about 3 months. I only sterilize now if baby has a cold and nipples now if they have been sitting in the sink without being washed overnight. For the most part, I use the dishwasher set on Hot Water start.

My 5 month old daughter puts everything in her mouth. A friend told me that it doesn't make much sense to sterilize her bottles and everything else goes into her mouth unsterilized. I wash her toys regularly with Medela Quick Clean clothes. So far, so good.

Answer 3

Well, with No1 I was by the book. If someone so much as looked at it I was putting it straight back in the steam steraliser. But he was off the bottle not much after a year old so I kept it going till then.

No2 - Off the day bottles just before a year, and still steam steralised the supper time one but i could relax a bit since I was more willling to see that he wasn't coming down with any disease having done things like licking eating the mud off my trowel one day.(Still have the photo of his mud caked face - very cute!) But I was very particular about cleaning the bottles after milk had been in them since I am aware of the bugs that can quickly grow esp in the teats if not cleaned properly.

No3 - went on holiday when he was 6 weeks old and couldn't take a steam steraliser so I worked with a big tub and Miltons which had to sit on the B+B floor and I couldn't work the timing right since we were out a lot and so I knew they were clean but I wasn't by the book one little bit. I dumped the steam steraliser quite soon after we got back and used Miltons and he was off the bottle through the day by 10 months and those cups just got washed in the sink. The night bottle got a soak in Miltons till it was next needed and could be used straight from the tub but he was off that by the year anyway.

I did breast feed all the boys for a time, with varying degrees of success, but as with all breast feeders, what's sterile about a booby popping in and out of your clothes? So I kept that in my mind and relaxed a bit more about it.

So long as you are sure you have washed the bottles out throughly then I wouldn't worry too much about it once they're past the year.

Answer 4

If you breast feed there is not this problem, but if bottle is ongoing then you should use the Milton until weaned onto solid food which should be about now.
Do not forget that immunity to bugs comes from being exposed to them so that you get the anti-bodies. A too hygienic surrounding will lead to all sorts of problems like allergies and simple colds being turned into pneumonia.
The dirtiest children at my primary school were never ill!! (1950's)

Answer 5

I have to admit that with my first i sterilised bottles up until he was one ish but took him abroad at 15 months and sterilised it all again as we wanted to avoid upset tummy but with the second I stopped at 7 months because he was crawling and putting all sorts of things in his mouth so i didn't see the point...

Answer 6

that is not any longer a nasty theory to keep sterilising the bottles till the child is 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previous, yet no longer so necessary as at the same time as they are youthful. after all, you are able to not sterilise each and everything they put of their mouths and they are going to placed each and everything, and some thing, of their mouths!

Answer 7

I stopped about 10months with the religious sterilising as his cups, plates and cutelry weren't so just scrub ot and give a 30sec blast with teat and bottle in microwave, at first then nothing after 12 months.

Answer 8

No, I think you're timing is right. Mine moved to drinking full fat milk when he was 1yr old and I stopped sterilising then, although I did continue to either put them in the dishwasher or wash them out by hand in really hot water. You should be ok if you do the same.

Oh and apart from washing them, rinsing them as well of course and I only ever used kitchen roll to dry them up or let them drip dry. I didn't like to use our normal tea towel!

Answer 9

My baby is five months old and I still sterilize her bottles..but once in a while when I havent sterilized them and they are dirty I will wash them well and then fill it with milk and i havent had any problems yet. Ive also started her on solids and dont sterilize the dishes there..no problems there either. A nurse said its okay to stop sterilizing them at about six months. I do that.

Answer 10

I stopped sterilizing my daughters bottles around 6 months of age as they were picking things up off the floor and putting it in their mouths anyway. babies need everyday germs to help their immune systems build to cope with colds etc the more we use antibacterials the less our bodies have to fight and that's why we are getting more coughs and colds and all sorts of new bugs. of course this is everyday germs not built up ones i do use antibac sprays but just not over the top.