Parentpedia

What Experts Say

Here's something to celebrate: Sterilizing your infant's baby bottles isn't necessary for healthy babies, say most pediatricians. In most cases, hot water, decent dish soap, and a good bottle and nipple brush are all you need to thoroughly clean baby bottles.

When it comes to cleaning bottles, both the dishwasher and washing by hand is fine (yet another reason to rejoice!).

Cleaning Supplies

You'll first want to make sure to have these items on hand.

A bottle and nipple brush.
There are many different designs available, and they all work the same way to remove milk residue.

"Just make sure the brush isn't scratching the surface of a plastic bottle," says Ivy Faske, M.D., a pediatrician in private practice in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Communication Committee. "The jury is still out on this one, but there are some studies that show disrupting the surface of a plastic bottle by scratching it (as well as boiling it) can leach a potentially harmful hormone disruptor called bisphenol-A (BPA)."

Dr. Faske says to make sure the brush has soft bristles or to use a bottle sponge if you're worried about scratching. Glass bottles or BPA-free bottles are another option.

A dishwasher-safe basket to keep your bottle nipples, rings, and caps in place while they get washed. Bottle manufacturers typically recommend you wash these items in the upper rack.

A bottle drying rack for when you wash by hand.

A non-antibacterial, non-concentrated dish soap.
Antibacterial soaps kill off bad and good bacteria, which can encourage stronger bacteria to grow, which is the last thing you want for baby.

And while concentrated dish detergent might do a good job at scrubbing your pots and pans clean, small amounts are so potent that using them to clean bottles usually means repeated rinsings to make sure a single bottle is soap-free. Stick to good old-fashioned dish soap instead.

Cleaning Technique

When you can, rinse the bottle and nipple right after a feeding. This will help prevent the milk from getting caked on, which makes it more difficult to remove later on. Before loading bottles and nipples into a dishwasher, give them a rinse and quick once-over with your bottle brush.

When cleaning several bottles at a time by hand, speed things along (and use less water) by setting the dirty bottles in a large bowl of warm water and soap suds. With self-cleaning you'll want to spend a little more time moving the brush around the inside of the bottles and nipples to make sure you're removing any filmy milk residue and the bacteria that loves to thrive in moist places. Thoroughly rinse each item and allow to air-dry on a bottle rack.

If you have the room, it's ideal to save part of your kitchen countertop only for drying bottles and preparing formula. Preparing food next to bottles could potentially contaminate them.

When You Should Sterilize Bottles

Bottle sterilization is recommended for babies with immune disorders, preemies, and before using brand-new bottles for any age child. And some doctors still suggest sterilizing bottles for infants 2 months and under, so check with your doctor.

To sterilize bottles, you simply drop bottles and accessories into a pot of water, heat to boiling and wait 5 minutes; remove items with sterile tongs and place them on a paper towel to air dry.