Sterilising bottles

ando

hi guys,

Our first newborn arrived a few days ago! Was using the small ready made actimel for the initial few days, we're now onto bigger bottles and formula.

We have the Munchkin steam guard electric steriliser which says that bottles can stay sterilised in the unit for 6 hours once you don’t open the lid.. The bottles are always wet when you take them out and put them together. I read in the HSE leaflet that you can store sterilised bottles for 24 hours in a clean environment, but I can’t find anything about this from Munchkin themselves.

My question is would it be ok to take the few bottles out of the munchkin after they have been sterilised, put them together and put them straight into a clean cupboard so that we can go to them throughout the 24 hours? They are always wet after sterilisation so we cant dry them surely because that would contaminate them, but the water is sterilised?

mordeith

We just took them out of the stereliser when needed or more often made up a batch of six at once and kept them in the fridge.

ando

So would you just take the wet bottle bits out of the steriliser, put the bottle together and put it in the fridge and use when needed within 24hrs?

Owryan

Probably the world's worst dad for this but I used to sterilise the bottles and then fill them with cooled, boiled water. Stored them in the fridge.

As needed, just added formula and reheated. Like I said probably not the way to do it but it's how the phn advised us and the kids never had any problems.

mordeith

ando wrote: »

So would you just take the wet bottle bits out of the steriliser, put the bottle together and put it in the fridge and use when needed within 24hrs?

No, I mean make up your formula and put these in the fridge. I'm sure you're probably not advised to do that anymore as things change quickly but we did it for both our lads. If your baby is hungry you have a bottle ready to go.

EDIT: apologies if you knew what I was on about

pwurple

This comes up so many times I wish there was a sticky for it.

Best way: sterilise bottles, leave them in the steriliser until needed (equipment will say how long that is) and make up bottles one at a time, using water that is boiled, and left to cool for no more than thirty minutes. Let it cool to temp baby can drink.

Second best way: sterilise bottles, boil kettle, leave cool for 30 minutes at most, and make up mulitple bottles with powder. Store in fridge until needed. Heat to temp baby drinks, or drink cold.

Things not to do:
Don't make up bottles with water just boiled, destroys some of the proteins. Can make baby undernourished.

Don't make up bottles with cold water, it does not sterilise the formula, which is not required to be sterile by regulation. Can make baby sick.

There are some (very expensive) specialised formulas for certain conditions that need to be made up with cold water, and those ARE sterile. But your bog standard formula should be made up with hot water.

jakeypooh

I sterilised bottles. Poured boiling water in to the oz i needed. Added powder when necessary.
2 healthy kids never sick.

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

Judge Trudy

I have the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep bottle maker and it is by far the best baby related purchase I have ever made. It heats the water to the correct temperature in an instant so you can make bottles fresh as you need them. There's no faffing about with kettles and storage. You just need to sterilise bottles in advance and that's it. I usually sterilise bottles before bed, down the stairs when baby wakes up and bottle made in 1 minute. It's basically an instant coffee maker for babies. I got it for 80e when it was on sale from Amazon and I cannot emphasise how great it is

mordeith

Judge Trudy wrote: »

I have the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep bottle maker and it is by far the best baby related purchase I have ever made. It heats the water to the correct temperature in an instant so you can make bottles fresh as you need them. There's no faffing about with kettles and storage. You just need to sterilise bottles in advance and that's it. I usually sterilise bottles before bed, down the stairs when baby wakes up and bottle made in 1 minute. It's basically an instant coffee maker for babies. I got it for 80e when it was on sale from Amazon and I cannot emphasise how great it is

So howd oes that work exactly? I thought the water had to be hot enough to properly mix the formula but that this in itself is too hot for consumption hence the usual need to wait for cooling down.

markpb

mordeith wrote: »

So howd oes that work exactly? I thought the water had to be hot enough to properly mix the formula but that this in itself is too hot for consumption hence the usual need to wait for cooling down.

It puts a small amount of hot, filtered water into the bottle (which you've previously sterilised). You shake it to sterilise the formula and then it fills the bottle with the desired amount of cold, filtered water. All you do is make sure it's been previously filled with tap water and the press the button. It takes us 2 minutes to microwave sterilise the bottle (if we haven't already) and 90 seconds to make up the formula.

lazygal

The FSAI does not recommend those machines. Formula needs to be sterilised, I don't know why you'd take shortcuts with food for a baby.
https://www.fsai.ie/faqs/bottle_feeding_safely.html

Anne_cordelia

lazygal wrote: »

The FSAI does not recommend those machines. Formula needs to be sterilised, I don't know why you'd take shortcuts with food for a baby.
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I have heard of more than one baby getting sick when using these machines too. Obviously anecdotal but would put me off.

Anne_cordelia

jakeypooh wrote: »

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

It's perfectly doable.

teggers5

jakeypooh wrote: »

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

Definitely doable. I find it the most practical way tbh. I have a 4 month old baby and it's how I've been making his bottles from the start. and it's how I made his older brothers too 14 years ago.
what I do is, put kettle on. fill steriliser with what I'm going to use and put it in microwave. it takes 8 mins and I leave it another 5 or so to cool down. by then the water has been boiled around 20 mins so I make up bottles, cool under tap and put in fridge until needed.
I do this twice a day making up 3 bottles at a time. apart from waiting for steriliser, it takes less than 5 mins!

pwurple

jakeypooh wrote: »

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

I'm not sure how "new" it is, it's how we were told to do it back when my eldest was a baby, and she's coming up on 6 years old.

It's perfectly doable and practical. I honestly don't know how much simpler it could get.

1) Stick kettle on to boil while steriliser is on
2) Come back 30 minutes later and make up all 6 bottles.

That's it. Done.


If you can't manage a two step process, changing a nappy must be a disaster altogether.

Carrie6OD

pwurple wrote: »

I'm not sure how "new" it is, it's how we were told to do it back when my eldest was a baby, and she's coming up on 6 years old.

It's perfectly doable and practical. I honestly don't know how much simpler it could get.

1) Stick kettle on to boil while steriliser is on
2) Come back 30 minutes later and make up all 6 bottles.

That's it. Done.


If you can't manage a two step process, changing a nappy must be a disaster altogether.

Most definitely the easiest way. And the only way make up comfort milk bottles in advance if your baby is in any way lactose intolerant.

jlm29

jakeypooh wrote: »

I sterilised bottles. Poured boiling water in to the oz i needed. Added powder when necessary.
2 healthy kids never sick.

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

My parents drove around with us in the back of the car without car seats. We didn't die, but that doesn't make it ok, and I certainly wouldn't do it with my kids.
Your kids were fortunate, and that's great, but formula isn't a sterile product, and I wouldn't feed it to my child without making it up correctly. Using the "never did my kids any harm" line is nonsense. "Know better, do better!".
The whole point of sterilising the bottles is to prevent a build up of bacteria from the formula, so if you're going to make them up cold water, you may as well just forget about the sterilising altogether!

Sligo1

jlm29 wrote: »

My parents drove around with us in the back of the car without car seats. We didn't die, but that doesn't make it ok, and I certainly wouldn't do it with my kids.
Your kids were fortunate, and that's great, but formula isn't a sterile product, and I wouldn't feed it to my child without making it up correctly. Using the "never did my kids any harm" line is nonsense. "Know better, do better!".
The whole point of sterilising the bottles is to prevent a build up of bacteria from the formula, so if you're going to make them up cold water, you may as well just forget about the sterilising altogether!

Exactly... I can never understand why people bother sterilising bottles only to put an unsterile product into them (by not making up the formula correctly). The mind boggles...

lazygal

Sligo1 wrote: »

Exactly... I can never understand why people bother sterilising bottles only to put an unsterile product into them (by not making up the formula correctly). The mind boggles...

And, its food for a BABY with an immature digestive system! Not an adult who'll be able to handle mild food poisoning. If you don't follow safety guidelines on how to reduce the chance of your baby getting sick from their main source of nutrition because it's too much hassle, I wonder about your priorities, to be honest.

Cork2015!

jlm29 wrote: »

My parents drove around with us in the back of the car without car seats. We didn't die, but that doesn't make it ok, and I certainly wouldn't do it with my kids.
Your kids were fortunate, and that's great, but formula isn't a sterile product, and I wouldn't feed it to my child without making it up correctly. Using the "never did my kids any harm" line is nonsense. "Know better, do better!".
The whole point of sterilising the bottles is to prevent a build up of bacteria from the formula, so if you're going to make them up cold water, you may as well just forget about the sterilising altogether!

@Jlm29 did you not read her comment??? She said BOILING WATER not cold water!

teggers5

Cork2015! wrote: »

@Jlm29 did you not read her comment??? She said BOILING WATER not cold water!

S/he also said "to use when necessary"
I also took that to mean the water had cooled down which means the bacteria in the unsterile formula powder was not been killed.

Sligo1

Cork2015! wrote: »

@Jlm29 did you not read her comment??? She said BOILING WATER not cold water!

I don't think you read the post JML quoted correctly... They said they added boiling water to the bottles and then added the powder when necessary. This is not the correct way to make up formula. Jlm is correct....

Cork2015!

teggers5 wrote: »

S/he also said "to use when necessary"
I also took that to mean the water had cooled down which means the bacteria in the unsterile formula powder was not been killed.

To me it sounded like she (as we did), made them up with boiled water and then let them cool down, our youngest is 20 months and this is how the PHN/HSE advised then:

1. Boil Kettle
2. Take 6 bottles out of steriliser
3. Fill the 6 bottles with the boiled water
4. Add formula
5. Close up the bottles and let them cool to room temp
6. Put in fridge

These were their official guidelines at the time (with several leaflets etc confirming the same)

HOWEVER I believe this changes all the time so if they keep jumping backwards and forward from one proceedure to the next then can either way of doing it really be that bad who knows

Sligo1

Cork2015! wrote: »

To me it sounded like she (as we did), made them up with boiled water and then let them cool down, our youngest is 20 months and this is how the PHN/HSE advised then:

1. Boil Kettle
2. Take 6 bottles out of steriliser
3. Fill the 6 bottles with the boiled water
4. Add formula
5. Close up the bottles and let them cool to room temp
6. Put in fridge

These were their official guidelines at the time (with several leaflets etc confirming the same)

HOWEVER I believe this changes all the time so if they keep jumping backwards and forward from one proceedure to the next then can either way of doing it really be that bad who knows

Think you misinterpreted the post there... They added the formula as necessary which means they could have added it immediately if necessary... Or when the water had cooled so much it was cold...

Cork2015!

Sligo1 wrote: »

Think you misinterpreted the post there... They added the formula as necessary which means they could have added it immediately if necessary... Or when the water had cooled so much it was cold...

ok im confused now lol, sorry if I took someone up wrong

I find this subject one that causes a lot of upset, I know for my wife in particular she got so much "advice" that she spent hours in tears on day as her sister had told her to make it up with cold water (which is what the HSE advised when her sister had her child 6 years ago).

There is so much back and forth

I loved the ideas of the little cartons of SMA, but as we were on comfort formula with our little ones we couldn't get it

jlm29

Two different posters on this thread have said they boiled the kettle, let the water go cool, put them in the fridge, and added powder when they needed it. Or that's how I interpreted them. They both said "my kids were grand", which made it seem as though they knew they weren't doing it quite right.
That's what my post was responding to.

seamus

Cork2015! wrote: »

To me it sounded like she (as we did), made them up with boiled water and then let them cool down, our youngest is 20 months and this is how the PHN/HSE advised then:

5. Close up the bottles and let them cool to room temp

Just to note, you actually shouldn't do this. Confusing, I know

If you leave the bottle sitting on the sideboard to cool down to room temperature, you may as well have not bothered sterilising it, as this is more than enough time for bacteria to breed and grow in the kind of conditions they love.

Cooling it under a tap or in ice is fine, as you're cooling it down quickly.

However, you can just put them straight in the fridge. There's a widely held belief that you shouldn't put hot things in the fridge because it will warm up the whole fridge and ruin everything, but this simply isn't true for a modern fridge (made in the last 40 years). The fresh bottles will easily cool quickly enough to be safe to use.

Cork2015!

seamus wrote: »

Just to note, you actually shouldn't do this. Confusing, I know

If you leave the bottle sitting on the sideboard to cool down to room temperature, you may as well have not bothered sterilising it, as this is more than enough time for bacteria to breed and grow in the kind of conditions they love.

Cooling it under a tap or in ice is fine, as you're cooling it down quickly.

However, you can just put them straight in the fridge. There's a widely held belief that you shouldn't put hot things in the fridge because it will warm up the whole fridge and ruin everything, but this simply isn't true for a modern fridge (made in the last 40 years). The fresh bottles will easily cool quickly enough to be safe to use.

We used to cool them to room temp by putting them in the sink in a lunch box and running cold water over them

Your probably right about the fridge by i just had a mental image of my poor dad, think he would collapse on the floor if someone mentioned putting something hot in the fridge, different generations I guess

mirrorwall14

I had been told so many ways to make bottles it was wrecking my head. Two years ago had the five day old baby in Tallaght and they made up the days bottles and stuck em in the back of the fridge. Happy days. Didn't make one at a time from then on though obviously continued to sterilise and use hot water for the formula. I figured if they made them up at once I could too

HS3

pwurple wrote: »

I'm not sure how "new" it is, it's how we were told to do it back when my eldest was a baby, and she's coming up on 6 years old.

It's perfectly doable and practical. I honestly don't know how much simpler it could get.

1) Stick kettle on to boil while steriliser is on
2) Come back 30 minutes later and make up all 6 bottles.

That's it. Done.


If you can't manage a two step process, changing a nappy must be a disaster altogether.

Our eldest is 7 and we were told not to do this. Each bottle had to be made up as you go. After 30 mins the water might be cool enough to sterilise the formula, but it's not cool enough for baby to drink. So you'd boil the water, wait 30 mins, add formula, cool it further under a running tap. Grand at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. ..absolute torture at 2 am! So not very practical, or doable!

wersal gummage

pwurple wrote: »

jakeypooh wrote: »

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

I'm not sure how "new" it is, it's how we were told to do it back when my eldest was a baby, and she's coming up on 6 years old.

It's perfectly doable and practical. I honestly don't know how much simpler it could get.

1) Stick kettle on to boil while steriliser is on
2) Come back 30 minutes later and make up all 6 bottles.

That's it. Done.


If you can't manage a two step process, changing a nappy must be a disaster altogether.

We have a baby a few months old and were told in very clear terms NOT to make up all bottles at once but each bottle must be made as required..... (told by the midwife /nurse who gave us the lecture on how to look after a baby before leaving the hospital).

So, as others have said, it is fine during the day but not great waiting 30 minutes in the middle of the night for a kettle to cool down.

Not sure if I've misinterpreted your style but you come across as incredibly condescending with your nappy comments at the end there.

Chocolate fiend

How has this gone to 3 pages without someone suggesting breastfeeding? No sterilising, no checking the temp, no drama :-)

It's not too late!

asteroids over berlin

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

How has this gone to 3 pages without someone suggesting breastfeeding? No sterilising, no checking the temp, no drama :-)

It's not too late!

Very true, however it can be one mother of a long road to get baby to attach and then for mammy to start producing the milk. Obviously it is the best though.

We have a now 10 month old and we always (after breastfeeding - we had to give formula too) boil the kettle, fill up the bottle to correct ml, add powder and cool under the tap or if you have a few extra mins, put the bottle in a bigger pot, wider circumference makes it cool quicker (put a cup on top to stop it floating etc). Boiling a kttle and waiting a 1/2 hour is not practical at night!!

Ms2011

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

How has this gone to 3 pages without someone suggesting breastfeeding? No sterilising, no checking the temp, no drama :-)

It's not too late!

Probably because the OP specifically asked for advise on sterling bottles & not on what method to use when feeding the baby.

lazygal

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

How has this gone to 3 pages without someone suggesting breastfeeding? No sterilising, no checking the temp, no drama :-)

It's not too late!

I thought that too but it's what the question was. Breastfeeding is much easier though.

IvyTheTerrible

lazygal wrote: »

I thought that too but it's what the question was. Breastfeeding is much easier though.

It only is if it works for you!

ando

Oh wow I started this topic not expecting half as many responses! Thanks guys for all the input. What we've done now which seems to work is sterilize the bottles, close them up and put them in a clean isolated cupboard. Max time to leave them there would be 12 -18 hours before re-sterilizing them. Then when needed, make up a bottle using the Tommee Tippee / formula.
This kills the formula bacteria before topping up the bottle to the correct level. Three weeks in now and my little boy is packing on the pounds and healthy thankfully.

I never thought there would be so much conflicting advise re this subject, I really thought (maybe I'm naive) that at this stage the world would have a standard and safe way of doing this, but it sounds like the goal posts are always changing. I think the thing is once you find a way that works for you and your baby then that's all that matters as you'll always have someone saying you're doing something wrong.

pwurple

wersal gummage wrote: »

pwurple wrote: »

jakeypooh wrote: »

This new way of waiting for boiling water to cool dor 30 mins making up all bottles cooling them under tap and putting to back of fridge just not doable nor practical. Def for people with time on their hands

I'm not sure how "new" it is, it's how we were told to do it back when my eldest was a baby, and she's coming up on 6 years old.

It's perfectly doable and practical. I honestly don't know how much simpler it could get.

1) Stick kettle on to boil while steriliser is on
2) Come back 30 minutes later and make up all 6 bottles.

That's it. Done.


If you can't manage a two step process, changing a nappy must be a disaster altogether.

We have a baby a few months old and were told in very clear terms NOT to make up all bottles at once but each bottle must be made as required..... (told by the midwife /nurse who gave us the lecture on how to look after a baby before leaving the hospital).

So, as others have said, it is fine during the day but not great waiting 30 minutes in the middle of the night for a kettle to cool down.

Not sure if I've misinterpreted your style but you come across as incredibly condescending with your nappy comments at the end there.

I've quotes the whole thread there so you can see it. You have it read right. It was absolutely intended to be a condescending response to this petty jab. "for people with time on their hands"
No parent has time on their hands. I couldn't even figure out how to have a shower and a newborn at the same time at the start. Where to put the newborn! You put her down, she pukes and chokes.

As I said above, there are two advised methods. One of which is make them up as needed, and one for make up in advance and store. Making them fresh is the safest method, but the storage method is also in the guidelines. I'll dig out the HSE guidelines there in a minute. It's not complicated, but yes, there is conflicting advice from health nurses, and the older set of families in the communities.

pwurple

Here are the HSE guidelines
See the section on safely storing them. They can be stored for no more than 24 hours. Make them all fresh.

http://hse.ie/eng/services/publications/Children/How_to_prepare_your_baby's_bottle_feed.pdf


Here is the way they advise making bottles up on the go.... not with cold water, but with water that is specifically hotter than 70c. This number is not pulled from thin air. It's the temp to make the formula safe, but not damage the proteins. Nowhere in this leaflet does it say make formula with cold water. There are specific medicated formula's which require this, but not you standard ones. They all require 70 degree water. It's also written on the pack of every formula.

Longer journeys
If the journey will be longer than two hours, or if you have no way of
keeping the feeds cold, it is not safe to bring made-up bottles.
The safest option is to bring the powder with you and prepare a feed
as normal using water that is hotter than 70°C. Cool it quickly and feed
your baby right away (see pages 4 and 5).
If you will not be able to boil water when you are out, you could fill
a thermos flask with boiling water to bring with you. If you fill the flask
and seal it, the water will stay above 70°C for several hours. You can
use it to make up a feed when you need to. Wash flasks well and rinse
with boiling water before you fill them with the boiling