Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

How often are you supposed to sterilize these items? Every use? I've been washing in soapy water then placing in a microwave safe container filled with water and boiling for 15 minutes. I feel like I'm constantly cleaning things. Are bottle sterilization units that they sell at BRU worth the money?

Baby didn't end up liking BFing too much so I'm pumping like 3 times a day. I'm really really exhausted and feel like I'm doing "double duty" b/c I'll feed her and then I have to pump... and of course everything else we all do. Just wondering if I'm doing something "wrong" or spinning my wheels.

Also any tips for getting babies to sleep more at night then during the day would be appreciated - our's is 2 weeks old as of today. We are waking her every 3 hours or so during the day and after the 9PM feeding we go to bed and let her wake us up - which happens every 2-3 hours...she's a much better day sleeper.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

DS woke up every 3 hours to be fed for quite a while, I think they should be waking up to be fed at around that time. I only sterilized the nipples, etc. the first time, then washed in hot soapy water the other times (or put in the dishwasher if I was running it)

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

My pediatrician told me to sterilize everything before the first use, but that I can wash in soapy water or put the items in the dishwasher after that.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

Unless your ped is concerned about DC gaining weight I wouldn't wake them to eat. NEVER wake a sleeping baby!

As for sterilization, I sterilized for about a month, then we got a dishwasher and all of the bottles went in there.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

I sterilized the nipples for the first use only and that's it. I wash all of the bottles and nipples by hand now.

I wish I had some advice about sleeping less during the day and more at night...at 7 weeks we still haven't figured that out yet. The first few days I woke Rylan every 3 hours but now if he's sleeping I let him sleep.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

Some people do sterilize each time, but you really only need to do it once and washing in soapy water or the top rack of the dishwasher is fine after that. This is what we did with DS and he has been fine.

If you have a sterilizer, I would take it backm unless you plan to do this everytime. You can sterilize everything in a pot of boiling water.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

I sterilized the bottles and nipples the first time and now I hand wash them with soap after each use.

As far as sleeping, Athan is 8 weeks old and for the last week I have been getting 6-7 straight hours from him at night - and NO I do not WAKE him (nor did I wake him during the day when he was younger). I have started supplementing a bottle of formula for his last feeding (he gets BM the rest of the time) and it seems to have helped - ever since we have been doing that he has been sleeping longer and longer and now we no longer have those late late night/early morning feedings. He gets a bottle of formula (3.5 ounces) in bed with me at around 11:00 pm and then he sleeps till 6:30-7:30 am when I have to get him up and drop him off at my moms apartment to get him to sleep. I know many moms don't like supplementing formula when breastfeeding - but I asked my pediatrician and he gave me the OK. Now we are ALL happier and Athan has no problems going from breast to bottle and back again.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

I asked my pediatrician today about the never wake a sleeping baby thing today and she outright told me that the baby needs to be waken to eat at least every 3 hours. In fact I asked what happens when she falls asleep in the middle of a bottle and the doc said to wake her up and finish the feeding. Everyone's different though and this is a "contraversial" topic. I'm just sharing what the doc told me. Sleeping with us or in our room is impractical and dangerous in our specific situation, so maybe the transition to the crib from the pnp while I was at my parent's house the first week. Now that we are home I have to use the crib, in her bedroom with the door closed - we have the monitor so we aren't ignoring her, we just have to keep the pets out - the pnp doesn't fit in our bedroom and could be a fire hazard so we decided this was best. But maybe the change in environments the last few weeks from womb to hospital to my parent's to our house may be messing with her a little bit. I'm patient and have about 10 weeks left of leave anyway so I'll be patient.

Doc also reassured me that at this point DD is too young to expect sleeping through the night or to allow her to "cry it out". We'll try that in about 2-3 months. For now I just have to convince daddy to stay in bed and let me take care of the late night wake ups while I'm on maternity leave so that he can function at work.

Message edited 5/19/2008 6:08:11 PM.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

I still wash and sterilize in the container after every use.

Re: Bottle/nipple sterilization and newborn sleep question

I boiled/sanitized everything the first time and now I just wash with soap and water.

I just purchased a steam sanitizer and for the past few days I have been sanitizing my bottles after every use. It just gives me added comfort.

As for the sleep issue, I wake every 3 hours to eat, and at night I let him wake me up (usually still every 3 hours, though sometimes I get 4)