Pacifier care

[Katherine]

Just wondering, how often should one sterilize the pacifiers? For example, if the baby suck it for few minutes, and drop it on his bed, do you have to replace it? Or if he has sucked it whole night, do you replace it in the morning?

... and by the way, how come pacifiers need to be sterilized, but fingers don't need to be cleaned?

 

[bathbabe]

tbh, i dont do mine very often! if he has dropped it on the floor and i know it isnt very clean i will run it under the kettle. He often has the same dunny for a few days. im a bad mummy... xxx

 

[Sweetie]

With my daughter I traded them out a few times a day. When we finished with each one for the day they went into a bowl on the kitchen counter and were sterilized each time I boiled bottles.

As far as fingers being cleaned.. I wiped her hands at every diaper change...

 

[Alias]

I usually pop whatever ones she's not currently using in the steriliser when I'm doing the bottles. And they get replaced if she drops them on the floor, but not if they fall or something of 'hers' (play mat, bed, blankets, bouncy chair).

I also clean DD's hands every morning as part of her morning routine, since she spends 1/2 the time with her hand in her mouth!

 

[Seity]

Never. If it starts to get coated in cat hair, I give it a rinse and it's good to go. I've never sterilized anything of his and he's never had a cold or cough.

 

[Natasha2605]

Never really. I'll run it under the tap if anything xx

 

[Katherine]

If there is no need to sterilize a pacifier, how come we need to sterilize bottles???

 

[littleemma]

My baby uses the same one all day, i only rinse it if it fell to the floor.
but about once every three days i take all and sterilize them.

im not really sure but i think its more important to sterilize the bootles to kill the bacteria that can grow in the milk.

 

[pinktaffy]

well i sterilize all her dummys, and keep then in a air tight steriled box for 24 hours. then resterlize them all again. if she drops a dummy on the floor i give her a new one if she drops it on her bed or play mat i give it back to her. her bed and playmat are cleen the floors not spesh outside.
i think a few germs helps build there amune system but at the same time i dont want her to get mouth thrush or anything that can be painful in babys.
shes never had it so i think im doing somthing right it works for us anyways xx.

 

[Bex1p]

My mum used to sterlisie everything possible when I was little and as soon as I got the slightest germ, I ended up in hospital with dysentery and nearly died through dehydration!

I think they have to come into contact with a few germs every now and then to build up an immune system, so i'm not overly eager to sterilise Leo's dummies all the time....I sterlise every few days and I rinse them under the kettle if I see hairs on them...........or if my kids school friends decide to grab it out his pram and cough on it!!!!! Yesterdays incident!

 

[lynnikins]

lol his dummy gets dunked it hot hot water a couple of times a week it doesnt get " sterlised " lol his bottles dont either anymore but did for the first 16wks they just get a good wash then a rinse in really hot water.

im not hugely bothered tbh when they start putting toys and everything they pick up in their mouth then theres not much point sterlising everything constantly lol i just try to make sure things are clean

 

[naganta]

I did CONSTANTLY for the first bit...and then I just started rinsing them. If he drops it one something, and it gets a cat hair or a piece of dirt, and im far from a tap, i just pop it in my mouth and suck the dirt off I figure if he nurses from my body, then my mouth germs wont hurt him....

 

[Laura80]

I suck it too if it gets a bit fluffy, but I would usually just rinse it with boiling water every few days.

 

[hannahR]

Hazel has a clean sterilised dummy everyday, i dont clean it through out the day though. xx

 

[LolaAnn]

I think its quite important to keep things a bit cleaner if you are FF because they don't have quite the same level of antibodies. Actuallyyyyyyyyyy... maybe not so they can get exposure to some germs and build up their immune system??

Anyway, my LO has a dummy for the car sometimes and I just suck it before I give it to him and sterilise when it has been used a couple of times.

 

[hayley x]

I sterilised them everyday and gave her a new one every time one went on the floor.... since she was 6 months I'll rinse it and give it her back xxx

 

[PrayinForBaby]

I boil all of Haley's pacifiers about every other day, except for 2 of them she has that are latex that says not to boil after first use (those two I clean in hot soapy bleach water, rinse, and air dry). But I usually swap hers once she spits it out if it hits the floor or falls between her legs. Not bc she is dirty, but just in case I didnt use hand sanitizer before touching the snaps on her lil onesies I don't want that going back in her mouth. Bottle nipples and vents (i use playtex ventaire bottles) get boiled about every 4 days or so but she always gets a fresh clean bottle with each feeding (no just going and rinsing the last bottle out and reusing...something my neighbor does YUCK!) so I rotate through her 7 bottles everyday and I wash them in the hot soapy bleach water and rinse and air dry before I put them back together. I dont think I would be as much of a stickler about it, but Haley got thrush twice and the only thing the dr's could pinpoint it to was maybe my water didnt get hot enough to sterilize (I find hard to believe, my hot tap water could give 3rd degree burns!!) so thats why. But since doing that she has not gotten thrush anymore.

 

[Seity]

If there is no need to sterilize a pacifier, how come we need to sterilize bottles???

Some of us don't believe there is a reason and have never sterilized a bottle.

 

[Lara310809]

TBH I never really understood why you would sterilise a bottle, but then add boiling water to it anyway. Or that you might sterilise a bottle and not a dummy, or sterilise a spoon, but not the carrot you're feeding them Not having a dig, I just don't get it. I only ever sterilised bottles because everyone said how important it was for a newborn, but to sterilise for a year? My LO will be rolling around on the floor long before her first birthday, and while my floor's clean, it's far from sterile.

I don't sterilise dummies; I don't see the point because as you say, LO's fingers aren't sterile, and they go in her mouth. I will clean her hands when I bathe her each day, and then I may baby wipe them when they seem grubby, but I'm not constantly wiping them and I never use soap or anything. She's never been sick because of it I don't actually sterilise anything for her anymore though, after seeing her eating her fists and her cuddly toys, I'm not about to cut out much bacteria from sterilising her dummies & bottles.

If I were to sterilise dummies though, I would probably sterilise them once a day. From birth, my LO would keep the same dummy for a whole day, provided it hadn't fallen on the floor or anywhere dirty. If it fell on the bed, or on the sofa, I would just wipe off any fluff and put it back in her mouth.