Health & Baby
Should You Sterilize Your Baby's Bottles?
In the old days when water supplies were not reliably clean, it made sense to sterilize baby bottles. But now, sterilizing bottles, nipples, and water is mostly unnecessary.
Unless your water supply is suspected to harbor contaminated bacteria, it is as safe for your baby as it is for you. There is no reason to sterilize what is already safe.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children. Many of these deaths could be prevented with child safety seats -- and using them properly.Child safety seats reduce the risk of death by about 70% for babies and 55% for toddlers ages 1 to 4. Yet half of the children under 5 who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2000 were riding unrestrained. Take every possible precaution to keep your child safe in your car. All children 12 and younger should ride...
Read the Stay Safe in Your Car article > >
Sterilizing the bottles and nipples is also unwarranted. Thorough cleaning with soap and water gets rid of almost all germs. And once on the bottle, the nipple begins to pick up all the germs in the environment, so a "sterile" nipple and bottle is just a pipe dream anyway.
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