Sterilise bottles?

I can't remember the last time I sterilised a bottle 😳

I do. My boy is on cow milk but refuses it from a cup. We still sterilise unless we need to use it directly out of the dishwasher. But we have a UV steriliser so its also a good storage place for the bottles. I think if we were using Milton tablets or something like that then I wouldn't be bothering.

@Lia so lucky 😫

@Hattie we’re still sterilising with milton tablets 🫠 fed up of doing it now 😫

You still have to sterilise if using formula due to the bacteria. Mam bottles you can stick in the microwave which I found so much easier than there steriliser

You still have to steralise if using formula x

P.s stage 2 isn’t recommended because it’s high in calories. Your baby doesn’t need to like cows milk. As long as they have enough dairy and calcium in their diet :)

@Sammie thank you for this information

I thought we could stop sterilising after 12 months ? My boy puts all sorts in his mouth (the dogs toys, dirt, his shoes etc), so I just don't waste my time sterilising bottles anymore, I just wash with hot soapy water straight after he uses it

@Lia germs aren’t the reason we sterilise. It’s to make sure all bacteria (from the formula) is killed.

I stopped sterilising my little girls bottles as soon as she started crawling at 9/10 months old as everything would go in her mouth🤣 shoes, phones, a crumb from the floor lol. She was on prescribed milk as she had CMPA but she never got “ill” from me not sterilising bottles I think it’s just personal opinion tbh. I also thought we just sterilised to kill bactreria from the bottle not the milk as most people use the hot shot method to kill bacteria anyway but that’s just how I done it. I’m so glad I don’t need to do it anymore just hot soapy water, back in the days they didn’t have sterilising tablets or a microwave to sterilise they just done it in the sink with hot soapy water and I don’t think it made much of a difference tbh xx

@Sammie I just went by the NHS recommendation to sterilise up until 12 months 🤷🏻‍♀️ He only started having formula at 11 months, and when researching, the germs that can be present in formula get killed with the boiling water, and I always follow the feeding guidelines (feed within 2 hours) and I clean the bottle straight away so no milk sits inside. It confuses me, because if they were drinking the same formula/milk from a sippy cup for example, you don't need to sterilise that cup, but you do for a bottle 🤔

@Lia the NHS says 12 months because it is not recommended to give formula after then. Sippy cups and formula don’t really go hand in hand anyway, because A. Bottles should really be gone by 12 months ish and formula should be gone by 12 months. Bottles have smaller pieces / teats for bacteria to grow. Hence sterilising.

@Sammie fair enough, it's all "recommendations" anyway right. Personally, I started reducing formula from 12 months rather than reduce it before to be completely off it by 12 months. So my boy is currently having 1 bottle of between 4-8oz of formula a day still, hence why my choice is to not sterilise anymore, because imo the risks of him getting ill from different types of germs including bacteria are extremely low. We all make the choices we feel are best for our families. I love how much we all care about this stuff to try and get it right for our babies 😊