We read, and our pediatrician confirmed, that there is no need to “sanitize” your bottles or nipples by boiling them or using some sort of specially purchased steaming contraption. Your dishwasher gets hot enough, plus the soap does what it is supposed to do. Our doc said that unless you can keep them sealed inside the steamer, they won’t stay sanitized anyway once they are exposed to the air. He says that way more parent introduce bacteria into their baby’s system by re-using an unfinished bottle of formula than ever will by not sanitizing a nipple.
Now, you don’t want your bottle nipples flying around the inside of your dishwasher, so what do you do?
First, get yourself one of these dishwasher baskets. Pop the rubber part of the nipple out of the plastic ring. The rubber part goes on the top part of the basket through the holes. If you pull them upward a little they should sort of “set” in the hole. Then, through the plastic rings in the bottom part. Don’t overload or they’ll block the water. I’m a little paranoid, so I give them a under the faucet rinse when I take them out.
Second, get one of these. Actually, get two of these. It will be about four days after you bring your baby home when you realize that you are washing bottles and nipples all the time (unless you are exclusively breastfeeding), and you really don’t have any place to put them to dry. Frankly, you really don’t need to bother putting them away considering how fast you go through them. This thing is your answer. This is what I give everyone for their baby shower. I always get the “Gee, thanks,” when they open it.  A week after they bring home the baby, they’ll tell me it’s the best gift they got (besides the big stuff).
These two things will set you up for cleaning and storing your baby’s bottles. Take back all the sanatizers and other fancy stuff. Go ahead and get store credit. You’ll end up needing so much stuff that you’ll blow through it in no time.
