Some parents wonder whether they should sterilize a bottle before giving it to their baby. When in doubt, many choose to sterilize until their child is four months old, to avoid any risk of milk contamination. Sometimes at the risk of spending crazy amounts of money on a competition sterilizer!
But is it really worth the effort? 🍼
Medical-grade silicone: easy to clean
Thanks to its wide shape, yourinnovative BibRond lets your hand pass through easily, as well as anything else you need to clean inside. No need for hours of scrubbing! To prevent a film of dried milk from forming on the bottom of your bottle, you can rinse it with cold water after each meal.
Note that this is absolutely not necessary, and your bottle won't be any harder to clean afterwards if you forget. 😊
On the other hand, make sure it's perfectly clean before giving it to your child at the next meal.
Your silicone bottle has the merit of retaining its appearance and texture even after several washes, unlike some materials which can become opaque.
Sterilizing baby bottles: a task relegated to second place!
Sterilizing baby bottles is not considered mandatory by pediatricians. And even if it were, it's of course impossible to check every household and before every meal...
You can simply wash your little one's bottle by hand , or put it through the dishwasher.
Don't forget any nooks and crannies!
Leave your bottle to dry in a clean, well-ventilated corner, placing it where the water can evaporate. This will prevent the formation of condensation inside the bottle, which could become trapped and develop bacteria.
If you decide to sterilize your baby's bottle, this does not exempt you from cleaning your baby's feeding equipment beforehand. A feeding bottle must be clean before being sterilized.
Hand washing: the essential step before giving baby a bottle of milk
Before every meal, for that matter!
We may do it 10 times a day, but do we really wash our hands properly? 🤔
The method :
- Wash your hands with Marseille soap for 3 minutes.
- Work your way up to the wrists.
- Don't forget the insides of your fingers, or the backs of your hands.
- Rinse with warm water.
- Avoid nails that are too long, as they retain more dirt.
- Dry with a clean, dry cloth.
As a general rule, before making your child's meals, even older ones, you should always practice hand hygiene. Just as you would do for yourself before sitting down to eat.
There's no need to keep rubbing yourself with alcohol-based hand gel 😊
What if you still want to sterilize your baby's bottles?
If you still wish to sterilize your medical grade silicone baby bottles, here's how:
Sterilize your baby's bottle the old-fashioned way!
1. Prepare a pot of boiling water
Start by heating a pan of water and wait until the water is boiling. Do not carry your child in your arms or in a sling when handling the pan.
Push the handle of the pan towards the inside of your hotplates, to avoid getting caught in it and spilling it on you and your child.
2. Dip your silicone baby bottle accessories
Once disassembled, carefully place your bottle's accessories (ring, inner ring, lid, container) in boiling water to avoid burning yourself. Leave to soak for 10 minutes.
Only insert the physiological teat during the last five minutes of the operation. As it is more fragile, it should not be left immersed for too long, as this may impair its quality.
3. Remove the disassembled bottle from the water
Finally, remove each part of your bottle one by one and leave to cool without drying, so as not to reintroduce bacteria!
Using a sterilizer
If the previous method seems tedious, you can sterilize your baby's bottle using an electric sterilizer! In this case, simply fill the bottom of the machine's tank and place the bottle and its components inside.
The machine will sterilize your bottles. The steam that forms inside the bottle will complete the sterilization process. This more costly solution is also muchsafer ... The risk of burning yourself is virtually nil. Just be careful when removing the appliance from your microwave.
Cold sterilization of your silicone feeding bottle
This method, which is quite different from the other two, does not involve heating water, but rather introducing sterilizing tablets to destroy all forms of bacterial life on the surface of your bottle.
Tablets are readily available from supermarkets or online.
Let bottlessoak in the dilution for the time indicated on the packet (between 15 and 30 minutes). Without rinsing, simply leave the silicone bottle to air-dry. According to the manufacturers of these products, there are no known health risks for your children.
Which team are you from?
Team sterilization or team no stress?
Whatever you decide to do. The main thing is to always clean and dry your silicone bottle thoroughly before feeding baby.
If you had any doubts, you now know that sterilization is not essential.
One less task means more time to cuddle baby! 👶
