Hi everybody, Melissa here.
So a big question I had when I had my first baby was: how do I clean and sterilize bottles,
nipples, pacifiers, and all that very weird looking pump equipment?
I was never very good at chemistry in high school and all of this business of sterilizing
and sanitizing and steaming and all that just had me feeling totally overwhelmed.
Well thankfully, this is what I have learned: we are not living in the 1950's anymore when
everybody had cloth diapers and was boiling all of their glass bottles.
And the rule of thumb, according to the AAP -- I know I use them a lot of but they are
the gold standard- is that if you live in an area which has chlorinated water, you do
not need to sterilize all of these things regularly by boiling or otherwise.
What you can do, which is what I did and which a lot of doctors recommend, is you can sterilize
bottles, nipples, nipple rings, and pacifiers before your baby uses them the very first
time, when they come out of the box by placing them in boiling water for five minutes.
Okay, so when you take your bottles or pacifiers out of the box, check the little leaflet and
see what the manufacturer recommends.
They might say 10 minutes, I did 5.
Okay, so now let's talk about cleaning.
What do you want to do when you want to carefully clean all of your stuff?
If you're water is chlorinated, the AAP recommends washing everything in hot water with dishwashing
liquid and rinsing very well or running everything through a dishwasher.
Okay, so what do I do?
I actually do wash all of my things in very, very hot soapy water with dishwashing liquid.
I'm just a little bit freaked out by the heat of the dishwasher.
However, the AAP does say that you can use the dishwasher for these things.
I would definitely use the top rack only and away from the heat source of the dishwasher,
which is what most people recommend.
Okay, so now let's talk about all that very bizarre looking pump equipment.
I've got some of mine here in this bowl.
I did check and see what Medela recommends, I have always used Medela but you should check
what you're specific brand recommends.
And here is what Medela says for sterilizing and cleaning.
Okay, sterilizing.
Medela says that you should separate all the parts that come into contact with, get ready,
your breast or your breast milk.
Okay, so that includes the breast shield, that includes this little valve that includes
my favorite little white piece without which you cannot pump.
You have to take all of this a part guys, you cannot leave it connected.
This one is even a little bit stuck.
But it all has to be taken a part and in order to sterilize it Medela recommends boiling
for 10 minutes.
I would not include in this the tubing.
To me, the tubing does not come into contact with your breast or your breast milk so I
would not boil the tubing.
I would instead wash it with hot soapy water.
So here's a quick show and tell for all those of you who have never washed dishes -- ha-ha
dads!
Over the course of the day, I rinse all of my stuff with warm water just to get the gook
off and then I just throw everything into a plastic bowl.
Then at the end of the day, I fill this bowl with very hot water and dishwashing liquid.
I separate all of the pieces and I wash them well.
You have to be really careful to see that these little white pieces don't get dirty
on the back.
You actually have to take them off.
Do not lose them.
It's also very important to rinse your tubing too once in awhile if you are nursing like
this -run the water through it, it's sort of fun.
For the bottles, get a gentle flexible brush and use that to get into the nooks and crannies
of the nipples and such.
Okay, once all of this stuff is very clean and rinsed -- lay it in your kitchen on a
nice clean kitchen towel and let it dry overnight, ta dah!