Sterilising your feeding equipment

How to sterilise feeding equipment

There are 3 ways to sterilise feeding equipment –you need to make sure you clean and sterilise all equipment to prevent your baby from getting infections and stomach upsets until your baby is around one year old.

Before sterilising

  • Wash your hands with soap and water and clean work surfaces.                                                         wash hands.jpg
  • Clean the feeding bottle and teat or breast pump parts in hot soapy water.                                     soapy water.jpg​​​​​​​
  • Rinse all equipment in clean, cold running water                                                                                  rince.jpg​​​​​​​

It’s important to try to reduce the chance of your baby getting an infection as much as possible by cleaning and sterilising your feeding equipment. To do this, you should:

  • use a cold-water sterilising solution
  • a steam sterilising
  • or sterilising by boiling.
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using sterilising equipment.
Cold water sterilising
  • Change the sterilising solution every 24 hours
  • Leave the feeding equipment in the solution for at least 30 minutes
  • Make sure there is no air trapped – the solution needs to come into contact with all parts of the equipment to work properly
  • Using the floating cover to keep the equipment under the water
Steam sterilising (electric or microwave)
  • Make sure the openings of the bottles, teat or breast pump are face down in the steriliser
  • Check how long you can leave any equipment you do not use straight away
Sterilising by boiling

Check that whatever you sterilise this way is safe to boil

Boil the feeding equipment in water for at least 10 minutes making sure all items stay under the water

Be careful to ensure safety and prevent burns and scalds never leave hot pans and liquids unattended especially if children are present.

If you are not using the bottles immediately put them together fully with the teat and lid in place to prevent the inside of the sterilised bottle and the inside of the teat from being contaminated.

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(N.B: The Family and Therapies team at ABUHB is NOT responsible for the content on the webpage links that we refer to in our resource sections and linked information to external sites. All information was accurate and appropriate at the time the webpage was created.)

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