1 year olds!

[nikbrad]

Hi our Mackenzie Rose is 1 year old next week and i have a few questions I was hoping you guys out there could answer for us. When did you stop sterilizing your dummy's, bottles etc? When did you change from giving your bubs boiled water to drink to plain tap water and how did you introduce it? How much milk does your 1 year old drink in a day? And sleeping - Mackenzie has just taken to in the past week, sleeping on her tummy - I know SIDS is an issue in the first 12 months but should I be turning her over? We are first time parents and it's the blind leading the blind in our house hold, any feedback will be appreciated!

[Astrolady]

Hi Nikbrad

I stop steralising bottles at 7mths old. I thought when they are on the floor putting stuff in their mouth there isn't much point really. I just washed bottles out really well in hot soapy water.

I have a 3.5yr old that I still don't give tap water too unless there is no other option, we have purchased a water filter so use water from that and prior we always brought spring water. My 13mth old hasn't really had much water only if it is really hot.

Lachlan my 13mth old has a bottle of milk at night, one in the morning and then a sippy cup that he has access too all day when he wants it.

As for sleeping Lachlan still likes to sleep on his back.

Love

[Lucy]

We stopped sterilising whne Olivia was 14 months.......I had just got into such a routine of doing it that it wasn't till we moved house that I canned the whole sterilizing bizzo.

With water, I went to normal tap water from about 6 months! No probs whatsoever.....

At 12 months Olivia was on 3 x 200ml bottles a day, and now at 15 months is on 1 or 2 x 200ml......she is eating really well on solids, so I have kind of been just missing out the morning and lunchtime bottle on occasion adn she doesn't seem bothered at all........

Olivia started sleeping on her tum from about 12 months too (she had been in a hammock until 11 months and it took her a month to figure out that sleeping on her tum was more comfy!). For the first week or so of her doing that I would turn her over, but now I just leave her......she moves around the cot that much, there is just no way I can keep her on her back.

HTH...........& welcome to Belly Belly!

[BellyBelly]

Hi Nikbrad!

I took my son to the paediatric gastroenterologist when he was 4 months old, due to bad wind and reflux. He said I could stop sterilising then, as it was okay to get bubs exposed to some bugs. He also said he could have some tapwater then too. He said that creating a too sterile environment probably causes more problems than it solves. He referenced studies where people who live in third world countries have been less sick later in life, than those in more sterile environments due to gastrointestinal (I think!) inflammation due to not being exposed to these bugs before and not having such a stregthened immune system. So I haven't sterilised since then and he's been healthier than his 3 year old sister!!!

[Ambah]

Hi Nikbrad,

I think when babies are 12 months old they are old enough to not need to worry that they are sleeping on their tums. Aidyn has been doing it since about 9 months, and we have had no problems.
We stopped sterilising everything and boiling his water at about 8 months - once I read that there was really no need to sterilise past 6 months (or was it 3?) As our water quality here in Aus is excellent, and also if we over sterilise everything - our kids will be prone to getting more tummy bugs when they are older due to not having emough immunity. We have a filter atached to our tap though, so I always give him filtered water.
I stopped sterilising his dummies at a couple of months old.

[Kellee]

Hi - I know what you mean about the blind leading the blind! I have so many questions too, all the time! But I'll answer your questions as it applies to my Charlie.

Charlie doesn't have bottles often (the last one was probably about 3 months ago), but when I do use them I still sterilise them because they have more books and crannies that could get bugs in them. He doesn't have dummies, but I don't sterilise the cups he drinks out of. If you were really concerned though, you could compromise by leaving cups, dummies, etc. in a bowl of freshly boiled water from the kettle for a few minutes. I also give Charlie water, but I just boil it in the kettle about half an hour before he needs it and pour it into his cup to cool.

Charlie has been sleeping on his tummy since he was 6 months old. I was really stressed to begin with, but he knew how to roll over, and no matter how many times I turned him over he would just go back onto his tum again, so I didn't see the point!

Can't say about the milk thing - C is breastfed and is a bit younger than Mackenzie (love the name, btw!). Hope you find some answers that suit you.

[Ali]

Hi Nikbrad,

Both my girls were tummy sleepers from about 6 months when they were really good at rolling over. With my first I was terrified and spent half the night trying to get her to roll back, but after a few weeks of exhaustion I just gave up.

I sterilised up to about 14 months with each, but as my girls are both finger suckers for soothing and were crawling everywhere I am sure I didn't really need to.

My 16 month old still likes her 3 x 200ml bottles a day, but I have read in one of my many baby manuals (I think it was Babylove) that 1-2 yr olds should have at least 400ml of milk a day.

[~Raven~]

Hi Nikbrad!

Both my boys were tummy sleepers as soon as they could roll over. I did fret over it a bit but there was nothing I could do about it.

I stopped steralising dummies for the same reasons as Astrolady.

My boys were BF and weaned themselves at 12 mths and 14 mths. I tried to persevere with cows milk for a while but they didn't want it so I made sure they got their calcium from cheeze and yoghurt.