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Cold water sterilisers involve filling a container with water and adding sterilisation tablets or fluid to make a sterilisation solution. The active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, which is a mild bleach that has been through a purification process to make it stable and non-toxic. It’s perfectly safe to use, but does smell vaguely of swimming pool. Guidance from the NHS recommends sterilising for at least the first 12 months. After your baby's first birthday, you can start phasing our sterilising as their immune system will be strong enough. However, it's important to continue cleaning all bottles, dummies and other feeding equipment thoroughly even after you've said goodbye to the sterilising tablets. What are the different types of steriliser? The box contains five capacious, well-designed bags that can fit two bottles apiece and each bag can be reused 20 times, so they’re much more economical than they might first appear.
The vast Philips Avent ecosystem is a real advantage here – the Microwave Steam Steriliser is widely available, including in several larger supermarkets, and is supported by Philips’ responsive and detailed customer care system.
When can you stop sterilising baby bottles?
On the downside, the heating plate will almost certainly attract limescale over time so the steriliser will need descaling once or twice a month. You can buy descaling liquid for this, though all steriliser brands now include instructions for natural descaling liquid from store cupboard ingredients which is a more eco-friendly option. Electric sterilisers are also the most expensive to buy. 3. Microwave steriliser
Electric sterilisers attract limescale on their heating plate over time so will need regularly descaling (manufacturers will specify a frequency, but it’s usually once or twice a month). To reduce limescale build-up, pour out the water after every use and wipe down with a soft damp cloth. As well as baby bottles, teats and breast pump parts, you'll also want to steriliser dummies and teething rings, ideally once a day unless they are dropped on the floor outside. Milton do a travel steriliser that fits 1 bottle in. In theory any clean plastic container with a lid will do, but the travel sterilisers have the lines on so you put the correct amount of water in (as do the normal Milton sterilisers)." Recommended by Mumsnet user confused123456 Our verdict We find it really easy and it just gets kept in the microwave when not in use. It does four bottles at once which stay sterilised for 24 hours if you keep the lid on."Loved by Mumsnet user OvertiredOverthinker. Our verdict Do you have enough kitchen counter space to keep a sterilising unit out all the time? Would you want to if you did? Electric units usually stay plugged in on the counter – they’re too large to store and too bulky for it to be convenient to move them often.To descale, you’ll need descaling solution which you can easily buy in supermarkets – though most brands now give instructions for an eco-friendly version using vinegar. Pour in the solution over the heating plate and leave to soak for between 30 minutes and 24 hours, depending on the extent of the limescale. Pour out, rinse with cool water, wipe with a damp cloth, then run an empty cycle before using the steriliser as normal. Have multiple babies, use a lot of bottles per day or want to sterilise a variety of items including breast pumps, toys and dummies Items inside stay sterile for 24 hours and the lid is designed with a flat lip so it can be laid horizontally in a smaller microwave – a useful feature we didn’t find in any other travel steriliser. Baby plates and bowls, cutlery and sippy cups will also need to be sterilised if they’re used before six months but, after that, washing in hot soapy water should be sufficient. Should you sterilise baby bottles every time? Because travel sterilisers need to be compact enough to carry around, they’re usually short on bells and whistles. What we loved about the Milton Solo was that, travel steriliser or not, it’s more adaptable and comes with more useful design features than any other travel model we tested.
Plus, they’re usually more expensive to run than electric sterilisers as they have a smaller capacity (so you’ll be running more cycles) and microwaves ultimately use more energy. 4. Travel steriliser
The instructions are quite specific about how to arrange bottles and breast pump parts on the steriliser’s inner tray, but our tester found it easy enough to do (and also to ignore when she wanted to sterilise non-standard parts). There’s plenty of room inside for large bottles, small toys, dummies and breast pump paraphernalia. Drying function means bottles can be used immediately after the cycle without you waiting for them to dry or cool down It takes one touch of a button to start a cycle and, if you have any accompanying Tommee Tippee bottles, each bottle is clearly marked to show how much water to add to the steriliser – a thoughtful touch that our tester really appreciated. Kate Bennett says, “This is such an individual choice. It depends on what you find easiest, what your budget is and how much space you have. That’s before you think about what you’ll be sterilising and how you plan to feed your baby.” Relatively new to the steriliser market are UV sterilisers, which use UV light to kill bacteria. Their versatility means that you can use them to pretty much sterilise anything, including mobile phones and keys, however some UV sterilisers may not be suitable for sterilising natural rubber and latex (think certain dummies and the ever-popular Sophie La Girafe).
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