Using Bottles Wisely

The American Academy of Pediatrics has several useful tips about bottle feeding and bottle usage that are worth summarizing. We’ve condensed their advice and posted it here:

1. Always wash bottles and sterilize them before using them, including after purchasing new ones. Washing a bottle and sterilizing it are two different things. You need a special piece of sterilizing equipment – you can get them fairly cheaply – to actually sterilize the bottles. For infants up to six weeks of age, it is strongly recommended that you both wash and sterilize the bottles. You can also boil the bottle parts in a large pot of water on the stove if you do not want to buy a sterilizing machine.

-If you are using a breast pump, the same information above applies to the parts and bottles you use for it. Be sure to read the instructions that come with the pump parts; not all of them can take the high heat of sterilization and may need special handling.

-Different doctors recommend different things, but after six weeks, your doctor may tell you it is fine to wash the bottles and bottle parts in the dishwasher if it is set to “sanitize” or “sterilize” at the end.

-It is best to practice the one use rule: if your baby uses the bottle and drinks some from it, consider the bottle and fluids inside used. Make note of how much they consume, but try not to resuse it later on. It’s unsanitary for the baby.

-There are all sorts of rules about how long breastmilk is considered fresh after being thawed or after being refridgerated. Just to make life hard for you, different sources do not always agree on these rules. Pick one you trust and paste the guidelines on your fridge. You’ll save yourself a ton of confusion!