To a newborn, or any baby for that matter, hygiene is a matter of sickness or health. Kids younger than three months old haven’t developed a robust enough immune system that can deal with nasty microbes. As always, you know sterilization will kill germs. But you’re lost when it’s how to sterilize Mam pacifiers in microwave.
The microwave oven uses heat as a medium of decimating coliform. Mam pacifiers are sold with sterilizing cases. These, when filled to a specified level with the water, help sanitize the binkies. For your baby that’s less than three months old, it’s best to put their pacifier through this process daily.
You must follow the manufacturer’s instructions when sterilizing your baby’s Mam pacifier in the microwave. You should also ensure that pacifiers are sterilized even when they’re brand new and haven’t come into contact with your child. Here’s how you use your oven to obliterate any microbial activity on your child’s binky.
How Do I Keep Up with Sterilizing My Child’s Ever-Mobile Mam Pacifier?
Despite being your child’s favorite thing, the dummy gets a lot of abuse and is almost constantly coming into contact with the floor. Your baby will fling it, lose it in nasty places not cleaned too often, and even step on it when they’re old enough to stand. The challenge is up to you to keep the pacifier as clean and germ-free as you can for the better health of your tot.
It boils down to sanitizing Mam pacifiers, and until you can get them off from using the binky, it’s something you’ll need to do often. Doctors recommend using warm water and child-safe dish soap for a topical clean, especially when your kid is six months and above. But to get any bacterial or fungal residents waiting to deliver sickness to your baby, deep sterilization is required.
That’s especially true for tots less than three months, where you’ll need to pop their dummy into the microwave at least every day. It’s also practical to boil water in the oven instead of over a stove, but it’ll hinge on whether your Mam pacifier has a latex or silicone nipple.
Steps to Sterilizing Your Mam Pacifier in Microwave
Before first using a Mam pacifier, you should boil in water over a stove. Most models come with a plastic sterilizing container. These are designed to be used in the microwave. You’ll see directions to fill this sterilizer with water and insert the binky with the nipple facing down.
Two ways are recommended for sterilizing a pacifier in the microwave. One involves using a glass container or microwavable dish, while the other uses the pacifier’s sterilization case. To do this;
- Fill a glass container or bowl halfway with water
- Submerge a pre-washed Mam pacifier in the water
- Run the microwave oven for two minutes on high heat
- Flip the dummy on the other side and run for another two minutes
The same application stands when using a Mam sterilizing case, but the manufacturer specifies the process. Microwaving your baby’s pacifier in its sterilizer container will involve;
- Add 0.9 fluid ounces of clean water into the container
- Submerged a pre-washed binky into the sterilizing case
- Run your microwave oven at between 750 to 1000 watts for approximately three minutes
- Let your Mam pacifier cool for five minutes while still submerged in the water
- Remove or pour water out from the case and leave the pacifier to dry
Which Types of Mam Pacifiers is Microwave- Friendly?
Once you’ve snapped the pacifier’s shield in place, you can use your microwave’s high setting to ‘nuke’ it for the recommended time. You can then air dry the dummy after squeezing out any water or moisture residue trapped within the teat. That can’t be done for Mam pacifiers with latex nipples as high heat promotes faster rubber degradation.
While latex is natural and more flexible than silicone, prolonged use changes its safety integrity. For instance, if your Mam pacifier’s nipple comes into contact with direct sunlight for an extended period, it can lose its orthodontic properties. Seeing as it’s an organic material, the rubber becomes unhygienic and sticky, but most moms avoid them due to the risk of allergies.
Nipples made from silicone are heat tolerant and won’t age so quickly compared to latex. However, they’re not as elastic or bite-resistant as rubber and are prone to developing cracks or tears across the teat-holes. It’s essential, therefore, that you closely inspect every binky after washing or sterilizing before you can prop it into your baby’s mouth.
Which Mam Pacifier Is Easier to Keep Clean and Germ-Free?
You can’t use a microwave or dishwasher for the regular cleaning and sterilizing of Mam latex pacifiers due to temperature limit specifications. It’s best to wash rubber nipples with water initially boiled in the microwave and then use some soap. Avoid placing the pacifier inside the oven, and you can also use a stove for the same purpose.
Thanks to Mam’s SkinSoft nipple, your silicone pacifier offers equal amounts of breast-like softness as with a latex teat. Its texture has an anti-slip surface that helps your baby’s binky stay in its mouth without falling off. For older kids, you can wash regularly and sterilize once in a while. But it’s advisable to stock some clean dummies for when they’re needed.
That’s because as they age, the more mobile they become, making keeping up with their pacifier’s hygiene challenging. Use a sterilized container to keep dummies that you have cleaned and sanitized. That includes a food container or using the same to carry dirty binkies when out and about.
Whether your baby’s Mam pacifier is made from rubber or silicone, don’t keep it longer than two months. Always perform checks, like tugging on the nipple or looking for signs of wear and tear. Teats whose holes have expanded or are torn can prove a choking hazard to your child. When your tot starts to teeth, these examinations will concentrate on teat looseness or damage from grinding.
Conclusion
Pacifiers that aren’t microwave-safe will require other cleaning methods. If yours is a Mam latex pacifier, use boiled but sufficiently cooled water to get rid of germs while keeping your eye on the materials heat-handling. Once you’ve removed the pacifier from any heat source, make sure it’s not hot before giving it to your child.
I’m Cathrine and I’m a 39-year-old mother of 3 from Utica, New York. And I’m extremely happy you’ve come to visit my hide-out on the web. Here I post about everything related to family-life and usually it will involve babies and lessons I’ve learned over the years from experts, friends, and my own mistakes. So hopefully you will find what i write fun and informational!