Sanitizing baby bottles saves your child against attack by viral and bacterial attack. Read on to find tips on how to sanitize/sterilize baby bottles.
Sanitizing Baby Bottles
Babies are quiet vulnerable to viruses, bacteria and parasitic infections. These infections can lead to any mild attack of thrush to the more serious conditions of gastroenteritis. So to save your babies from these infections, it is important to keep them in a clean and healthy environment. One of the very important items that need utmost care is your baby’s feeding bottle. Baby’s bottle should be properly sanitized. Some people think that a bottle just bought from the store is clean, so what is the need of sanitizing it. The newly bought bottles are actually not clean. The bottles and nipples are coated with many chemicals, while they were being manufactured. Thereafter, they are packaged by people, sent to stores and then stocked on the shelves by people, thus traveling through many hands. Another important reason for which you should sterilize the bottles is bacteria. Have you ever forgotten the bottle in the diaper bag? Have you ever left the bottle unwashed for a certain time period to wash it later? Bacteria can grow in these bottles very easily, due to the milk particles left in the bottle, the warmth inside the bottle, and the dampness inside. So, to keep away these bacteria and infection from affecting your kid, it is advisable to sterilize the bottles properly. Sterilizing the bottles will keep them germ free and fresh, and will save your baby from any risk of getting infected.
How To Sanitize Baby’s Bottles
- One of the simplest ways to sanitize the bottle and keep it germ free is by boiling it. All the bottle-feeding equipments should be boiled for, at least, 10 minutes. The utensil you use should be for this purpose specifically. All you need to do is to wash the baby’s bottle first and then, place it in a pan of boiling water. One precaution that needs to be taken is that the rubber nipple of the bottle should be replaced on a timely basis, as it can get sticky due to constant heat exposure.
- These days, there are bottles available that are microwave resistant. These bottles can be sterilized in the microwave on their own. It just takes 90 seconds to sterilize a bottle. One precaution to be taken while putting the bottle inside the microwave is that it should not be sealed, as pressure might build inside during the heating process.
- There are many bottle sanitizers available in the market that are designed by using the method of steam sterilization. In this method, the bottle and the rubber nipple should be kept in the upside down manner. Precaution should be taken while opening the lid of the steamer, as the insides might get pretty hot. This entire process takes 15 minutes for proper sanitization of the bottles.
- Another method of sanitizing baby’s bottles is the cold water sterilizing. This method uses non-toxic, chlorine free solutions or tablets for sanitizing the bottles. These tablets are so safe that they can be applied on the skin or even swallowed without any harmful effects.
- Select the hottest cycle on your dishwasher and choose the drying option. The heat generated in the process acts like a sterilizer. If your dishwasher does not have an upper rack with its own water source just below, choose a different option for cleaning baby bottles.
- You can even sterilize the bottles and nipples by placing them at the bottom of a deep pot and covering it with water. Place a lid on the pot and bring it to boiling point. The bottle should be allowed to simmer for 20 minutes before removal and then, put it for drying on a clean towel. If it is a glass bottle, place a wash cloth underneath it, in the pot, to prevent breakage.
- You can use a stove top sterilizer. It uses a rack to hold the bottles and other equipments and proceed with the sterilizing process. Do not leave the sterilized bottle for a long time in your working place as it may again get contaminated.
- An electric sterilizer is also of much use. It is specifically designed to hold more than one bottle. It can also be carried out while travelling, this adds to its benefit.
