Hey mamas! I will be travelling back to the Bay Area later this month (I'm currently living in Australia) and I'm wondering which items are absolutely necessary to bring and what I might be able to leave behind. One item in particular that I'm concerned about is the bottle sterilizer. My little girl is now 12 months old and has just started drinking cows milk from the bottle (and loving it - YAY!). I have been using a (rather large) electric steam sterilizer and would prefer not to lug it overseas (also the plugs and voltage are different so I'd need a converter). My question is: do I need to still sterilize the bottles, or will a good wash in warm soapy water suffice now that her gut is more mature? Thanks in advance for your advice!
I don't know what you should do.... but we stopped sterilizing long before he turned a year. We figured by the time he put everything he found in his mouth, just cleaning in the dishwasher or with dishsoap was good enough.
I just use teh dish washer and everything comes out perecftly clean. My opion is they put everything in there mounth any way and there is no way you can possible strelize everything. Like when they get a hold of your shoes. So leave the strealizer behind i don't think you need it.
My lactation cunsultant told us that there is no real need to sterilize bottles (except for brand new bottles) anymore. Water soapy water will do just fine.
Switch her to a sippy cup and your problems are solved!!
I've been advised (and read) by U.S. nurses and doctors that washing bottles in hot soapy water and air drying is perfectly fine (after an initial sterilization of new bottles). You only need to sterilize if there's some issue with your water supply (e.g., well water) or if your baby has some cold or health issue. Personally I think sterilizers are just another baby product that manufacturers push on us as "a must have". While there are situations they are needed, it's generally not a needed item.
There's no need to sterilize at that point!
If you still want to sterilize the bottles, you can always boil them in water. This will be just as effective and will save you lugging your sterilizer everywhere.
