When to stop sterilizing baby bottles

It's important to sterilise all your baby's feeding equipment, including bottles and teats, until they're at least 12 months old.

This will protect your baby against infections, in particular diarrhoea and vomiting.

Before sterilising, you need to:

• Clean bottles, teats and other feeding equipment in hot, soapy water as soon as possible after feeds.
• Use a clean bottle brush to clean bottles (only use this brush for cleaning bottles), and a small teat brush to clean the inside of teats.

  You can also turn teats inside out then wash them in hot soapy water. Do not use salt to clean teats, as this can be dangerous for your baby.

• Rinse all your equipment in clean, cold running water before sterilising.

You can put your baby's feeding equipment in the dishwasher to clean it if you prefer.

Do you need to dry bottles after sterilising

Putting feeding equipment through the dishwasher will clean it but it does not sterilise it. Make sure bottles, lids and teats are facing downwards. You may prefer to wash teats separately by hand to make sure they are completely clean.

The advice about how to clea

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