sterilizing bottles and water

Donna asks:

Do
you sterilize the bottles you use for formula/breastmilk, and do you boil
the water?

I bottle-fed my first. We didn't sterilize. Sometimes we washed the
bottles and nipples in the dishwasher; sometimes we handwashed them in hot
soapy water. At that time, we were living in a city that had had lots of
lead problems, so we were very careful about running the tap before drawing
any water, and we always used the Brita filter. When we mixed up the
powdered formula, we'd heat the water in the microwave for a little while
first, but that was just to make sure the formula would dissolve properly.

-- Alpha
mom to Eamon and Quinn

On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 09:14:35 -0500, "Donna"
wrote:

A couple of times in the last few weeks, I've read posts by really reliable
people saying that they sterilize bottles, and boil the water that they use
to make formula. So now I'm wondering if the advice given me by my OB that
it isn't necessary to do so, was not correct. What do you all think. Do
you sterilize the bottles you use for formula/breastmilk, and do you boil
the water?

Although Sydney Water claim that the water quality in Sydney Australia
is excellent, the doctors here still recommend boiling water and
sterilising bottles. I think it is a CYA recommendation more than
anything. When I was pregnant with #1 in about August of 1998 there
was a huge contamination scare with potential cryptospiridium and
giardia in the water and apparently nothing has really changed with
the treatment before it hits our taps. There is also the potential
for lead contamination because a lot of the pipework in Sydney is over
50 years old. I guess what it really comes down to is whether or not
you know what your water quality is like in your house and that
shouldn't be too hard to test.


--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

now that is funny
I just read a can of my daughter's enfamil lipil with iron and it says to
boil the water.

Jennifer
mommy of 1
ariana 8/17/03
"Iuil" wrote in message
...



"Daye" wrote

It is not recommended to use hot water to make
formula because of the possible lead content.

I was also told that it destroys the nutrients in the formula too.

The advice here is to boil tap water and then leave it to cool for 20
minutes before making up formula. That way there's no risk of nutrients
being destroyed or of the baby being given a bottle that's still hot.
Most
people make up a day's worth each night and then leave it in the fridge
until needed.

Jean

Not to be a post hog lol
but I sterlized my daughter's bottles and nipples til she was 3 months old.
My doc recommended I do it because when I wasn't she had thrush (yeast
infection) really badly, even though we were washing the bottles and nipples
with hot soapy water.

Jennifer
Mommy of 1
ariana 8/17/03

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 09:14:35 -0500, "Donna"
wrote:

A couple of times in the last few weeks, I've read posts by really
reliable
people saying that they sterilize bottles, and boil the water that they
use
to make formula. So now I'm wondering if the advice given me by my OB
that
it isn't necessary to do so, was not correct. What do you all think.
Do
you sterilize the bottles you use for formula/breastmilk, and do you boil
the water?

Although Sydney Water claim that the water quality in Sydney Australia
is excellent, the doctors here still recommend boiling water and
sterilising bottles. I think it is a CYA recommendation more than
anything. When I was pregnant with #1 in about August of 1998 there
was a huge contamination scare with potential cryptospiridium and
giardia in the water and apparently nothing has really changed with
the treatment before it hits our taps. There is also the potential
for lead contamination because a lot of the pipework in Sydney is over
50 years old. I guess what it really comes down to is whether or not
you know what your water quality is like in your house and that
shouldn't be too hard to test.


--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

o now I'm wondering if the advice given me by my OB that
it isn't necessary to do so, was not correct.

The booklet my pediatrician hands out to new moms says that if you use city
water and make up each bottle as you use it (i.e., don't let the filled bottles
sit for hours/days in the fridge), you don't have to sterilize. (No time for
bacteria to multiply in a fresh bottle.) If there is any question about the
purity of the water (well water), or you make up bottles ahead, sterilize, but
a dishwasher is fine for sterilizing the bottles themselves.

Naomi

Sue wrote:

Our house was built in 1939 and we do have lead pipes. However, the house I
lived in when I had babies was built in 1972 and no that house didn't have
lead pipes. You can check to see if there is lead in the water and/or pipes
by having it tested.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

Donna wrote in message
...

"Jamie Clark" wrote in message
rthlink.net...

If your pipes are old and lead soldered, the lead can leach out with hot
water. Cold water doesn't leach the lead as much or as fast. I think

the

water sitting in the pipes can leach the lead, which is why they would
recommend you run the cold water for a little bit first.

Our house is brand new (well, 2.5 years old), and the majority of our

piping

in the walls is flexible plastic tubing. No real lead worries here.

Huh. No kidding. Learn something new every day.

How old is old? Our house was built in the fifties. Should I assume we
have lead pipes?

Donna






For us the general rule of thumb is: galvanized pipes = lead pipes.
Our 1909 house was packed full of galvanized pipes that had totally
corroded. We ripped them all out and put in copper pipes. The
galvanized pipes were installed in the 40s, IIRC. (before that, they
didn't have running water in this house) The corrosion is apparently
good for you, though - it coats the parts of the pipes that have lead,
keeping it away from the water. We ripped them out both for lead and
because the corrosion had reduced the size of hole the water got to pass
through, reducing water pressure. Some of the pipes are still in the
house, though, because they were too hard to remove from the walls. ;-)
They're not hooked up to anything, though.

Now we just have to deal with asbestos in the heating system and lead
paint on the walls and doors... (I'm rather ticked that they painted
the doors, though, because they are solid wood. We're going to work on
them this summer, *outside* and with proper gear as necessary)

DeliciousTruffles wrote:

Jamie Clark wrote:

No real lead worries here.


Unless there are some old lead-based water mains.


And at least in Canada, you can find out about this by phoning the water
company (or whoever supplies water). They have this stuff on record.
I'm too afraid to ask around here, though. ;-) I only know that our
street was completely redone in the 60s, and they said it was safe, but
I don't know about the stuff that connects to our street. It looks like
all the roads in the area were redone at around the same time, but I
don't know what connects to *them*. Sigh... ;-)

One other problem: even if the street has been redone and you've redone
your house, you could still be in the same situation as us, where we
have to redo our underground pipe (i.e. the one that comes from the
water main to the house). That will be a big job and we've been putting
it off. For *that* one, we know it's lead, but we also know that it's
full of corrosion due to a continuing problem with water pressure. So
we live with the low pressure knowing that at least we're probably not
getting any lead.

Vicky Bilaniuk wrote:

One other problem: even if the street has been redone and you've redone
your house, you could still be in the same situation as us, where we
have to redo our underground pipe (i.e. the one that comes from the
water main to the house).

It's called a lateral.

--
Brigitte aa #2145
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrow...elected=782084

"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 03:27:21 GMT, "Jennifer and Robert Howe"
wrote:

I just read a can of my daughter's enfamil lipil with iron and it says to
boil the water.

yep. On my S26 Gold, it even tells you to use sterilized bottles and
a sterilized knife (to level off the scoop).


--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
Updated 28 Feb 2004

I believe that all pipes are actually copper not lead, but they are soldered
with lead solder. It's a very minute amount of lead in the solder, and a
small amount of solder to put the pipes together, and even smaller amount of
solder would actually be able to come in contact with the water. But, there
are a lot of solder joints in a typical house. Clearly, in general, it
isn't that bad or that much of a danger, since they are still doing most
water pipes the same way.

I think the older the house, the more the risk. 25-50+ years old.
--

Jamie & Taylor
Earth Angel, 1/3/03

Check out Taylor Marlys -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest, Password:
Guest
Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up your own User ID and
Password

Handmade Baby Blankets -- www.geocities.com/digit_the_cat/Blankets.html


"Donna" wrote in message
...

"Jamie Clark" wrote in message
hlink.net...
If your pipes are old and lead soldered, the lead can leach out with hot
water. Cold water doesn't leach the lead as much or as fast. I think
the
water sitting in the pipes can leach the lead, which is why they would
recommend you run the cold water for a little bit first.

Our house is brand new (well, 2.5 years old), and the majority of our
piping
in the walls is flexible plastic tubing. No real lead worries here.

Huh. No kidding. Learn something new every day.

How old is old? Our house was built in the fifties. Should I assume we
have lead pipes?

Donna