How long do bottles stay sterile for?

[Sarah27]

In the olden days (well 6 and a bit years ago) I made my LCs bottles up and stored in the fridge and then heated up when needed.

Now a days with my new LO and the "new rules" about making bottles we are making them as she needs them, which is okay, we keep some water in a flask handy and have a few cartons for emergencies.

But what I did wonder is how long do bottles stay sterile for?

We have been sterilising our bottles and then putting the lids on them and leaving them on the side and using them when and as we need them is this okay to do??
Sometimes they are out for more than 24 hours and now after doing a bit googling I see that this isn't okay? And now I do wonder if my LO has horrible wind and botty burps as her bottles aren't sterile? OOh I feel terrible! I am so confused about what to do? Am I meant to continusally sterilise them???

I never once remember my LC having the windy issues my LO has with pre made bottles stored in the fridge and then heated up as and when we needed them.....

Whats anyones thoughts on this????

 

[kanga]

I always went with 24 hours for a bottle thats been put together and is waiting to be used. My lo was a v frequent feeder tho, so we always did use them within 24 hours.

Since about 7m, I've just had them on the side as long as they need to be. I'm more relaxed about it now.

 

[Maxy1]

I sterlise my bottles and put them in a sealed sterile container in the cupboard. I will only re-sterilise them if I don't use them within a week. We only mixed fed so it would sometimes be that long. LO was totally fine with this. Maybe your LO is gassy because of the formula??

 

[sophshaun]

I always make my bottles up and keep them in the fridge ready to warm up when my baby needs a feed. My health visitor said this was totally fine! Much easier, along as they get used within 24hours!xx

 

[Sarah27]

Thanks for your replies ladies, I am seeing HV on Thurs so going to ask her about pre made bottles X

 

[youngwife20]

Hey i dnt ff but i bottle feed we have a microwave sterilzer and my midwife said 6hours if taken out of sterlizer and 24hours if they r kept in sterilser and not opened! We have our microwave upstairs at the momment now shes constantly eating as we sterilze constantly during the night - i wudnt leave them out for more than 24hours for sure x

 

[LittleBoSheep]

i fill my bottles full of gerber water from the store and sit out room temperature with lid on then its so simple when he needs a bottle put scoops in and viola! fast and easy bottle we have never had any problems - no need to heat, no need to even get up

 

[Lady_Bee]

Not sure but I usually keep them in the fridge (empty) after sterilising them for 12-15 hours.

 

[dizz]

We switched to a milton sterilising system as we found figuring out what stayed sterile for however long to be a nightmare - easier to just hoik a bottle out of the solution when one's needed.

When I'm going out for the day I tend to work on the assumption that if the bottle's kept assembled with the lid on, it'll be ok whenever I come to use it (tend to use cartons when out and about) as long as I'm not ridiculous about it - so that it'll last the day comfortably.