How often should I steralise dummies ... every few hours? every day? every week?

Hi All

Little Miss Willow uses a dummy 'on and off' ... sometimes she takes it and it comforts her, other times she just uses it as a missle to project across the other side of the room (they have seriously ended up in some WEIRD places).

However I am unsure how often to steralise.

I am about to up her to the 3-6 month dummy and upon reading the back of the packet, it actually says to be wary of 'over steralising' as this can detoriate the teat. However it doesn't suggest what is a reasonable amount.

At the moment we steralise at least every evening, more if I see that the dummy has been out of it's case for a while sitting on the play mat or lounge. Is this too much?

I don't think I ever did! just wash them up with her bottles and rinse under hot water. she only has them in her cot for sleep times though

I have about 10 that i use, once i go thru all of them i boil them for 10mins, cap them and they ready for use again. DD only has them for settling to sleep, so we go thru 1 mabey 2 a day depending on how many times she throws it lol

I think every day is a little too often. I only wash and sterlize our dummies when they've hit the floor too often... Probably once a week or so. I figure as soon as I take them out of the sterilizer they are not sterile anyway so what's the point.

Mitchell licks the floor... I can't sterlize that, as well as every toy, hand, bib, sock and whatever else goes into his mouth at the moment.

Also I think that 10 minute for boiling is too long. I always thought 5 mins was enough for bottles so assume that it is the same for dummies too.

But all of the above is just me. If you notice a teat deteriorating then I'd bin it.

I was told by my peaditrician to steralise my DS dummies overnight so i have three alternating. They do end u going white eventually so thats when i bought new ones. He said to steralise dummies until his first bday. U dont have to do it this way its just what i did.

We have at least 6 on the go. For the first 12 months we steralised, but now they go in the dishwasher and then in to a container in a kitchen drawer.

For the first 12 months they went in to a container in the fridge after being in the microwave steraliser and we just got out a new one each morning or when needed.

I used to just keep them in the fridge when not in use.. I would boil up some water and have a little container I would pop it into.. I usually had 2. so if bub had one then the other was in the fridge. If that fell on the ground or whatever I would just swap them over and just get fresh water

oh and I used to wash them first with washing up stuff :)

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I used to just keep them in the fridge when not in use.. I would boil up some water and have a little container I would pop it into.. I usually had 2. so if bub had one then the other was in the fridge. If that fell on the ground or whatever I would just swap them over and just get fresh water

oh and I used to wash them first with washing up stuff :)

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I've only ever sterilised them when a) I had my first baby and thought that was what you had to do; and b) thereafter, only if there were bugs like thrush or colds or tummy upsets going around. Otherwise, I just gave them a wash in hot soapy water. My breasts aren't sterile, my fingers aren't sterile, I didn't see why a dummy had to be.

I just wash em, once a day, have done since birth!
Good luck xoxo

The only time I ever sterilized Ds's soothers were right after he'd been sick, or if he started getting rashy around the chin (this was more a drool problem but we sterilized the soothers anyways just in case). I had about 10 on the go at a time and would just wash them with warm soapy water as needed (like if they dropped on the floor while we were out of the house) and once a week I would pop them in the dishwasher.

when DD was that age, I'd sterilize if it hit the floor (or throw it in the pile to be streilized!) or at the end of the day. I always had a minimum of 4 dummies so that if we lost one (hit the floor or literally lost!) we had spares. And I always carried 1 spare in her nappy bag. Once DD was more mobile and picking up random object to put in her mouth, I stopped sterilizing unless it wound up somewhere REALLY gross... otherwise they just got a wash in soapy water!

.......er........ You're s'posed to sterilize dummy's?

:rofl:

When DS was a new born I'd chuck them in the microwave sterilizer when I thought of it - probably every few weeks :o

Now, TBH never, I just chuck them out when they look at bit worse for wear. If they are dropped on ther floor I usually just run them under the tap, or if we are out I chuck it in my mouth (gross I know but as DS gives me massive salivery kisses I figure its no different :D )

DS has only really been sick once, a few sniffles here and there but is a healthy kid. I'm of the thinking that if you keep kids in too much of a sterile environment you create a fragile immune system. They are gonna suck on toys and whatever else they pick up so as long as my house is cleaned on a regular basis and we practise good food hygene then I'm doing a good job! :)

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My breasts aren't sterile, my fingers aren't sterile, I didn't see why a dummy had to be.

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My thoughts exactly. I only ever washed with hot soapy water and was the same with the bottles as my neo nate Num told me there was no need to steralise as long as they were washed well with hot soapy water. She told me that if you over steralise things kids won't build up an immunity to common bugs.

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I've only ever sterilised them when a) I had my first baby and thought that was what you had to do; and b) thereafter, only if there were bugs like thrush or colds or tummy upsets going around. Otherwise, I just gave them a wash in hot soapy water. My breasts aren't sterile, my fingers aren't sterile, I didn't see why a dummy had to be.

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:yeahthat: