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I stopped when she started eating food off the floor - around 11 months time. My LO only has expressed milk though. I’m not sure what the guidelines are for formula though.
Depends where you are in the world. UK says to keep sterilising for as long as you give the child formula (6 months for breastmilk). Greece says 6 months regardless. Germany says you don't need to sterilise at all. 🤷🤷
When they’re on cows milk. You have to sterilise bottles all the way through if you’re using formula. As it’s to kill the bacteria that’s in the formula.
@Anais That's what we were told, but that makes no sense, and even the first HV we had agreed. It's the hot water that kills the bacteria in the formula, nothing to do with the bottle. It's like saying that if I'm dirty but I change my clothes, suddenly I won't be dirty anymore...
@Mantha the bacteria can still grow after it’s been made. That’s why you have 1 hour to drink the bottle if baby has drank from it or 2 hours if they haven’t. That bacteria then can’t be killed by normal washing, so the bacteria (cronobacter sakazakii) is removed by sterilising. It doesn’t matter if they’re licking things or near the floor from crawling as it’s not the same. It’s not that common but not worth the risk.
1 years old when u stop giving formula x
I stopped around 8months when my son ate a handful of dirt from my plant lmao.
@Anais I just need to know why that seems to only occur in the UK. We literally saw a pediatrician yesterday in Greece (pediatrician, not GP) and he said to sterilise until 6 months. He totally agreed that if you know how to wash and rinse a bottle, that's all you need to do.
You mean when you can just pop them in the dishwasher? 6months-ish should be ok! ◡̈ check with your pediatrician.
The advise for formula is when you stop using formula because of the bacteria that can be in formula.
Can someone please explain what sterilising the bottle has to do with the bacteria in the formula? The bottle cannot sterilise the formula. I can read the NHS website, I just need someone with common sense to explain what the bottle has to do with anything and why this is an issue only in the UK.
I explained it to you🤣 I have plenty of common sense thanks🤣
Greece will have different rules and make different formulas. You’re asking the wrong people
@Anais You are definitely not as hilarious as you think you are. And Greece has the exact same formula, Aptamil (called Almiron here) is exactly the same. I checked all ingredients one by one, even had the pediatrician check it. I guess the difference is that people all over the rest of the world know how to wash and rinse bottles properly... 🤷
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Then you carry on do what you’re doing. Every mum is different. I was never shaming you or anyone else for their choices on bottle washing and sterilising. You do you girlie :)
It’s not rules it’s just guidelines. At the end of the day it’s entirely up to you what you do the NHS just advise. However I always thought the sterilising was due to the water in the UK not cleaning bottles properly nothing to do with the formula when you pour boiling water over the formula that’s what kills the bacteria. However I’m not an expert I’ve followed the guidelines as best as I can but definitely not perfectly. Like the NHS doesn’t approve of prep machines however I wouldn’t be able to live without mine 😅
@Mantha ouch I know how to clean a bottle properly 😅🫣
@Siobhan I'm not saying you don't, I am actually very sure most people do an excellent job. ☺️ It's just that it doesn't make sense to me why something would only be an issue in the UK. It being the water quality, that I can understand. I just need to understand why I need to do/should do something before following the guidelines. So to me it's either wrong way of washing or, as you said, the water quality. I have asked people in 5 different countries outside the UK and only the UK has this specific thing, so I don't think it's that crazy to want to know why..
Yeh I think I read somewhere that the bacteria that grows in our water or something can be bad for babies tummy’s but apparently when they turn one (when you usually stop formula here) they become immune to it all 😅 I don’t really know if I’m completely honest it’s the only logical thing I’ve ever seen.
@Siobhan That makes some sense to me at least, thank you. I get that the NHS is trying to cover all possible scenarios, but I like knowing why I'm doing stuff. When I asked the GP and HV, they both said "well, that's what you're supposed to do, those are the guidelines" but neither could tell me why.
I believe when you no longer use formula and just use cows milk although I’ve still been sterilising I think more out of habit 🫣