Medela Quick Clean Micro Steam Bags. You can put up to two 5 oz. bottles in a bag with 2 oz. of water and sterilize them right in the microwave. What a space saver if you're staying in a hotel while greeting your newborn! Works for nipples, pacifiers and other accessories too. For the < $5 box I just purchased, I should get 100 or more sterilizations. I realize these have been around for awhile, but I just found out about them. They seem to be generally discussed in the breastfeeding threads and found in that section in baby stores too. I thought I'd move the info into this folder as well.

Our pediatrician wants everything sterilized for the 1st three months. More than most peds recommend I realize, but I wanted to be particulary careful while we were away from home greeting our newborn and then during our retun travel. The first time around, we took our Avent Sterilizer (which I love!). It was big & bulky though.

We're waiting again now, and I've been really cutting my list down to what we really will need this time. Last time I over-packed like you wouldn't believe! We even UPS'd a box of things home before leaving, realizing they were completely unnecessary for the first week or two. ;) I picked up a box of these bags yesterday and they will save me not only space, but weight in packing. Yeah! (This time we'll have two children and all their gear traveling with us.)

I've gleaned so many bits of helpful advice from these boards over the last few years that I wanted to share this "new find" I've discovered here in case others of you might find them helpful too.

-- Joyful Mommy (awaiting #2!)