Talk to me about bottle sterilizers

laujam31

Are they worth it.  I breastfeed.  LO gets maybe 3 bottles a week.  But we are trying to increase that so that he gets used to it for when I go back to work.  Also, do you sterilize your bottles after every use or only certain times?  TIA

amb04006

I only sterilized them before the first use. Now I just use Dawn and water after each use, and I'll sometimes throw them in the dishwasher if I have room.

mkanderson85

amb04006:

I only sterilized them before the first use. Now I just use Dawn and water after each use, and I'll sometimes throw them in the dishwasher if I have room.

this

JenniD2

It was suggested by my pedi to sterilize bottles after every use. I have a microwave sterilizer, so it's not a pain to sterilize the bottles.

But if you are only going through a couple of bottles a week, you can just boil the bottles and nipples for two minutes.

CrazyMary77

You can just boil the bottles to sterilize them. I only did that before the first use. I wash them with dish soap and hot water, and I also put them in the dishwasher every other day.

laujam31

Thanks ladies.. silly question.  Do you wash them with soap and water before you boil?

Shaungela

i use the sterilizer once a week... and i do soap and water wash before i put them in... its quicker than boiling.

eddy92482

We sterilize LO's bottles after every use. We have extremely hard water and if we wash them by hand or in the dishwasher it leaves a film on them that is impossible to remove!!

emriley84

I BF so I didn't want a sterilizer that would sit around and be used occasionally, I've been using the microwave steam bags. They take up no space and can be reused up to 20 times.

a13049

We have one, I BF and pump while at work.  I find it super easy to bring all my bottles and parts home and stick them in the microwave for 2 minutes.  We only run our dishwasher once or twice a week and hand washing is just as much if not more work

ShadyKull

emriley84:

I BF so I didn't want a sterilizer that would sit around and be used occasionally, I've been using the microwave steam bags. They take up no space and can be reused up to 20 times.

this. It is so quick and easy!

Angela814

amb04006:

I only sterilized them before the first use. Now I just use Dawn and water after each use, and I'll sometimes throw them in the dishwasher if I have room.

This. I can't think of any reason they'd need to be sterilized every time.

SkyBee

I use the medela sterilizer bags.  I love them! 

somebuddiesgettingmarried

I used it the first time and then returned it when I realized I wasn't going to need it again. I boil the nipples every weekend. She only just started getting more than 1 bottle a day.

JSS1002

amb04006:

I only sterilized them before the first use. Now I just use Dawn and water after each use, and I'll sometimes throw them in the dishwasher if I have room.

This exactly.  Also, I have those Medela microwave steam/sterilizing breast pump bags and once in a while I toss a load of bottles in there.  Little guy probably only gets 1-2 bottles per day (DH feeds him once, and then he has one feed where we put vitamin d in the bottle), but I am pumping quite a bit to build up a stash for when I go back to work, so we have lots of dirty bottles!