It certainly gets confusing when you are looking at breast pump and all the gear. Or choosing to start baby on formula.
You’ll also need to consider bottles, teats, and how you are going to sterilise the gear.
One bottle and one teat is the basic of what you need, it just means that you’ll have to wash and sterilize it every time. Most mums get buy with 3 or so bottles, so they have a couple spare.
Cleaning
Before sterilizing, make sure that all items that have been in contact with milk are washed in hot soapy water, and rinsed. It is better to have a special brush that you use for baby bottles (such as bottle cleaning brush) because these fit into the neck of bottles better, and just incase your partner uses your usual dishbrush on the BBQ!
Sterilising
Medela don’t recommend using microwave sterilizers or electronic sterizliers, as they are harsh on the plastics and may cause plastics to wear out quicker. (But many mums do use them because they are so much easier).Either our Microwave Sterilizer or the Avent Sterilizer will still fit the medela pieces.
Medela do have their own Microwave Sterilization Bags. These come in a pack with 5 bags (which can each be used 20 times). So 100 uses per box.
The other option is boiling all the pieces that come into contact with milk, boiling them in a saucepan. You have to wait for the water to boil, and then when boiling immerse all the pieces for a full 4 minutes to sterilize. Don’t leave the pot unattended!
The other option is using sterilizing tablets. You get a large plastic box with a lid. Fill with water. Add a tablet and put on the lid. And it takes about 15 minutes for them to sterilize.
Hope that helps answer your questions
