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Bottles and Bottle Nipples – What You Should Know

5 December 2024

If you must clean bottles to feed your baby, make sure that:

  • You buy bottles and eating utensils that bear the Israeli standard.
  • Avoid using eating utensils that contain Bisphenol A.
  • Avoid using worn, torn or cracked utensils.
  • Choose a nipple whose hole corresponds with the flow rate that is right for your baby, to maintain their natural hunger or satiety mechanisms. If you are breastfeeding, and using the bottle to supplement, choosing the right nipple will maintain breastfeeding. For more information about attentive bottle feeding.
  • Make sure to wash and clean the bottles and nipples in hot water and soap after every feed.
  • Boil (with boiling water) or sterilize (with a sterilizer) the eating and drinking utensils once a day.

Baby product stores offer a wide range of bottles, matching nipples as well as cups and other utensils. If we look at several mothers and fathers, we see that each one chooses a different bottle. How can you know which bottle and nipple is the right and best one for your child? In the article below, we try to put things in order.

When purchasing bottles and eating utensils, it is important that they bear the approved Israeli standard seal in recent years, it has become increasingly popular to order baby equipment from websites and various locations around the world, particularly because it is less expensive. There is no way of knowing, however, whether the bottles and utensils are truly approved and safe to use.

Note: bottles can suffer from wear and tear. The bottle we used to feed our baby must be made of plastic or glass that is functional, intact and not broken or cracked. The bottle nipple must not be torn or worn. Make sure to replace any bottle or nipple that is cracked, worn, and so on.

The size of the bottle nipple hole affects the flow rate. To maintain, to the extent possible, breastfeeding and to help the baby feel full after a bottle feed, it is important that you choose a nipple that has a hole that corresponds with the flow rate that is comfortable for the baby. How do you know what the right flow rate is? Read more about attentive bottle feeding.

Remember: do not cut the bottle nipple to increase the flow.

Bisphenol A, also known as BPA, is a material used by the plastics industry to manufacture a range of products. Studies have shown that exposure to the material, even at low levels, can impair hormonal and reproductive processes. The Ministry of Health bans the use of bottles, cups and plastic utensils that contain BPA, and recommends replacing old bottles and cups, particularly those that are worn or scratched.

You should therefore make sure that you are buying a bottle that is completely free of BPA.

To read more information and standards for bottles and eating utensils for babies, visit the Standards Institution of Israel website (Hebrew) that updates the information and standards for bottles and products that come into contact with food and monitors recommendations.

  • Wash bottles and nipples immediately after every meal under a faucet without coming into contact with the sink to remove any residual milk. Before the next use, remember to carefully clean the bottle and nipple. Only use a bottle and nipple that has been completely cleaned before every meal.
  • If after the initial wash, you do not have time for a thorough cleaning, leave the bottles and nipples in a clean bucket and not in the sink, where other food that the family eats may be present.
  • After the initial wash, clean the bottles, nipples, rings and any utensils used in a bucket with water and soap. Use a special cleaning brush, hot water and soap when cleaning. Make sure that hot clean water passes through the nipple holes so that they clean out any residual milk of any kind.
  • Make sure to clean the bucket itself.

  • Once cleaned, boil the utensils and equipment for five minutes in a pot with boiling water, with the water covering all of the utensils.
  • Remove the utensils from the boiling water and air dry them. A special drying device should be used for bottles or any device for drying dishes. Do not dry the bottles with a kitchen towel or any other used towel but only a clean, unused towel.
  • You can also wash bottles and nipples in a dishwasher at a temperature of 65 degrees or higher or in a sterilizer.
  • The guideline says to sterilize bottles that are used for water and breastmilk at least once a day, until six months. Bottles used for infant formula should be sterilized at least once a day, until the age of one year.
  • Sterilization does not mean skipping a thorough cleaning but only supplements it.

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