Steralizing

[Unsure]

Sorry if I spelt that wrong, but I was wondering at what age to bottles, etc no longer need to be steralized - just washed...?

Thanks

[westerner]

I personally continued and will continue until my child no longer uses bottles..

Alot of people use the arguement that once the kids start crawling/walking/eating things of the ground/licking the floor etc etc there is no need to and no point..
But simply because they may start "eating dirt" and what not doesnt mean your bottles become immune from bacteria..

Germs can still be on bottles and bacteria still has the abilty to grow and cause harm despite what the child is doing..

But its a personal choice..

[punkbaby]

DS was the only one of mine bottle fed but i sterlised till he was about 12 months. Even up until around 15 months (he used a cup from here on) i would still boil his bottles every few days plus dummies etc too.

As Goose said even though they are crawling around and picking things up, i know my house is clean :) cant see them getting any harm there and would rather sterlise to be safe if their immune system is down etc

[cwsmum]

I sterilized til my bubs were close to 12mths old. However, from about 6mths old I didn't worry if I had slack days and had to quickly wash a bottle out to give bub a feed, I always wash dishes in hot water, no cold ever goes into the washing up water.
I also never sterilized their bowls/spoons or cups...no idea why, just never did.

[mum2bubba]

My Baby is 3 months and i dont sterilise every time i use bottles. I just make sure they are scrubbed with hot soapy water and left in the open air to dry. No problems here.


Same, though I rinse them with boiling water from the kettle.

[kimbo]

I sterilzed them until DS was 7 months old, now I use hot soapy water, rinse them and let them air dry.

[Mrs Potts]

With DS I sterilised until he was about 6 months.

The go these days though is that sterilising isn't necessary. I discovered this when DD was born. They gave me a teat to use while we were in hospy, plus some detergent to wash it after each use. Apparently hot soapy water and a very hot rinse, then air dry is really all that is needed.

Aside from that, I too am of the opinion that if bub is eating fluff or whatever then sterilising is pointless.

Spoons/cups/anything other than bottles never got sterilised anyway.

[bindiloo]

I sterilised till she was crawling round the floor putting anything and everything in her mouth because i feel it is pointless then because she's constantly coming into contact with germs so i just started washing them in the sink after that.

[bronny-jane]

8 months

[Mahjong]

8 Months.

I was speaking to a friend the other day, she had a baby this year.. the nurses explained that they no longer encourage you to "sterilise" everything anymore! Just hot soapy water, rinse and air dry!

I'd never even heard of that, I wouldn't be doing it with my bubba!