Safe to wash bottles in dishwasher?

[neuri]

Hi,

Just wondering if it is safe to wash baby bottles and teats in the dishwasher? I'm worried about how well these items are rinsed and if there will be any detergent residue. How are you washing your bottles? I love my dishwasher but I don't want to use it for bottles if it's going to be harmful.

TIA!

Neuri

[LimeSlice]

I wash chalottes bottles in the dishwasher - but not the teats.
Are you BF or FF? I don't sanitise her bottles b/c I BF (she doesnt have them very often) but hot soapy water and well rinsed is usually enough for the bottles and teats. (Or I will boil them in water)
I also put the pump bottle and boob-piece in the dishwasher, on the top shelf.
I;m not sure about if they are used for formula though, as the formula doesnt have the same germ killing properties of the breast milk.

HTH

[*Ang*]

I put my bottles and teats in the dishwasher and they turn out fine - no residue or additional wear and tear.

[nickel]

I used the microwave sterilser religiously for first baby, and gave that up for the second and just made sure that however they were washed they were clean. IMHO - I see that The only prob with the dishwasher and teats is how long they sit in the dishwasher with milk in them before they get washed? Then again, they could sit on the side of the sink for a day at our house too! When she was newborn, I just rinsed the the bottles/teats as soon as I could, and then used dishwasher or sink depending on which happened first. No probs with residue or extra wear on the teats.

Especially if your baby is a bit older (say 4 or 6 weeks?), and you make sure you use basic hygeine there is no need to stress too much about the whole sterilising thing. Still - depends on how chilled about these things you are! There's not been any studies done but anecdotally lots of people use the dishwasher/sink without sterilising and have no probs. Give it a go! Especially if it makes your life a bit easier.

[MamaPan]

iput them in the dishwasher - i actually just got a tommee tipee basket thing for the dishwasher which holds the teats up etc whcih is great. sometimes i then plonk them all in a big pot of boiling water for a few mins to be sure... but usually i use them out of the dishwasher and have not had any probs. N has one bottle a day every day now (and more if at daycare)

[Erin_25]

We just wash with warm soapy water & then give a really good rinse with hot water. Then I leave them to air dry. Charlie doesn't have many a day now so then they just go in a draw & are filled as needed. We did use a microwave steraliser, but once he started putting everything else in his mouth we didn't see the point. We have a dishwasher but to be honest I just dont like the idea of it for bottles. Often we get cups out to find hard bits of food stuck to them & often streaks on the tupperware. Also our dishwasher is usually put on at night when we go to bed so it's full from the day & ready to be unpacked in the morn. I find it easier to rinse well when he's finished the bottle & leave on sink to wash later.

[Billy Ocean]

Hi girls!

Just reading this with interest as my son is now 3 months old and I'm wondering if I should still be sterilising bottles. Sometimes I think we are "too clean" and kids don't get a chance to build up their immune system.

Also, we don't sterilise the formula scoop or the knife that I level it off with and he sometimes gets bath water and the bath stuff in his mouth. I'm also sure that my puppy occasionally licks him when I'm not looking. I'm wondering if just giving the bottles a really good wash either in the dishwasher or by hand in hot, soapy water then rinsing (as I do before I put them in the microwave sterliser anyway) will do the job.

I am still going to use boiled water to make up the formula.

Kate