Sterilising bottles and pumps

I’m not sure if what I’m about to say will make sense but we’ll give it a go 🤣 NHS website says to sterilise bottles every time you use them but then re sterilise if you haven’t used them in a 24hr period. (Which I wasn’t aware of till now) I’m only pumping when I’m engorged but that’s normally in the middle of the night because LO is sleeping longer so then I’m waking up and sterilising the bottle and pump that I’ve used, so once I’ve sterilised them I may not use them for a couple of days but the milk I have been collecting I’ve been storing in the freezer so my question is the milk I’ve collected already does that mean I can’t use it in the distant future. I’m still EBF and haven’t tried her on a bottle yet but didn’t want to waste it so had been putting it in the freezer but since reading that you should sterilise them again if you haven’t used them in 24hours, I’m a bit confused 🤣 Any advice would be appreciated. I hope this makes some sort of sense 🤣

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The milk will be fine if stored in breast milk bags right? It's the bottles that need sterilising. I am new so I'm following for the comments :)

If it’s EBM going into previously sterile bottles it should be fine as the breast milk has enough antibodies in it to prevent harm x

@Jerry thank you, yeah going into storage bags x

@Peaches thank you, like everything is sterilised I just may not use it for a couple of days. X

@Cydney yeah i would be fine x

I EBF my 1st, he's 16M now and would very occasionally take a bottle. I'm also a microbiologist, and use autoclaved (steam sterilised) bottles etc at work and once steam sterilised they are pretty shekf stable (even for months). I would Milton sterilise pre 6 months and would re-sterilise after 24h because I didn't like how the solution would sit around and how it air dried as anything could be introduced to the inside of the bottles etc. If I boil/steam sterilised, I would take them out with tongues i had also sterilised, and without touching the inside of anything with my hands, put them together. I would feel more comfortable using them after 24h, but this was when he was 6m+. The fact that you're so cautious, would say that the chance of something being introduced to the bottle is very slim! Also, breast milk has sterilisating properties 😀

Sterilising is more for when you’re using formula as there can be harmful bacteria grow in it that is not killed by washing alone. As you’re using the bottles for breast milk the same level of risk probably doesn’t apply

My bottle guidelines say once sterilised if untouched it's sterile for 48 hours so I think it all differs. It's very unlikely as it's breast milk formula is more of an issue as there's a lot more chance of lingering bacteria x

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