My daughter is 15 months and now no longer uses bottles. However while she did I used a microwave sterilizer. I found it very fast and easy to use - unlike the old method of boiling the bottles. The only problem I could foresee is that older microwaves may not have as much power and may not heat the water enough to fully sterilize the bottles.

My pediatrician only advised sterilizing bottles for the first six weeks. After that he said it would be fine to run them through the dishwasher. Since I breastfed for the most part, it wasn't ever worth buying a sterilizer and I would just boil the bottles for that time or when I bought them. Even WebMD states that unless there is harmful bacteria in your water that your water is as safe for your child as it is for you and that sterilizing is no longer necessary. Mayo Clinic says to sterilize for the first use and after that it's not necessary. So personally, I wouldn't invest the money for one time sterilization. Good luck and best wishes.

This might sound lazy (and maybe to some it is) but I only sterilized the bottles a few times with each of my babies. The first time when they were brand new, and then just kind of spot checking every few months. I hand wash the bottles every night, so I don't really feel the need to do more. When I did sterilize them, I just used a big pot of boiling water and let them boil for about 10 minutes. I think that we actually picked up some of the microwave sterilizing bags and then threw them away a year later.

Great answer!

Thanks, and thanks for the award!