Your Guide to Sterilizing Your Baby's Bottles

Caring for a baby can involve a lot of bottles. New parents often wonder if washing their baby's bottles with soap and water is sufficient, or if certain situations call for true sterilization (which kills nearly all germs). Though using clean equipment is important for your baby's health when bottle-feeding, sterilization isn't needed as often as you might think.

Here's what to know about sterilizing baby bottles, including how often bottles should be sterilized, how to sterilize baby bottles, and safety precautions to take when bottle-feeding your baby.

How To Sterilize Baby Bottles

There are plenty of options when it comes to sterilizing baby bottles and nipples before their first use. Note that these same techniques can also be used for sippy cups and pacifiers.

• Boiling water: To sterilize baby bottles with boiling water, submerge bottles, nipples, caps, and rings in a pot of clean boiling water for at least five minutes. Ideally, this pot should only be used for sterilization or, at the very least, cleaned thoroughly prior to adding the baby bottle.
• Cold water: Wash baby bottle parts with warm, soapy water, rinse with cold water, and then submerge in a container with a sterilizing tablet or bleach (1 teaspoon per 1/2 gallon of water), cover with a lid, and let sit for 15 minutes.
• Electric steamer: Electric bottle sterilizers use high-temperature steam to kill any bacteria or germs on your baby's feeding equipment. It's as easy as plugging it in, loading the equipment (with openings facing down), and pressing a button.
• Microwave: Fill a microwave steam sterilizer halfway with water and microwave for about two minutes, depending on the wattage of your microwave. Nipples and rings can be placed in water in a microwave-safe bowl.

How Often Should Baby Bottles Be Sterilized?

In the days before dishwashers and reliably safe water, manually sterilizing baby bottles, nipples, and pacifiers after every use was essential. This was the only way to protect bottle-fed infants from feeding-related illnesses. In today's world, access to clean water and dishwashers makes adequate bottle cleaning much less of a chore.

This doesn't mean sterilization isn't necessary, though, according to Rebecca Agi, MS, IBCLC, founder of Best Milk LA, a private lactation consulting practice based in Los Angeles, California. "It's important to sterilize your baby’s bottles before using them for the first time. Sterilizing all infant feeding items helps prevent germs from contaminating the milk you feed your baby," says Agi.

Unless you live in an area with well water or have a contaminated city water supply, you only need to sterilize new bottles and nipples before the first use. After the first sterilization, a good cleaning in hot, soapy water is usually sufficient. If the bottles and nipples are labeled "dishwasher safe," you can also run them through the dishwasher.

The caveat to this rule applies to babies with certain health considerations. "Sterilizing feeding items at least once per day is recommended for babies under 3 months, babies born premature, or those with a weakened immune system," adds Agi.

Bottle Sterilization Safety Precautions

In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration effectively banned the use of bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups after the chemical was linked to developmental problems in young children.

New bottles bought from reputable retailers should be BPA-free, but hand-me-down or used bottles may not be and should be avoided. If you're using older plastic bottles, routine sterilization via boiling can potentially cause BPA to leach into the liquid contents over time.

If you have any lingering concerns, talk to a health care provider. They can provide guidance on what method is right for your family, lifestyle, and comfort level.