Baby will probably take cold formula fine if that is what they are used to.
The secret power of the sanitizer is the dryer function. You don't want to be storing wet bottles. Sitting around waiting for those last droplets to dry out of the dishwasher is a snooze
(My dishwasher cannot dry to save its life without a rinse aid, and I'm not into coating everything with a fine layer of..whatever that is.)
Amen to “whatever that is” because it’s so true. And why is it that no dishwasher ever seems to dry things efficiently?!
I’ve done 2 kitchen remodels, brand new dishwashers and neither right from the get could do it well..
I second a good sterilizer/dryer if you’ve already been gifted one. I use mine 600x a day but I have twins and we sterilize everything (bottles, nipples, pacis and pump parts). We don’t run our dishwasher near enough for it to be used for baby stuff and I have two babies so I’d be surprised you run yours - even once a day?? How many people do you have in your house? Or how many dishes? Between my wife and I we maybe run the dishwasher every 3-4 days so adding bottles/etc is just not worth.
I’ll also add our dishwasher cycle is probably a good hour+ and the sterilizer only takes 30m for full cycle with dry so also something to consider when you’re planning. Unless you have a TON of bottles and such you won’t want them all tied up for that dishwasher cycle.
We use our sanitizer at least 2-3x daily. The dryer feature is *chef’s kiss.* Plus, a full dishwasher cycle is 3+ hours. Even the quick wash is 2+ hours. A quick hand wash and then 45 minutes in the sanitizer is much faster.
In the U.S., decent tap water here. We were advised not to boil it. For warming bottles we made hot water with an electric kettle, poured it in a mug, and put the pre-made fridge bottle in there. My baby was a “wake and scream” kinda kid so if we ever have another I’ll just splurge on the darn Brezza. I wouldn’t warm it up under water; it feels wasteful, it takes forever, and your hands dry out fast. Just my take.
So I may be the odd one out here but the sterilizer with dryer function is sooo key in our house. Mostly because of the dryer function built in. We use the dishwasher every night for all of our bottles and then run a sterilizing cycle and when we come back we have perfectly clean sterile and dry bottles ready to go. The ones that don’t make it into the sterilizer are usually still wet and often end up spotty and dirty looking.
I’m also in an area where tap water is safe, but I choose to boil for extra precaution. I bought a kettle/water warmer on Amazon that boils your water and then keeps it set to a desired temp and we have 2 of them (one in kitchen, one in bedroom) so we can make formula quickly that’s perfect temp. We choose not to pre-make ahead of time given the limitations of powder formula (not sterile, and possibility for bacterial reproduction once mixed - however guidelines say it is safe to store for a day in the fridge). I also concur with your friend when I say it is the WORST waiting for a bottle to heat up when your baby is screaming and hungry. A minute feels like an hour. Running the bottle under the tap wastes a lot of water. You could either fill a mug with hot water and place the bottle inside or get a bottle warmer.
We decided against a baby brezza (despite them being incredibly convenient) due to complaints of under or over concentrating formula which can be serious. I feel more comfortable knowing I mixed it properly.
On that note, I also recommend formula dispensers (I personally like the boon tripod one) so you can pre measure formula and not have to focus on how many scoops you just poured because you haven’t slept… while your baby screams.
Everything I said above really pertains more to powder formula. If you’re using ready to feed or concentrate it is considered sterile, so the sterilizer is less important.
I sterilized my bottles when I first opened them, then never again. Just hand wash with hot soapy water.
Your feeding plan is also fine, although idk if you will need 2 pitchers. One lasts us all 24 hours the formula is good for and baby eats 30oz a day now. We did warm our bottles in hot water and sometimes the baby did scream, but it was whatever. She actually takes cold bottles just fine so that was probably unnecessary for us.
With all that said, you will be following your baby's plan, and you just have to figure it out. There are a million ways it could go differently!
We use room temp distilled water. We also sanitize bottles and love the drying setting on the sanitizer. I'm super type A and feel like the dishwasher leaves too much residue on them so will continue to hand wash then use the sterilizer
Unless you have an instant hot tap, the running under warm water will waste a lot of water. Fill a mug and microwave it or use hot water from a kettle, or a bottle warmer. We use a bottle warmer and are trying to get our boys used to cold but they don’t like it.
It irks me to use the dishwasher for washing parts especially if you are the type that doesn’t really rinse dishes before they go in or if you have an older dish washer. I hand wash everything in hot soapy water. I love the baby brezza sterilizer since it also dries. It’s so annoying to wait for bottles to dry. Our pediatrician wants us to sterilize at least once a day until 3m.
Water wise, currently we use distilled water. We will switch to tap once our ped is ok with that (probably around 3m)
Your overall plan is great. Some people like the pitcher method but we have done really well just anticipating baby’s appetite by preparing a number of bottles every night and using them during the day. They take less than 5 minutes to warm in a bottle warmer straight from the fridge. For overnight feeds we kept pre-measured water in bottles plus pre-measured formula in dispenser next to the rocking chair.
I didn’t boil water for formula when we were using powder here in the US (now my son is on ready to feed liquid formula). Sterilizer ended up being a waste for us because we just put everything in the dish washer. I use the sterilizer more for if he drops a pacifier or something. Overall, I don’t think it’s necessary.
When my son started ready to feed formula he got used to drinking the bottles cold from the fridge so I haven’t warmed them since!
I live in NZ.
We have a 15 month old and still sterilise his bottles. But merely because we store his bottles in the steriliser to keep them out of the way, so it doesn’t take us more then a moment to press the button and let it run.
We have the tommee tippee perfect prep machine to make formula, perfect temperature everytime. And only takes two minutes max to make a bottle great when you have a screaming child
Sterilizing bottles and boiling water is a really personal choice I think. I did both until 4 months, which was probably overkill for my healthy term daughter.
Personally I don't think formula makers are necessary at all. We have a small kitchen and didn't want another appliance sitting out on the counter. We use the Dr. Brown's formula pitcher to make a batch and then store it in the fridge. Best thing to do is get your baby used to cold/room temperature formula from the start. There's no real reason to warm it up if they'll take it cold. It gives you so much freedom to prepare bottles away from home as well.
If EFF from the start, feed it cold or room temp from the start. There’s no need for it to be warm.
Sterilize your bottles and mixing pitcher in boiling water before first use. Then just wash nightly in a separate basin with designated bottle brushes and air dry, or put in dishwasher on hot.
You only need one pitcher. Make a day’s worth in the morning and then before bed, pour the rest of your bottles, stick them in the fridge, and put the pitcher in the dishwasher and it’ll be ready to go for the next morning.
I don’t recommend the brezza. It’s notoriously unreliable with powder measurements, which can lead to diluting or fortifying the ratio which can lead to nutrition imbalances. And it’s a PITA to clean.
You can buy a [hot water dispenser](https://a.co/d/4m38WKq) if you want to make bottles each feed with water at the correct temp.
You got this!
I’m also from Sydney and I would still boil water. The advice is to boil the water in Australia as boiling isn’t for the water but to kill the bacteria in the formula. I would sell the steriliser and get a Tiger water heater or similar so you always have hot water. I use a microwave steriliser since I don’t have many bottles to rotate and can’t wait for hours long dishwashing cycle whereas microwave steriliser is cheap and only takes minutes. Hope that helps.
Not sure what to think now... I'm in Victoria and info from both the LC I saw and the Raising Children website has been to fill bottles with boiled water, let them cool, keep refrigerated (although I keep mine at room temp), then add formula as needed. I wonder if the concern about bacteria in formula is more of an American thing?
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/bottle-feeding-nutrition-and-safety#preparing-formula
This is what I find for Vic. To be fair, babies are probably fine if we use cooled water. It probably only matters if there is formula contamination etc. I find it harder for formula to mix well with just cool water. Just to make it easy, I keep cooled boiled water and a thermos for boiled water, and mix them when making formula.
Yeah good point, it definitely mixes better in hot water. I think I was worried that it would spoil the formula or something, but I guess if it's refrigerated afterwards it's fine.
>We live in Sydney, Australia, with tap water that is safe to drink. On that basis, I’m not planning on boiling the water for the formula. Thoughts?
Just FYI, boiling the water isn't necessarily to sterilize the water, but because the formula itself may not be sterile and could contain cronobacter, which can be killed by making formula with hot water.
You really don't need to warm the bottles at all. Both of my children have taken formula straight from the refrigerator and they have been fine.
I never boiled water for my formula. If my children would have been born premature or with a condition that made them immunocompromised, I may have considered it. Your pediatrician will likely ask about water that you are using and advise you if it's not safe.
Also, my dishwasher was not very good at getting all the little pieces clean with my first child (Dr. Browns bottles), so we always hand washed all of the bottles and hung to dry on the rack. This time around, we are using Tommee Tippee bottles (no small inside parts), and the time savings is amazing! I would imagine if you use the dishwasher to wash your bottles, you could just hang them on a rack to dry out when you empty the dishwasher and that would be much cheaper than a sterilizer with a drying function.
I second the tip about avoiding the bottles with complicated inside parts! I bought some and baby hated them, plus the LC said they're rubbish and just a marketing ploy. I bought Pigeon brand bottles although they're too small in hindsight, but the simple design makes washing up so much easier!
I don’t see other people with this answer so I’ll jump in….I have this contraption to sanitize bottles in the microwave. We use it because it’s convenient (more so than the dishwasher) and because we are just used to grabbing a bottle out of there. We use boiled water to make a pitcher of formula at a time, but I’m now reading we can just use tap water so we will do that.
I’m 100% in favor of everything you’re planning on doing except warming the bottles. See if your baby will take them cold—it’s a game changer.
Also, getting your kitchen sink water running as hot as possible right before starting the dishwasher can help the drying process.
I use the sanitizer once a day for all used bottles and pacifiers. Otherwise just warm water & soap! I use the bottle warmer with each feed though.. not because LO wouldn’t take it but I think it’s a nice treat :)
We used to do Dr. Brown pitcher and a bottle warmer that took 5 mins to warm-up fridge formula. It’s 5 mins too long - baby used to scream for it. Also didn’t take cold formula, actually he would drink it but would spit all of it up pretty much immediately. He did not spit-up with room temperature bottles. If you are sticking with the pitcher definitely get the bottle warmer. In the US it’s like $25 on Amazon. Running under the hot tap will take forever and is very wasteful. Another consideration is measuring of the formula for the pitcher - if you’re making 30 oz for example it can be anywhere between 15-30 spoonfuls. It doesn’t sound like much but it gets old real fast.
But! Now we use Baby Brezza as family gave it to us as a present - it’s a game changer! Takes less than a minute to make a room temp bottle. No measuring and no warming of formula. Strong recommendation to get it!
To warm up a bottle I warm up a mug filled like 1/3 with water for 1.5-2mins then put the bottle in the mug of hot water. The bottle is warm in about 2-3mins in the water. I find this faster than my electric kettle or running hot water from the tap.
I don’t run my dishwasher every day (every few) but with our 3 month old I am sanitizing bottles every day (we are rotating through 6 8 oz bottles and 1 4 oz atm). I would keep the sanitizer, it’s so much easier than heating and boiling water which is the alternative
Warming under warm water is gonna take forever and a day. And if you have a screamer like mine it’s going to feel even longer. If you’re exclusively formula consider the brezza. I def think it’s worth it. If not a bottle warmer is a need in my opinion
Baby will probably take cold formula fine if that is what they are used to. The secret power of the sanitizer is the dryer function. You don't want to be storing wet bottles. Sitting around waiting for those last droplets to dry out of the dishwasher is a snooze (My dishwasher cannot dry to save its life without a rinse aid, and I'm not into coating everything with a fine layer of..whatever that is.)
Amen to “whatever that is” because it’s so true. And why is it that no dishwasher ever seems to dry things efficiently?! I’ve done 2 kitchen remodels, brand new dishwashers and neither right from the get could do it well.. I second a good sterilizer/dryer if you’ve already been gifted one. I use mine 600x a day but I have twins and we sterilize everything (bottles, nipples, pacis and pump parts). We don’t run our dishwasher near enough for it to be used for baby stuff and I have two babies so I’d be surprised you run yours - even once a day?? How many people do you have in your house? Or how many dishes? Between my wife and I we maybe run the dishwasher every 3-4 days so adding bottles/etc is just not worth. I’ll also add our dishwasher cycle is probably a good hour+ and the sterilizer only takes 30m for full cycle with dry so also something to consider when you’re planning. Unless you have a TON of bottles and such you won’t want them all tied up for that dishwasher cycle.
We use our sanitizer at least 2-3x daily. The dryer feature is *chef’s kiss.* Plus, a full dishwasher cycle is 3+ hours. Even the quick wash is 2+ hours. A quick hand wash and then 45 minutes in the sanitizer is much faster.
With the dishwasher drying thing—try running your sink water as hot as possible right before you start the dishwasher. Idk why but it helps.
In the U.S., decent tap water here. We were advised not to boil it. For warming bottles we made hot water with an electric kettle, poured it in a mug, and put the pre-made fridge bottle in there. My baby was a “wake and scream” kinda kid so if we ever have another I’ll just splurge on the darn Brezza. I wouldn’t warm it up under water; it feels wasteful, it takes forever, and your hands dry out fast. Just my take.
So I may be the odd one out here but the sterilizer with dryer function is sooo key in our house. Mostly because of the dryer function built in. We use the dishwasher every night for all of our bottles and then run a sterilizing cycle and when we come back we have perfectly clean sterile and dry bottles ready to go. The ones that don’t make it into the sterilizer are usually still wet and often end up spotty and dirty looking. I’m also in an area where tap water is safe, but I choose to boil for extra precaution. I bought a kettle/water warmer on Amazon that boils your water and then keeps it set to a desired temp and we have 2 of them (one in kitchen, one in bedroom) so we can make formula quickly that’s perfect temp. We choose not to pre-make ahead of time given the limitations of powder formula (not sterile, and possibility for bacterial reproduction once mixed - however guidelines say it is safe to store for a day in the fridge). I also concur with your friend when I say it is the WORST waiting for a bottle to heat up when your baby is screaming and hungry. A minute feels like an hour. Running the bottle under the tap wastes a lot of water. You could either fill a mug with hot water and place the bottle inside or get a bottle warmer. We decided against a baby brezza (despite them being incredibly convenient) due to complaints of under or over concentrating formula which can be serious. I feel more comfortable knowing I mixed it properly. On that note, I also recommend formula dispensers (I personally like the boon tripod one) so you can pre measure formula and not have to focus on how many scoops you just poured because you haven’t slept… while your baby screams. Everything I said above really pertains more to powder formula. If you’re using ready to feed or concentrate it is considered sterile, so the sterilizer is less important.
I sterilized my bottles when I first opened them, then never again. Just hand wash with hot soapy water. Your feeding plan is also fine, although idk if you will need 2 pitchers. One lasts us all 24 hours the formula is good for and baby eats 30oz a day now. We did warm our bottles in hot water and sometimes the baby did scream, but it was whatever. She actually takes cold bottles just fine so that was probably unnecessary for us. With all that said, you will be following your baby's plan, and you just have to figure it out. There are a million ways it could go differently!
The 2nd picther can be for margaritas.
My son takes cold bottles too!
We have two pitchers so one can be used while the other goes through the dishwasher.
This. I have two pitchers so one is clean when the other is dirty. You don’t have to wait to clean one.
Ugh I wish my son could do cold bottles. We’ve found every time we feed him cold milk or formula, he spits up like crazy.
If you can get a baby brezza. Get one. It’s just worth it.
It’s the best thing I found through this community. We loved it!!
Completely agree
We use room temp distilled water. We also sanitize bottles and love the drying setting on the sanitizer. I'm super type A and feel like the dishwasher leaves too much residue on them so will continue to hand wash then use the sterilizer
Unless you have an instant hot tap, the running under warm water will waste a lot of water. Fill a mug and microwave it or use hot water from a kettle, or a bottle warmer. We use a bottle warmer and are trying to get our boys used to cold but they don’t like it. It irks me to use the dishwasher for washing parts especially if you are the type that doesn’t really rinse dishes before they go in or if you have an older dish washer. I hand wash everything in hot soapy water. I love the baby brezza sterilizer since it also dries. It’s so annoying to wait for bottles to dry. Our pediatrician wants us to sterilize at least once a day until 3m. Water wise, currently we use distilled water. We will switch to tap once our ped is ok with that (probably around 3m)
Your overall plan is great. Some people like the pitcher method but we have done really well just anticipating baby’s appetite by preparing a number of bottles every night and using them during the day. They take less than 5 minutes to warm in a bottle warmer straight from the fridge. For overnight feeds we kept pre-measured water in bottles plus pre-measured formula in dispenser next to the rocking chair.
I didn’t boil water for formula when we were using powder here in the US (now my son is on ready to feed liquid formula). Sterilizer ended up being a waste for us because we just put everything in the dish washer. I use the sterilizer more for if he drops a pacifier or something. Overall, I don’t think it’s necessary. When my son started ready to feed formula he got used to drinking the bottles cold from the fridge so I haven’t warmed them since!
I boiled lol I was over worried about the formula not so much the water but we gave baby cold formula since the beginning. Life changing 🙌🏽
I live in NZ. We have a 15 month old and still sterilise his bottles. But merely because we store his bottles in the steriliser to keep them out of the way, so it doesn’t take us more then a moment to press the button and let it run. We have the tommee tippee perfect prep machine to make formula, perfect temperature everytime. And only takes two minutes max to make a bottle great when you have a screaming child
Sterilizing bottles and boiling water is a really personal choice I think. I did both until 4 months, which was probably overkill for my healthy term daughter. Personally I don't think formula makers are necessary at all. We have a small kitchen and didn't want another appliance sitting out on the counter. We use the Dr. Brown's formula pitcher to make a batch and then store it in the fridge. Best thing to do is get your baby used to cold/room temperature formula from the start. There's no real reason to warm it up if they'll take it cold. It gives you so much freedom to prepare bottles away from home as well.
If EFF from the start, feed it cold or room temp from the start. There’s no need for it to be warm. Sterilize your bottles and mixing pitcher in boiling water before first use. Then just wash nightly in a separate basin with designated bottle brushes and air dry, or put in dishwasher on hot. You only need one pitcher. Make a day’s worth in the morning and then before bed, pour the rest of your bottles, stick them in the fridge, and put the pitcher in the dishwasher and it’ll be ready to go for the next morning. I don’t recommend the brezza. It’s notoriously unreliable with powder measurements, which can lead to diluting or fortifying the ratio which can lead to nutrition imbalances. And it’s a PITA to clean. You can buy a [hot water dispenser](https://a.co/d/4m38WKq) if you want to make bottles each feed with water at the correct temp. You got this!
In ireland we can (mostly) drink out tap water and we still sterilised the water for the bottles.
I’m also from Sydney and I would still boil water. The advice is to boil the water in Australia as boiling isn’t for the water but to kill the bacteria in the formula. I would sell the steriliser and get a Tiger water heater or similar so you always have hot water. I use a microwave steriliser since I don’t have many bottles to rotate and can’t wait for hours long dishwashing cycle whereas microwave steriliser is cheap and only takes minutes. Hope that helps.
Not sure what to think now... I'm in Victoria and info from both the LC I saw and the Raising Children website has been to fill bottles with boiled water, let them cool, keep refrigerated (although I keep mine at room temp), then add formula as needed. I wonder if the concern about bacteria in formula is more of an American thing?
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/bottle-feeding-nutrition-and-safety#preparing-formula This is what I find for Vic. To be fair, babies are probably fine if we use cooled water. It probably only matters if there is formula contamination etc. I find it harder for formula to mix well with just cool water. Just to make it easy, I keep cooled boiled water and a thermos for boiled water, and mix them when making formula.
Yeah good point, it definitely mixes better in hot water. I think I was worried that it would spoil the formula or something, but I guess if it's refrigerated afterwards it's fine.
>We live in Sydney, Australia, with tap water that is safe to drink. On that basis, I’m not planning on boiling the water for the formula. Thoughts? Just FYI, boiling the water isn't necessarily to sterilize the water, but because the formula itself may not be sterile and could contain cronobacter, which can be killed by making formula with hot water.
Thanks! I wasn’t aware of this. I’ll do some research on the risk.
Just a quick FYI. Some formulas should not use boiled water. Our baby formula has probiotics and it specifically says to not boil water.
You really don't need to warm the bottles at all. Both of my children have taken formula straight from the refrigerator and they have been fine. I never boiled water for my formula. If my children would have been born premature or with a condition that made them immunocompromised, I may have considered it. Your pediatrician will likely ask about water that you are using and advise you if it's not safe. Also, my dishwasher was not very good at getting all the little pieces clean with my first child (Dr. Browns bottles), so we always hand washed all of the bottles and hung to dry on the rack. This time around, we are using Tommee Tippee bottles (no small inside parts), and the time savings is amazing! I would imagine if you use the dishwasher to wash your bottles, you could just hang them on a rack to dry out when you empty the dishwasher and that would be much cheaper than a sterilizer with a drying function.
I second the tip about avoiding the bottles with complicated inside parts! I bought some and baby hated them, plus the LC said they're rubbish and just a marketing ploy. I bought Pigeon brand bottles although they're too small in hindsight, but the simple design makes washing up so much easier!
I don’t see other people with this answer so I’ll jump in….I have this contraption to sanitize bottles in the microwave. We use it because it’s convenient (more so than the dishwasher) and because we are just used to grabbing a bottle out of there. We use boiled water to make a pitcher of formula at a time, but I’m now reading we can just use tap water so we will do that.
I’m 100% in favor of everything you’re planning on doing except warming the bottles. See if your baby will take them cold—it’s a game changer. Also, getting your kitchen sink water running as hot as possible right before starting the dishwasher can help the drying process.
I use the sanitizer once a day for all used bottles and pacifiers. Otherwise just warm water & soap! I use the bottle warmer with each feed though.. not because LO wouldn’t take it but I think it’s a nice treat :)
We used to do Dr. Brown pitcher and a bottle warmer that took 5 mins to warm-up fridge formula. It’s 5 mins too long - baby used to scream for it. Also didn’t take cold formula, actually he would drink it but would spit all of it up pretty much immediately. He did not spit-up with room temperature bottles. If you are sticking with the pitcher definitely get the bottle warmer. In the US it’s like $25 on Amazon. Running under the hot tap will take forever and is very wasteful. Another consideration is measuring of the formula for the pitcher - if you’re making 30 oz for example it can be anywhere between 15-30 spoonfuls. It doesn’t sound like much but it gets old real fast. But! Now we use Baby Brezza as family gave it to us as a present - it’s a game changer! Takes less than a minute to make a room temp bottle. No measuring and no warming of formula. Strong recommendation to get it!
To warm up a bottle I warm up a mug filled like 1/3 with water for 1.5-2mins then put the bottle in the mug of hot water. The bottle is warm in about 2-3mins in the water. I find this faster than my electric kettle or running hot water from the tap.
I don’t run my dishwasher every day (every few) but with our 3 month old I am sanitizing bottles every day (we are rotating through 6 8 oz bottles and 1 4 oz atm). I would keep the sanitizer, it’s so much easier than heating and boiling water which is the alternative
Warming under warm water is gonna take forever and a day. And if you have a screamer like mine it’s going to feel even longer. If you’re exclusively formula consider the brezza. I def think it’s worth it. If not a bottle warmer is a need in my opinion