How to Sterilize Baby Bottles: Practical Guide and Great Tips

We carry our babies in our bodies for nine months, which are the safest and protected home to them during this period. From the very first days of their lives, we introduce the world around to babies, and their fascinating life journeys begin.

When babies come to this world, we do our best to keep protecting them and making our kids happy and healthy. It’s our main goal to maintain the favorable, safe, clean environment around them. These little creatures are so tender and vulnerable so that the smallest detail can harm and impact their health. That’s why keeping the baby stuff clean and sterilized is paramount during the early period of your baby’s life.

My name is Kiara Harris, and it’s been a whole seven years since I started working in kindergarten. I raise my lovely daughter, and I know a lot about kids. That’s why I’m here to share my experience to facilitate your knowledge about baby care, as you may be overwhelmed with your new role as a mom.

I bet you’re wondering, do you need to sterilize baby bottles or not. That’s why I’m going to tell you more about sterilizing baby bottles. It may sound easy. However, there are so many important details that many women neglect or don’t even know about. Keep reading to know is it necessary to sterilize baby bottles, what are the main ways to sterilize bottles, how to sterilize baby bottles Tommee Tippee, when you may stop doing it, and much more.

Why Sterilizing Bottles Is Important

To understand do you have to sterilize baby bottles, you have to evaluate its importance in the first place. The main goal of sterilizing bottles is keeping your baby safe, protected, and healthy. Sterilization helps protect babies from germs, bacteria, viruses, and different pathogens that can provoke some illness, vomiting, diarrhea, and thrush.

Our mothers and grandmothers were sterilizing bottles by boiling. Today, sterilization is still desirable, even though the water we use is so much cleaner and safer. Most of the pediatricians insist on the bottle sterilizing because it is as crucial as it was decades ago.

Babies require extra care until they reach the age of 12 months as their immune system is not fully developed before that time. You need to know that milk is a perfect liquid for growing pathogens. Therefore, an unsterilized bottle can make your baby sick. Cleaning and sterilizing will help you remove milk or formula, dirt, bacteria, and destroy harmful pathogenic microorganisms. Hopefully, ‘why do you sterilize baby bottles’ is no longer a question now.

The Best Way to Sterilize Baby Bottle

Now, it’s time to tackle the question, how do u sterilize baby bottles. Here are a few common ways to do this.

Cleaning Stage

Before you actually find out about sterilizing baby bottles on the go, you should know that the first stage of this process is cleaning bottles. All bottles and other baby equipment has to be well-cleaned before you actually sterilize them.

After your baby is fed, you should clean a bottle in hot water with some soap. It’s recommended to clean every item well and make sure there is no milk or baby formula left inside. Although cleaning is not the way to get rid of germs, it’s a great way to get rid of substances stuck on the bottle.

The next step will be to rinse the bottle generously with fresh water to remove all the soap and let it dry. After you’ve done this, you can proceed with the sterilization process itself. I have described the most common ways of doing it below.

Boiling

This method is the easiest and the most popular way among moms to sterilize baby’s bottles by using heat. Here is your step-by-step guide on how to do this:

1. As I have mentioned before, make sure that the bottle is clean, and there is no milk left.
2. Put bottles and other baby items you want to sterilize in a container.
3. Pour some water, so all the items inside are fully covered. It’s important to ensure there are no air bubbles.
4. Wait until the water starts boiling.
5. How long do you boil baby bottles to sterilize? It takes around 10 minutes.
6. Leave all the items, including bottles, in the container until you use them for feeding your baby again. Remember to wait a little bit to let water get cold, so you don’t hurt yourself while removing items. Put safety first.
7. You can also leave sterilized items in a container and put them in the fridge when the water gets cold.
8. You will have to repeat the process if you don’t use bottles or other items within the first full day after sterilization.

Boiling is a great method because it’s doesn’t require any special equipment, and it makes all bottles and baby items sterile. However, there are some disadvantages, as well. For instance, baby items, bottles, teats will deteriorate faster because of boiling. Also, you should be very careful as you can burn yourself during this process. If you’re wondering, how to dry sterilized baby bottles, the most common way is to let them air dry.

Using a Microwave

Is it bad to sterilize baby bottles in the microwave? No, this method is also quite popular. Here is how to sterilize baby bottles microwave.

This type of sterilization involves steam or heat to clean baby items to make them as safe as possible for your baby’s health. It’s recommended to acquire special sterilization equipment that will help with sterilizing bottles in a microwave and make this process safe to you.

Remember to read all the instructions provided by a manufacturer carefully to turn on the required power of your equipment not to melt any item. If you don’t use sterilized bottles right away, check out the instruction on how long you can keep bottles in until you use them again.

Never put any baby items in the microwave without special equipment because chances are you will just damage it. Also, you are not allowed to put metal things in the microwave.

Here is how to steam sterilize baby bottles in a microwave:

1. Clean your microwave.
2. Put your bottles into the microwave sterilizer upside down and make sure that there is enough space left for the steam to come around the bottles.
3. Cover your bottles with water but not entirely, halfway is more than enough.
4. How long to sterilize baby bottles? Put the sterilizer in the microwave and steam it for one or two minutes.
5. Remove bottles from the microwave. Use oven mitts to avoid burning your hands. Let baby bottles air dry.

This method is quite effective and fast. You can purchase a microwave steamer for a reasonable price. The main advantage is that this method will not damage any of baby items as boiling can do, for example. However, metal items are forbidden to microwave. You should be extra careful not to burn yourself. One of the minuses is that microwave sterilizer can be pretty big.

Electric Sterilization

An electric sterilizer is another great way if you have been wondering how to sterilize Tommee Tippee baby bottles except microwaving and boiling. It’s possible by using an electric sterilizer.

This equipment makes the overall process easy to you as it is all automated. It uses steam to kill all germs and bacteria in a similar way as it happens in a microwave. To sterilize bottles, just clean them and put into the electric sterilization unit. Then, switch it on, and it will turn off automatically when the job is done.

If you’re wondering how long sterilize baby bottles, just check the manufacturer’s instructions provided. Also, check how long you can leave items until you need to re-sterilize them.

The main advantage of this method is that electric sterilizer is very simple to use and, what’s more important, very effective. All baby items are safe from degrading. However, electric sterilizers can be pricey and bulky as well. Also, there are ultrasonic cleaning devices on the market, that are commonly used to clean metals, but they are can be used for pretty much anything including baby bottles.

Cold-Sterilization Chemicals

The last but not least method of sterilizing bottles is using cold-sterilization chemicals. How do you sterilize a baby bottle with chemicals? There is a wide range of specialized substances available in the market, including ready-to-use liquids, dissolvable powders, among others. Most products contain sodium hypochlorite as an active element.

Follow these steps to sterilize bottles with chemicals:

1. Make up a solution, as indicated in the instructions.
2. Put baby items in a container. Cover them with sterilization solution.
3. How long does it take to sterilize baby bottles? Leave bottles in the solution for approximately 30 minutes. Find details in the instructions.
4. You can leave the sterilized bottles in the solution until you use them but don’t exceed 24 hours because you will have to repeat the process.

This method should be used only if there is no opportunity to sterilize bottles as describes above. This is because some babies can be susceptible to these chemicals.

When to Stop Sterilizing Baby Bottles

How long do I sterilize baby bottles? This is the main question I hear from moms as no one wants to spend time on sterilizing bottles over and over again. When it comes to answering the question when can you stop sterilizing baby bottles, you are required to sterilize them till the baby reaches 12 months. Baby’s immune system gets strong enough by this age, and its body becomes capable of coping with all germs and bacteria by itself.

So, one year is the answer to when stop sterilizing baby bottles. However, you should keep washing bottles properly, and the main advice is to do this right after you use bottles. Once the formula or breast milk dries, it will be much harder to clean off.

Quick FAQ About Sterilizing Baby Bottles

I got dozens of questions coming from women regarding the best ways to sterilize baby bottles and what the specifics of doing it are. Here are some frequently asked questions that might be useful to you.

Is It Necessary to Sterilize Baby Bottles?

Many women asked me, do I need to sterilize baby bottles, and my answer is always definite. Yes, you do need to sterilize baby bottles. You should remember that your baby is a newly born unprotected creature, and its immune system is not completely developed. So, it’s your task as a mother to keep things around your baby clean to avoid penetration of germs and harming baby’s health.

How Often to Sterilize Baby Bottles?

Another popular question I get is how often do I sterilize baby bottles. If you want to grow a strong and healthy baby, sterilize a bottle right after purchase firstly. It should eliminate all the germs and bacteria on the bottle.

If you have clean municipal water of good quality, then just sterilize it every once in a while just to be sure it contains no germs. In case your baby has a weak immune system, then you should sterilize not just bottles but also nipples to make them safe for the baby’s health.

Sterilizing bottles too often can damage the bottle and let chemicals leach into the formula or milk. These chemicals can harm the baby’s health, so always keep an eye on the condition of the bottles you use.

Does the Dishwasher Sterilize Baby Bottles?

A dishwasher is more about how to wash baby bottles before sterilizing. It’s a great way to clean baby bottles. However, the water temperature is not enough to fully sterilize bottles. Nevertheless, it will help you to get rid of the dirt and most germs. You can use the dishwasher each time after you use the bottle.

Keep in mind that sterilizing baby bottles from time to time is obligatory, and no dishwasher can protect your baby. Thus, choose the best way to sterilize baby bottle that works for you.

Does Boiling Water Sterilize Baby Bottles?

Boiling baby bottles to sterilize them is the most common way that women choose. This one is the most convenient and easy method as it doesn’t require any additional tools. Yes, boiling copes with this difficult task of sterilizing. Moreover, if you’ve been wondering how to sterilize plastic baby bottles, you can do this by boiling them as well.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been wondering before, do I have to sterilize baby bottles, then I hope this article gave you the only one right answer. I tried to accumulate the most valuable knowledge regarding this topic, which is based on my personal experience with kids. The questions do you need to sterilize baby bottles for breastmilk, how long to sterilize bottles for a baby, and others should not be an issue for you anymore.

How long do you sterilize baby bottles for keeping your baby protected? Not more than one year. If you do this more, chances are your baby won’t be able to cope with bacteria around on its own, and its immune system will be weak.

That’s not that hard to sterilize baby bottles as it seems at first sight. By knowing all the essentials, you will take your skills as a mom to the next level. It’s our main task to protect and take care of our babies. Implement these tips and practice, and soon, you will do this automatically. Being a mom is a hard work that each of us masters step-by-step, but everything is worth a smile of your baby.

I would like to know what methods you have used to sterilize baby items? Have I missed something? Share your experience in the comments down below!