Sterilising baby stuff - when to stop?

Gingham_Ribbon

kit wrote:

Thanks guys!

I think I am being a 'normal' paranoid first time mum. I went to a weaning class held by HV and all it focused on was things NOT to do as you may do long term damage to your child! At the end of it I didnt want to ever let her eat anything ever again :eek:

realistically tho, how come I, and you, are here alive and kicking if EVERYTHING can do so much damage?!

I completely agree. I read so many weaning books and they ended up terrifying me. And they all said totally different things. Books that told you not to give them potatoes, books that said they were a good starter food, differences in when to give them food with nuts in, different advice on dairy, organic and gluten... It drove me scatty worrying about everything.

I have a very hungry, energetic son and I eventually relaxed due to the sheer volume of food I was making for him! We comfortably settled on giving him a fresh, vegetarian diet with organic diary and eggs. This worked for us because that's what I eat. (Plus far too much chocolate and pringles but that's another story!)

What I mean is, if you eat a healthy diet yourself, you can relax and give your baby what you eat. I think it's important to make sure they drink plenty of water and eat fresh food with no added salt, but apart from that we should all relax about food! After all, we all got here fine. You're absolutely right!

mumof3girls

i started to wean all of mine from 3-4 months, which is very naughty now i know but they needed to so i told the hv and she said, she is your baby.
i have never serilised bowls or spoons or food pots.
i was told by the hv on the first child that while giving in a bottle to sterilise them. no a days i have a dishwasher and have been putting them in there and have a special plastic holder for the teats and rings/ dummies. but to make myself feel a better mum i do put them in the steriliser once a week ish.
i have been giving her tap water for the past couple of months and she is fine, she drinks her sisters anyway.
as people have said they pick things up and get things of the floor, the baby (nearlly 1yr) when taken to the beach seems to love eating the sand and grating her teeth on large stones. i try my best to stop her but when on the beach how do you stop them from touching the sand???

bonvonnie

i didnt realise you could stop using the cool boiled water to make up the feeds.

for my 1st I continued to use cool boiled water up until he changed onto cows milk, and I intend to do the same for my 2nd, currently 8months

I steam sterilised the bottles and teats for a year too, but i hear you can stop aroung 6months??

I never sterilised the bowls, spoons or ice-cube trays.

Spendless

I put bottles that had had milk in in steam steriliser till she was a year old. Everything else either was handwashed or went in dishwasher.

grant1wish

We still use the steriliser and my daughter is nearly two!!

I think we actually use the steriliser as a storage unit, instead of leaving them on the draining board/dishwasher or in the cupboard. We use brita filtered water, as it tastes better, and is always nice and chilled coming straight out of the fridge.

She is an Orange juice junkie!

kit

Wow - thank you all for your advice.

I fed her from an unsterilised bowl today - I felt very brave! She had a sterilised spoon tho!

Just thought of something else I need help with........ she will not drink water. I have tried very diluted orange but she still wont drink that. She is having about 25 to 30 oz of milk a day - do I need to worry about her having water at this stage?

Sorry - I have tried speaking to my HV but it always 'doom and gloom' and I end feeling like a really bad mum!

telly-addict

Neither of my two liked water as a baby either. We used the baby juice, Cow and Gate I think, for my second and watered it down a bit. Pear juice was a real favourite, not as acidic as orange juice.

I would only worry about getting lots of water down them if it is really hot and they need the liquid - milk is only 2/3 liquid I remember reading somewhere. Baby probably gets so used to milk they feel they are being ripped off only getting water! My first wasn't very keen on juice either.

I soon gave up sterilising weaning spoons and bowls (the second time!), just washed them in the dishwasher and kept the spoons in a separate clean bag.

Bottles I think we sterilised until the end, which was 11 months. They were easier to clean we found if you filled the bottles with cooled boiled water and only added the milk powder when you needed it. This means you don't have to be extra careful about avoiding the powder getting in the teat and then sitting there until the bottle is used. Avent do a handy little powder container you can measure the scoops into and take out with you. It seems so long ago since we did all this, and it was less than 2 years ago!

babylon85

kit wrote:

Just thought of something else I need help with........ she will not drink water. I have tried very diluted orange but she still wont drink that. She is having about 25 to 30 oz of milk a day - do I need to worry about her having water at this stage?

Hi

Either try concentrated baby juice (and dilute it further than the 1 part of juice to 6 parts of water - I think it is) - or even try fennel tea - HiPP does them, and you can buy them from sainsburys stores, or order them from them direct!
My daughter (who is 6 months) absolutely loves fennel tea, and will not drink anything else apart from that (and milk)! I like the fact it isn't sugary like juice too.

Glad

try watering down her milk very gradually, a teaspoon of water in a bottle one day, a couple days later 2 teaspoons etc

jellyhead

telly-addict wrote:

Bottles I think we sterilised until the end, which was 11 months. They were easier to clean we found if you filled the bottles with cooled boiled water and only added the milk powder when you needed it. This means you don't have to be extra careful about avoiding the powder getting in the teat and then sitting there until the bottle is used. Avent do a handy little powder container you can measure the scoops into and take out with you. It seems so long ago since we did all this, and it was less than 2 years ago!

i can't believe i didn't think of that!! i'm so glad i read this, you're a star! i've been panicking about taking bottles out with us, keeping them cold etc but of course i can just take a bottle of cooled water at room temp then add the powder, so much easier!! we're going to alton towers tomorrow, baby will be a week old then and i've been and bought steri-bottles and cartons of formula - doh!

as for sterilising, i would still sterilise bottle teats i think, milk is more of a breeding ground for bacteria than other stuff.