Sterilisers??

Hi All,

DH and I have just started looking at sterilisers. This is our first baby so we are just gathering everything we think we need. I am planning on breast feeding but won't purchase any of that particular equipment until I know if I can. But, I assume we will still need a steriliser for dummies, teething things etc.

So, we are going to buy one, but what are your thoughts? Electric, or one that you just pop in the microwave? I have no idea about either!

Does anyone have a favourite? What are your hot tips??

Thanks in advance!

T

Personally, I used mine once :) I breastfed and just used to pour very hot water on his dummies or I put them in a basket in the dishwasher and rinsed afterwards.

I used an Avent one that goes in the microwave. I did breastfeed but was still handy for when I expressed etc. As Amaunet said, hot water is okay for dummies if you don't want to buy one just yet :D

I wouldn't worry about buying one right now...in terms of sterilising dummies etc if you boil a pot of water on the stove, and put the dummy in for a certain number of minutes (baby brain, can't remember, but if you google it you'll see) it'll do the same thing. Save you money if you're not sure you'll need it too! :D

Have you bought a breast pump? I bought a manual breast pump first time around, and it comes with a container that is used to microwave sterilise the pump bits and pieces, and the bottle bits and pieces too - so that might be another option.

The other thing is to look in to the recommendations about sterilising...I had well and truly stopped sterilising anything within a few months (on the advice of my DDs paed, and other medical people - excuse the wording there - preggo brain has erased a whole lot of random words from my vocab! :( ) and just made sure the get any milk residue etc out of bottles and things, and just washed them in hot soapy water. It's a personal choice though - other people I know sterilised everything until their bub was over 12 months old. :)

We have a microwave one,
I'm bf but we still used it daily early on because of top ups & the breast pump. Maybe wait & see how you go, you can just use boiling water. My hospital didn't recommend sterilizing, they said boiling water in a big bowl.

We never used one. We boiled on the stove up til about 6 weeks for dummies etc, and even then it wasn't all that often. Otherwise, we just washed in hot soapy water and air dried everything.

Worked out well for us, as during the Brissie floods we lost power for ages and none would have worked anyway.

i bought a cheap (under $10) microwaveable vegie steamer and used that!

I also have an Avent one that goes in the microwave - 2 mins on high and then another 2 mins to sit and all done. Nice and easy. I breastfeed, but need the steriliser for bottles and breastpump (for expressing) and use it for dummies.

Try the Miltons bucket. If you are b/f'ing then that is all you need. Just rinse things before giving them to bubs. Or for a more natural approach then vinegar is good too

I've tried the Miltons bucket, the microwave ones and an electric one.

I wouldn't get an electric one again, they are expensive and the cycle takes longer than the microwave ones. You also need to worry about taking it apart to clean, because you can get a build up of stuff around the heating bits.

I wouldn't do the miltons bucket method either, things need to be in there for some time and you're using a huge tub of water every day.

Microwave wins for me! Cheap, easy, fast.

In all honesty, if you only want a sterliser for dummies and teething items, i wouldnt worry about purchasing one, just hot soapy water, hot water rinse and leave to air dry and thye will be ok.

If you end up bottle feeding then i would get a steriliser. I use tommee tippee closer to nature because they are meant to be the best to combine breast and bottle feeding. I tried the microwave TTCTN steriliser and it was ok but i recently bought the electric TTCTN steriliser and love it. It takes the same amount of time to do a cycle at the microwave but its nowhere near as bulky, sterlises 6 bottles where the other does 4, and if you dont open the lid the bottles remain sterile for 24 hrs. So if you go with TTCTN at any point i recommend the electric steriliser. Buy it online though because i got mine for $60 less online than instore. Just google it and you will find some for good prices :)

I wouldnt recommend miltons because research has shown it can give babies mouth thrush, others might not agree with this but all 3 of my babies i used miltons with all got mouth thrush where as the others that i didnt use miltons with........no thrush.

With the build up in the steriliser the PP mentioned, yes this does happen (happens with microwave sterilisers too), but running a cycle through of vinegar and water removes this build up :)

Great! Thanks so much for all of your help ladies!!! I had decided that I would just wait and then get a microwave once I knew if I could BF ok, but....today I was in Target, not even looking but found a tommy tippee microwave one for $19.00!! So I grabbed it and figure, good price, even if I don't use it heaps!

Thanks again! You gals are the best xox

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i bought a cheap (under $10) microwaveable vegie steamer and used that!

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Good idea ! :D

a friend gave me her microwave one & it was great. i BF DS but he had occasional bottles of formula & the m/w one was great.