Sterilization - Should you be sterilizing your baby's stuff??

I was talking to my sister (a mother of 4) last week while I was wiping down Willow's toys. When I told her what I was doing she said "really?" because it's not something she ever did. I just thought it was something that I should be doing and it made me wonder. Should I be sterilizing Willow's bottles and wiping down her toys and teething rings regularly? Or, am I wasting my time because it doesn't make a lick of difference?

I know we all know what Sterilization is, but just in case: Sterilization - "the use of a physical or chemical procedure to destroy all microorganisms including large numbers of resistant bacterial spores." (That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...one of the "media links" I like to use *wink*)

Before talking about sterilization it's probably a good idea to get a feel for the history behind it.

**As an aside, when I did a search for "history of sterilization" I got a bunch of information on reproductive sterilization. And coincidentally, when I told David I wanted to talk about this in MVP, that was his first thought as well.**

According to an article on iVillage (a division of NBC Universal), "In the 17th and 18th century there was a very high mortality rate for infants fed cow's milk. When pasteurization became available, technology allowed for sterile condensed milk to be used for infant feeding. However, during this time, the public water supplies remained largely unmonitored and formula was usually made in batches and left unrefrigerated, Thus, bacterial contamination tended to be a problem. Therefore, it became commonplace to sterilize the water, bottles, and nipples. However, by the 1950s, city water supplies became much better monitored and free of bacterial contamination. Studies were done back in the 1950s, which showed that babies could be safely fed formula made with clean (not sterile) bottles/nipples and tap water. However, by then, sterilization was so commonplace that it was difficult for doctors to stop recommending the practice to their patients, and it was also difficult for grandmothers to stop recommending it to their daughters."

I guess this goes to prove that tradition does not die no matter how unnecessary it is. I still boil the water I use to make formula even though it's completely and totally unnecessary especially considering we have a whole house water filtration system, so it's already been filtered. But boiling does make the formula dissolve better. And I am not alone. According to a Baby Center Poll of over 15,000 moms, 65% of moms at least semi-regularly sterilize their babies (at 3 months old) bottles with the most popular sterilization method being boiling water. Another poll asked what moms do when a pacifier falls on the ground. Of the 1,600 moms that answered, only 29% would either sterilize it or throw it away.

One of the gifts I got when I was pregnant was a sterilizer for baby bottles and nipples and we regularly sterilized Willow's feeding equipment for at least the first few months. Now that BPA is in the news, I wonder if that effects moms' opinions but that's another matter that I won't discuss here.

I also use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes to wipe down Willow's toys every couple of days. They kill 99.9% of germs, which gives me a good feeling and as long as you let whatever you are wiping down dry before giving it to your baby, you are all kinds of good. According to the Clorox website: "Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes are registered with the EPA for use on hard nonporous surfaces. They are effective against Salmonella, E coli, Influenza A and other common household germs."

If you're interested, there was a study completed at the Welsh School of Pharmacy which looked at the effectiveness of disinfecting wipes in killing MRSA in Hospitals. You can read it here.

Bottom line: You don't need to sterilize your baby bottles and nipples (soap and water are fine) but it's probably a good idea to wipe down and disinfect your baby's toys, especially if they have been sick.

And for those naive people who think that using a bleach solution (e.i. bleach and water mixed) or a disinfecting wipe to sterilize your child's toys, try doing your own research and you will discover that it isn't a bad thing and you aren't "poisoning" your baby as long as you let the solution dry before letting your baby play with the toys. In other words, it's perfectly safe.