Sterilising question!

Following as I wasn't sure on this! I have sterilised. The breast pump as I've put it in my hospital bag just in case it was needed but the bottles I've done just wouldn't dry at all so not sure how to do that! And will need to do them again when he's here

I wondered this, I dont know what to do with the dummies I was going to take to the hospital! Do I steralise them and then just keep them in the sterile box?? It’s so confusing ahaha xx

There’s not much point in sterilising everything now. Things stay sterile for 24 hours after you’ve sterilised them so you would have to do these again once you got home anyways. The hospital will have a wee tub with solution you can use to sterilise dummies, I wasn’t ill confused first time round but if you ask them they’ll give it to you ☺️ turns out you don’t actually have to sterilise breast pumps. I done a lot of research into this and it all suggests you should sterilise bottles but pump parts only have to be washed thoroughly! Obviously no harm sterilising them though x

The closer to actually using them the better

Like Samantha said they stay sterile for no more than 24 hours so whilst maybe washing is useful I wouldn’t bother sterilising until you need them.

For the dummies that I want to take to hospital I’ve washed them sterilised them, but bought a portable steriliser which was £10 I think. For the other stuff I just wanted to check how it worked so I had a go with a couple of bottles etc

As mentioned it only last 24hrs so not much point. But to add with the Milton tablets, they only have to be in the solution for 15 minutes to be sterile. The solution lasts 24hrs, so if your partner or anyone is heading home they could always pop things in steriliser that morning your coming home

Since we’ve been on the neonatal unit we’ve been using sterilising bags. You can buy them on Amazon and they have 20 uses each. They take about 3 minutes, they’re really handy for breast pump parts and all the bottles/dummies. Just in case you wanted to find something quicker than Milton tablets ☺️

https://amzn.eu/d/7s8of4Y

@Charlotte oh wow never seen these, do you have to wash things up first (soapy water) before putting in the bag & microwave? Hope you & baby are doing well, and hopefully get to go home soon 🥰

@Samantha thanks lovely! I assume washing means just normal fairy washing up liquid and hot water (not a special type of baby-friendly washing up liquid or something?) Always so helpful! X

Hey! Just hopping on here as some were mentioning about sterilising dummies to take into the hospital but I believe the NHS guidelines are not to introduce dummies until babies are 1 month old especially if breastfeeding. Ignore me though if that’s different for bottle feeding! Thank you for all this info on sterilising I was googling this today as well! I’ve also read that sterilising stuff lasts 24 hours so no point in doing it earlier/twice :)

@Liv (previously Peanut) yeah just making sure they’re washed properly but can use normal washing up liquid. Only thing I’d say is get a specific brush or something to use on them x

You can get portable dummy sterilisers and Milton sterilising tablets from boot's. They are handy as can loop onto the buggy handle for later on. I've got the Mam bottles in case I need to end up bottle feeding or combi feeding and they sterilise in the microwave using steam

Thank you all!! X