Sterilizing

For those of you that have twins, did you sterilize everything before they came, such as bottles and pacis? I have a two year old so I am definitely going to clean out her old bottles really good but what about new bottles and new pacis? I already sterilized her old pacis. I am having no issues right now so I don't think they are going to come early so I don't THINK we will have any worries about their immune system not being developed. Knock on wood!!!
Also, with my daughter we used Dr. Browns bottles. This time I am torn between using these same bottles or using drop ins. I am thinking drop ins to save us a bit on washing bottles. And we have two bottle warmers too, did anyone use theirs or is it just as easy to use a cup of hot water? We are planning on making two days worth of bottles and then just warming them as we need them, unless someone has a better suggestion.

Thanks all!

 

Congratulations on your twins!!! For us, we just sterilized the nipples and the inner parts of the Dr. Brown bottles - we also sterilized their pacis before the first time they used them. We used bags made by Medela that you can put in the microwave with a bit of water. They work great and they're easy to use.

We used the regular ole Dr. Brown's which are a pain to wash, but the boys eat really well from them, so we didn't risk switching. We always made our bottles with tap water at feeding time, so we didn't have a bottle warmer and I can't help you with that. Sorry....

Good Luck!

 

Congratulations!! We had a bottle warmer, but didn't use it until they were drinking several ounces of milk. We just used really warm water while they were teeny. After they were a bit older, we used our bottle warmer all the time.

 

I also sterilized the nipples and insides of the Dr. Browns bottles before I used them the first time, and now I just wash them in the dishwasher. I had bottle warmers and never used them. I found that using a cup of water was much faster and easier. It seemed like it took forever for the water to heat up!

 

i didnt steralize anything - just washed everything real well in the dishwasher. the girls were bf for the first 3 mos so we didnt worry about huge amnts of formula. but now we just keep a brita full of water at room temp and make the bottles as needed -then we avoid warming alltogether. never even owned a bottle warmer, its up there with the wipe warmer in things i found to be unnecessary. but - the only time we do end up warming is if we have a leftover bottle in the fridge - yeah i know we shoiuldnt do that - but formula is expensive. then i just take half out and nuke it in the microwave and then mix it back in the bottle. warms it up enough to take the chill off. good luck!

 

I just ran things through the dishwasher that I could. Another great option that I used for pacis, breastpump parts etc. were Medela microwave sterilizing bags. They are like $5.00 for 4 or 5 and you can use them each something like 15 or 20 times. You just fill partly with H2O and then zap them for 2-3 minutes dump out the water and you're done. I also skipped the bottle warmer and just used hot tap water in a coffee mug to thaw breastmilk or warm cold bottles-worked great and doesn't take as long as it seems. We use drop ins because it is easier and they are BPA free. It is less washing as well! It does raise the cost a little, but we end up buying the generic Target brand of drop ins instead of playtex-that helps to save. I think a box of 100 drop ins for 8 oz bottles costs about 5 bucks and lasts a while (for one baby at least) You'll end up finding out by trial and error what works for you

 

used drop ins with silicone nipples and used silicone binkys so they specifically say on the package to only sterilize before first use (the silicone nipples)...

we fed cold from the fridge so never had nor needed a bottle warmer...

 

I used ventaire with my daughter but am going to use drop ins this time around because they are BPA free. Plus, we won't need as many bottles. I didn't use a bottle warmer with my daughter and won't with the twins. We used Nursery water at room temp to make bottles and eventually switched to tap water around 5 months.

 

I swore by our bottle warmer.

If you are w working mom and you have to pump a lot I think the bottle warmer is a must. We also made a pitcher of formula every morning and then used the bottle warmer to heat up the bottles.

I didn't sterilize either, just ran stuff through the dish washer about once a week with hand washes in between.

 

Yes, I sterilized everything before the first use. I started out sterilizing once a day and quickly digressed.

I never used a bottle warmer. Instead, I microwaved them for 7 seconds and swirled it so that there weren't hot spots.

You may want to check your formula directions. Ours was supposed to be used within 24 hours (yes, I know I followed the directions for the storage and not the microwaving but felt like I was overcoming the problem of hot spots by swirling it).

 

I use Dr. Brown's now. We used Avent at first and we sterilized them when they were new. We started using Dr. Brown's about a month ago and I did not sterilize them I just washed them by hand in hot water.
Dr. Brown's makes a mixing pitcher that I use to make a days worth of bottles at a time. My girls drink them cold right out of the fridge and have never had a problem with it.

Congrats on the twins!!

 

I found the bottle warmers to be much easier and faster than using a cup of hot water. I didn't have to run the sink until the water warmed up and the bottles got warm faster in the warmer than sitting in a cup of water. When the babies are drinking small amounts, you do need to pull the bottles out of the warmer before the timer goes off or they will get too hot.

If the babies aren't preemies, you just need to wash the new stuff in hot water or the dishwasher. If you're sterilizing anyway, you can throw them in with the rest of the stuff though and that might be easier.

 

QUOTE(CPERHAY @ Jul 15 2008, 07:56 PM) [snapback]878524[/snapback]
For those of you that have twins, did you sterilize everything before they came, such as bottles and pacis? I have a two year old so I am definitely going to clean out her old bottles really good but what about new bottles and new pacis? I already sterilized her old pacis. I am having no issues right now so I don't think they are going to come early so I don't THINK we will have any worries about their immune system not being developed. Knock on wood!!!
Also, with my daughter we used Dr. Browns bottles. This time I am torn between using these same bottles or using drop ins. I am thinking drop ins to save us a bit on washing bottles. And we have two bottle warmers too, did anyone use theirs or is it just as easy to use a cup of hot water? We are planning on making two days worth of bottles and then just warming them as we need them, unless someone has a better suggestion.

Thanks all!


My boys were born 10 weeks early and we sterilized everything before they came home. But just the once. Also, we didn't warm bottles. Just used room temperature water to mix bottles on demand. We would leave filtered water on the counter ready to go. Actually, we would prep the bottles in advance (i.e. have water poured out in the bottles with nipples and everything next to them) and then just add the powder when it was time to feed. I always found heating bottles to be too much work and there is really no need to heat them anyways. Plus, babies will get used to whatever you do. So if you start with warm bottles, it'll be harder to switch later.