First time mum, sterilising question!

We used Milton as this is what the NICU used when we were there. To answer your questions in order... Yes, just leave stuff in there. When you're due to change the solution, there's a strainer which keeps everything in place and lets you drain the old solution out. Then just refill with fresh water and throw in a tablet. When you need to use something, use the tongs that come with the tank to lift it out, shake it off to get rid of excess and then use without drying. We were told that using a towel or kitchen roll means the item isn't sterile. Hope this reassures a bit as this is how the tiniest prems are looked after. The staff said they much prefer Milton to other ways of sterilising.

I'm going to use the cold water steriliser too 🙂 I believe you can leave things in there until you want to use and use them even if they're still wet, they don't need rinsing. I have bought a bottle tree stand to let them drip dry afterwards though and think that's fine to do! Xx

We used Milton too and used straight from the solution. We also tried a steam and microwave but Milton by far was best which was also recommended by our NICU for our preemies. I too has the same concern as it does smell a bit like chlorine but completely safe for bubs!

I’ll be using that this time, didn’t use it last. I wasn’t aware you could leave stuff in and get as and when but tbh we’ll probably just take the stuff out and store them rather than leaving in. You go through so many in the early stages that it makes more sense to me to make them all up at once x

I used the mam self-sterilising bottles in the microwave last time. As convenient as it was, I still found it a faff having wet bottles. This time I’m gonna get a second hand vital baby UV steriliser and dryer. You can store bottles in it and it does everything in about 30 mins I think! I chose this over Milton cause I bought glass bottles and read somewhere that cold sterilising disintegrated the numbers/measurements on the bottles I’ve bought.