Sterilising

1. Remember the reason WHY you need to sterilise. Milk bacteria in particular is harmful to little ones who are vulnerable before they have properly built up some immune protection. Milk bacteria gets left behind after washing and all milk feeding equipment should first be washed, rinsed and then sterilised before each use-up until your baby is a year old.
2. Do take your steriliser on a practice run before your baby arrives - ideally you won’t need to use any equipment in the early weeks if you are planning to breastfeed. If you do however, 3am in baby’s first week is not the time to open the box for the first time!
3. Tongs are supplied with the steam steriliser which you can use to assemble the bottles if using. Clean, freshly washed hands are fine though.
4. If you have a digital steriliser you can set it to always have your items ready to use around the clock. If you have an electric model it’s possible to remove and assemble items within 6 hours of the end of the cycle and they are then sterilised and usable for the next 24 hrs. That’s good to know if travelling or if, like me, you want to organise all your equipment in the morning - ready for that day and night.
5. A microwave steriliser is handy and economical to keep at granny’s house for those weekend visits, and will take up little storage space in between visits.
6. When starting solids with your baby you don’t need to sterilise bowls and spoons, especially after 6 months old. Just use the dishwasher or hot soapy water as usual.
7. It may be tempting to stop sterilising when your baby is putting everything and anything she sees into her mouth - but the bacteria in milk can be much more harmful - so do continue to protect your baby while she still needs it.