Sterilising bottles

[Pam29]

What age would you stop sterilising baby bottles at? I think professional advice is 12 months but my daughter is 9 months now and crawling all over putting toys etc in her mouth - is there still any need to be sterilising?

[Naomicorlett]

My view is that if she is crawling and putting toys in her mouth then there is no ned to sterilise. Mind you I never sterilised anything as mine were breast fed and when they went onto solids I just poured boiling water over the dishes .They all survived. :o)

[annie0000]

I stopped when I caught my son licking water out of a puddle - he was about the same age as your little one. My second sone was breast fed until 5 and half months, but by then we had a dishwasher and I felt that the dishes were washed to a high enough temperature so didn't really bother sterilising at all. They are 8 and 7 now and both very healthy. I think that as long as you are following good practices in the kitchen anyway it will be fine.

[k8bailey]

My HV says 9 months, my daughter is 9 1/2 months and I'm still sterilising but only because she's been ill recently. I'm going to stop in 2 weeks when we go away because there will be no room in the car for the steriliser! I'm not sure why I bother though, she's been crawling for months and everything goes straight into her mouth!

[redcrx]

i stopped once my kids started eating shoes and stuff, they were about 8/9 months, both full term babies, not premature.

I started again when the youngest had the winter vomitting bug at 10 months til she was well over it

[roomster]

I stopped at 10 months when my little one had a phase of sucking the knobs on puzzles like a dummy!

[onlyme26]

its up to yourself, i have heard of people only sterilising for the first 6 weeks, sounds crazy i know, but some believe as long as you wash the bottles properly of course that not sterilising helps build up there amune system,
which is better for them later in toddler years,

i think i sterilised the whole time she had bottles!
tho im breast feeding this time round, but i have bought a couple of bottles and a single bottle steriliser! just seems safer to do so!

[shanilisa]

The reason for sterilizing bottles is not about regular household dirt, but about the bacteria that are found in milk and milk products, which when not properly removed from the bottle or teat can cause gastro. If the bottle is only used for juice or water, simple soapy water does the trick, but for any milk products it is better to wash at high temps (like in the dishwasher) or to sterilize. Hope that helps.