When did/will you stop sterilizing?

[Mummy~L]

As the title says really?

I havent stopped yet for Bobby but am thinking of doing it as his sippy cup isnt sterilised and he is fine with that???

Just curious as to when others will do it!

Thanks

 

[OmarsMum]

They say at 6 mnths. But I will keep sterilizing as long as we'r using bottles xx

 

[polo_princess]

We stopped sterilising plates/spoons/bowls etc at around 10 months, and bottles at 14 months, mainly because Brooke had quite a large intake of milk, otherwise we would have probably stopped at 12 months

 

[faun]

I stopped sterilising about 3 weeks ago i didn't see the point as my lo is crawling and picking up all sorts and putting it in his mouth. I sterilise the bottles once a week for a deep clean and the rest of the time they just get washed with hot water and washing up liquid.

 

[NatalieW]

We stopped steralising her sippy cup at 7months, then spoons at 7months. Everything goes through the dishwasher. Her bottles we stopped at 12months.

 

[Alisha1985]

6 months probably for us as you cant sterilise everything like teethers etc and toys which all fall on the floor and when they are crawling, they put their fingers in their mouths so dont really see much point when there at this age.

 

[blahblahblah]

I sterilise bottles for formula and his dummies still (6 months), but nothing else. If I was just making a bottle to use straight away I wouldn't sterilise the bottles either - but I still make a couple at a time, and to me storing formula in an unsterilised bottle is a big no-no, whatever the age.

I don't sterilise his sippy cups, and he drinks tap water.

 

[mommy2baby2]

You all are pretty thorough. I've always sterilized everything once or twice and then let the dishwasher handle the rest. After about 9 months or so I never sterilized, just cleaned the stuff.

 

[eldar]

I will be stopping at 6-7 moths, mainly due to circumstances for a few weeks meaning it will be hard to do it and I'm using it as the reason to stop.

I must confess that although I do sterilise all her bottles once they are washed, I am not too bothered if the unit is opened for a bottle and then left for a few hours and I still use the bottles from it. I make sure everything is washed very clean and rinsed and I figure once she is putting everything from the floor in her mouth than I can't really keep up with that on a sterilising level!

 

[Vicks]

We still sterilise Joe's bottles but his spoons, bowls and sippy cup just get a good wash in soapy hot water and then rinsed.

 

[WW1]

My HV recommended continuing to sterilise bottles until 1 year but not to bother with cups, bowls, spoons etc. She said the dishwasher / hot soapy water was fine for these. Not weaning yet though so still only doing bottles at the moment.

 

[Sekhmet]

You all are pretty thorough. I've always sterilized everything once or twice and then let the dishwasher handle the rest. After about 9 months or so I never sterilized, just cleaned the stuff.

A much bigger deal seems to be made over sterilizing here in the UK than in the US. Personally, I don't sterilize regularly - just when I get something new, and then once in a while I'll boil a load of stuff on the stove. But mostly I just wash thoroughly with soap and water.

 

[Char&Bump-x]

I have started to just put everything in the dishwasher

 

[scottishgal89]

i know my lo is still too young to stop sterilising but hv advised that bowls and spoons could be sterilised the night before and that bottles should be sterilised till around 10months but the teats should still be done after that because they get really grotty with the milk and things.
im not sure what im going to do yet, just thought i'd share what i was told
i still sterilise dummies etc but dont bother with teethers.
im a bit obsessive with sterilising to be honest

 

[Kelloggz187]

Mia is 14 months old and I still sterilise everything. I think it's just out of habit now and to keep me in the habit of doing it for when the new baby comes in September x

 

[cuddlycutebab]

i will stop sterlizing when i i stop feeding my son with the bottle.
it has been more than 2 years i am sterlizing and using the bottle as my son easily gets stomach infection.

 

[jojo2605]

I stopped at 6 months. I really don't think it's necessary after this time, personally. He has never had a stomach upset/sickness bug or anything and has only had a minor cold a couple of times. I think it's good for their immune system. I think things can be too clean. I always make sure anything he handles is cleaned well, I keep my floors clean etc, but beyond that I don't think he'd be exposed to anything that would do him much harm.

 

[faille]

We stopped at 12 months as we stopped using bottles then. If we'd continued to use bottles, I would have continued sterilising.

I've never sterilised bowls/spoons etc. and I only threw the sippy cup in because it was going on anyway.


Just to note....

The point of sterilising bottles isn't because they're not putting dirty things into their mouth yet and once they are, you can stop... The point is because milk at room temp is the ideal breeding ground for all sorts of bacteria and that's what is harmful. Bottles and teats have so many nooks and crannies which are difficult to reach by washing alone.

I didn't wanna worry that my brush wasn't clean enough or water not hot enough etc to kill the bacteria so we continued sterilising until we stopped using them.

Just to add, I made sure the bottles were sterilised as we had to make up at least one in advance and kept in the fridge. If we were making up every bottle freshly then I probably wouldn't have been so pedantic about it x