Bottle and pump sterilising
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Personally we love the tommee tippee UV. It’s neat and feels thorough and also allows you to store things securely in a Sterile environment to keep things clean and out of the way which is a big benefit for us.
I use a Milton tank, everything takes 15 minutes to sterilise so I don’t mind the drying time We have a bottle rack to hang everything on to dry But you can use them wet so no issue with putting the dummy or bottle straight into babies mouth x
I use Tomee tippee steam steriliser and then dry the bottles with paper towel as I would grow grey waiting them to dry on its own but I find that part annoying
We have the Tommee Tippee UV and it’s great, especially with the drying feature built in. If we’re ever feeling less than 100% a bottle is sterile (still has water droplets, for example) we just do another round, but that rarely happens.
I exclusively pumped from birth to 10m. I advise checking the pump, some pump parts can only be cold water sterilised (we used this method, Milton. And not once did the residue affect my breastmilk, nor my daughter.), you don’t actually need to dry after, just shake off the worst of the water. next best thing we found were the microwaveable steam bags. Again not all pumps can go into heat without damaging the parts. But that worked wonder when she was tiny and I was more fearful of the cold water (until I realised it was ok). I used to then let the items dry on bottle racks/clean tea towels. But because it’s steam, they do tend to dry very quickly if not left in the bag. I also recommend getting multiple pump parts, 2/3 sets, so you don’t have to worry about sterilising in night if you’ve already pumped in the night and need to pump early in the morning. I had Medela + spectra, both ok with steam/cold, but they had longer life span with cold water before needing to be replaced. 😘 x
Tommee Tippee UV was great for us
I used the sterilising bags, wash them first, shove them in the microwave (looked for the 3 min ones) and done
If you're using exclusively for breast milk there's no need to sterilise, just wash well in hot soapy water. If you do choose to Sterilise, there's no need to dry (and in fact drying will make them not sterile). No need to rinse off Milton, it breaks down into salt and water so not a chemical residue in that way. Personally I don't like the idea of microwaving plastics.
I mostly just nurse on the breast however I used a microwave steriliser and cold water sterilisation which were fine for the amount time I actually used them
You don’t need to dry with the milton, they use them in the hospital. Just shake out and put it back together. My girl is 5 months and never had an issue ☺️
The same as Charley has said, if you are exclusively feed breast milk there is no need to sterilise apart from before the first use, just hot soapy water and rinse in hot water. Our midwife and lactation consultant (ex nurse and midwife) both told us this and it saved so much hassle.
I usually just boil a large pot of water and throw everything in it and let it sit for about 5 mins then I just lay it all out on a kitchen towel to dry for about an hour or so, also my dishwasher has a sterilize mode that I use sometimes it just takes way longer!