I have a few questions!!!

[futuremum]

Hello!!!

I know it might sound stupid but there are things I am not sure about and i know you lot do

1) I have a steam sterilizer, how long does it stay sterile for? does it have to stay in the sterilizer and the sterilizer not to be opened? Or can it be taken out and put in a cupboard?

2) I have expressed a few bottles of milk. If the baby does not finish the bottle, can I still use it later on in the day or does it have to be thrown away? Can you warm the bottle up several times?

3) do you sterilize the dummy once a day or every few hours?

thanks for answering

 

[Rosebay]

Hello!!!

3) do you sterilize the dummy once a day or every few hours?

thanks for answering

I can only answer this one I'm afraid. We've got 6 dummies which we use in rotation. If one falls out obviously it goes back in the steriliser, also once we've removed one that's been in use for a while I generally wash it up with the bottle at the next feed and put it back in the steriliser. I'm using a cod water steriliser with Milton so I just keep them floating in there until I need one.

By the way we had a talk from a dentist at our post-natal class today and she was pro-dummy and said she would only worry if they still had them at age 3, also that the orthodental shaped ones were a bit of a gimmic (though I like those as they tend not to fall out as easily!). Just thought I'd pass that on as I spent the first few weeks feeling guilty about giving him a dummy.

+++

 

[Urchin]

Hello!!!

I know it might sound stupid but there are things I am not sure about and i know you lot do

1) I have a steam sterilizer, how long does it stay sterile for? does it have to stay in the sterilizer and the sterilizer not to be opened? Or can it be taken out and put in a cupboard?

2) I have expressed a few bottles of milk. If the baby does not finish the bottle, can I still use it later on in the day or does it have to be thrown away? Can you warm the bottle up several times?

3) do you sterilize the dummy once a day or every few hours?

thanks for answering

Sterilized items stay in the sterilizer, fill them asap tho, they only stay sterile for 3 hours after you've taken the lid off.


As for the milk, it must be thrown away, never reheated


Useful link here:

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?pri ... icleId=641

 

[Kim]

Great link Urchin, thanks, it has answered loads of questions I had!

 

[Hypnorm]

Never reheat a feed - i feel quite dishearten when i have to throw my expressed milk away! I kept my items in the steriliser untill i needed them.
Also we had a post natal group talk from a dentist today and she said Dummies should not be used all the time after the age of one year if you do have to use a dummy only use it at naps and bedtime. As it can deform the eye teeth and push them out of line - she said she can always tell which kid has the dummy all the time. Also she said that the orthapeadic dummies are a waste of time and have no really advantage - is just another gimmic to catch mothers.

The lady also advised us that the first drinks that you can get for babies going to to the weaning stage although they are diluted they are not diluted enough i.e cow and gate fruit jiuice and mineral water. so the sugar could rot their teeth.. best to use just water or milk or if you do use juice dilute it 1 part juice to 10 parts water.

 

[stephlw25]

Does this mean that if i start a bottle and it goes cold half way through feeding i cant heat it up again in hot water?? if not why???!!!!!!
Yikes i have done this!!!

 

[Kim]

I think it's something to do with bacteria breeding???

 

[Hypnorm]

nice warm breeding environment for bugs to multiply and feed - bacteria etc.... could cause a nasty stomach bug.

 

[stephlw25]

Do you mean just for breast milk or formula too???

 

sterilising???? whats that i sterlise alanas bottles once or twice a week, i flat out refuse to. dont see any point. she touches every thing around the house including the dog and then 5 mins later she is eating her hands.... unless im gonna put her in a sterile bubble, i dont see the point.

milk, i give at room temp, but if she doesnt drink it all, it sits on the coffee table until she wants some more in a hours time and then use the rest of it.

not once has she been ill, even when both me and dan had flu, she has built herself a strong immune system this way, i think people are too clean. and too many kids have sore throats and ear infections tc

 

Does this mean that if i start a bottle and it goes cold half way through feeding i cant heat it up again in hot water?? if not why???!!!!!!
Yikes i have done this!!!

You can leave a bottle for an hour after warming up and then it should be chucked. If you heat a bottle and feed at 3pm, by 4pm the milk should be thrown away ideally (if the baby is not still drinking fromt he bottle). Babies can have bottles at room temperature - there is no need to re-heat them. When Damien was in hospital, he had milk straight from the glass jar with screw on sterile teat. Never heated it up unless it was expressed breast milk which had been in the fridge.

Same rules apply for both breast and formula milk (chuck after and hour, do not put milk back in the fridge, and do not re-heat). I never really understood why till I was told about the bacteria side of things.

hth x

 

[stephlw25]

[quote="Sami]
Babies can have bottles at room temperature - there is no need to re-heat them. [/quote]

Yes i know but Jamie is a fuss pot and wont usually drink it when its not warm!!!! gona be a fussy eater like his dad i reckon!!!

 

LOL typical!! does he not take his bottles very quickly ?

 

[stephlw25]

well by the time ive winded him a few times it usually goes cold! Lol
Plus its a lot harder to get wind up with a colder bottle i find anyway!!

 

yes thats true, I have Damiens bottles quite warm when we start but we wind him every ounce and by the end is it quite a lot cooler.

Don't know what to suggest hunnie

 

[lulu]

Hi,

Why dont you keep a bowl of hot water next to you, when you wind him/her, put the bottle in the water just to keep warm.

I have done this a few times, the milk hasn't got cold so your not reheating it, just keeping it at a certain temperature!