Bottle Sterilizing

[Kirky]

Hi All

I'm just wondering at what age I can stop sterilizing my sons bottles. He is 9
months old now. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Kirsty

[maddysmama]

Hi,

i have heard from some people stop at 6 months, others at a year. To be safe I'll prob sterilise up to a year, tho babies r sticking all sorts of germy things in their mouth before then anyway!:D

[Crazy Monkey]

I have been thinking lately, why sterilise when DS is putting everything in his mouth that he can get his hands on... My DS is breastfeed, so I only sterilise bottles/cups that have had water/juice in them... I think if I was to put milk in a bottle I would be more inclined to sterilise the bottles until he is 1 year... But not sure...

[Mum2Lucas]

I think i'll probably sterilize ds bottles up until a year or so. just to be safe even though he will be putting everything in his mouth.

[nkenward]

Its hard to say, my son (nearly 4 months) is now starting to put anything in his mouth. I still sterlize bottles, but I have heard the health dept in WA have said that is no reason to continue to sterlize anymore - just hot soapy water and rinse is sufficient. However, I don't believe any other depart. has followed suit yet.

[ThomasMum]

We are still sterilising Thomas's stuff eventho he's almost 1 year old (on the 18th of next month!!)

Maybe because of this, or maybe because of our good genes :p , but so far so good Thomas has been a very healthy wee man since he was born up til now, no illness etc whatsoever *touch wood* :D

TM

[ETsMum]

I was told once they start crawling there is no point in sterilising bottles - however I prob would still do it until 1. I mean it takes about a minute to load the machine :) It is the washing up I am sick of already!!! :D

[Ky]

I stopped sterilising when my kids started putting their hands and other things into their mouths.

I just washed their bottles with the family dishes and then rinsed them in really hot water and left them to air-dry under a teatowel and finally assembled them and kept them in the fridge.

I have two very healthy kids and it didn't seem to do them any harm.

[Kirky]

Well my DS had his 9 month check up with his paediatrician yesterday, so I raised the subject of whether to continue sterilizing his bottles or not. He was of the opinion not to bother, and that because we live in such a "clean" environment these days, some hospitals are telling new parents not to even bother.

So I've decided as of today to pack my sterilizer away. And I think if I decide to have another child in the future, I'll probably only sterilize until they're 6 months old (just until their immune system matures a bit).

Thanks for your posts everyone

[SweetSerenity]

I stopped sterilising when he was crawling around and putting all sorts of things in his mouth!~
I wash them in hot soapy water then rinse and they're done :)

[3cherubs]

With DD1 I stopped at 12 months and DD2 i will probably do the same.

[Ky]

He was of the opinion not to bother, and that because we live in such a "clean" environment these days, some hospitals are telling new parents not to even bother.

Aparently this "clean environment" is one of the biggest reasons why there are so many allergies and an increase in the incidence of asthma ... kids are just not getting the resistance to germs etc that they got when we didn't have "anti-bacterial" cleaners that we used daily!

This is not an excuse for not doing housework, but it is one of the reasons why my kids are not bathed every day and that I encourage them to play outside. My house is clean but not spotless ...