وسائل التعقيم

Before You Start

Before sterilising, it is important to clean all your baby bottles thoroughly. This is best achieved with warm soapy water and a Bottle Brush or by placing them on the top rack of a dishwasher, on a warm cycle, avoiding strong coloured foods. Be sure to clean all bottle components, including teats and lids, ensuring all traces of milk are removed. For best results, this process is best completed as soon after a feed as possible to avoid giving the milk chance to dry. Once cleaning is completed, rinse off all detergent carefully. You should also wipe down worktops and surfaces and clean your hands thoroughly before proceeding to the sterilisation phase.

Note: Our baby bottles are dishwasher safe, but other baby bottles may not be. Check with the manufacturer or wash by hand.

Sterilisation Methods

There are a number of sterilisation methods available to choose from, all with their own advantages and disadvantages:

•  Boiling – boil bottle feeding equipment in water for 10 minutes, making sure all items stay under the water. Ideally, bottles should be used as soon as sterilisation is complete. At the very least, baby bottles should be assembled as soon as possible to help prevent contamination of the inside of the bottles. While this may seem straightforward, a downside to boiling is that it tends to damage teats faster than other sterilisation methods.
• Cold Water Sterilising – You can sterilise your baby equipment using a non-toxic cold water solution. There are a number of specially designed units available for this purpose, but you can use any plastic container with a lid. Baby equipment can be used straight from the solution, but you may feel more comfortable rinsing with cooled boiled water first.
• Steam Sterilising – Using a Microwave Steriliser or an Electric Steriliser is an easy and fast way to sterilise your baby bottles and other baby equipment. When using your electric or microwave steriliser, follow manufacturer guidelines carefully and you can’t go too far wrong. Closer to Nature’s sterilisers are quick, easy and ensure all products stay sterile for 24 hours as long as the lid remains closed.

For more information on what to do with your newly sterilised equipment, you may want to visit our making up a feed page. You may also want to read about descaling your steriliser.