Hi all,
I'm having major drama trying to clean my breast pump and bottle parts and I can't for the life of me work out what the problem is here. Looking for some advice or tips/tricks you guys have picked up.
I have tried all the bottle detergents/regular detergents. I use the Tommee Tippee 2-in-1 brush because the other brands have harder bristles and kick up foam all past my sink and onto the window and generally all over the kitchen. I clean VERY thoroughly. I soak all parts in the washing up bowl in hot soapy water first. Then I put MORE soap onto the brush to clean it. Then I rinse thoroughly in totally clean water, for quite a long time. I'm always being shouted at for wasting water 🤣 I even clean some by hand (as in, with soap and my fingers) afterwards to really make sure all the hard to reach bits are being cleaned. Then I transfer them into my steam steriliser. When they go in, they look SO sparkling clean and nice.
When they first come out, they look clean still, though not as clean as when they went in. I put them on the drying rack. Once they have dried (I don't like drying with towels or tissue paper) I go to pick something up and use/assemble it and suddenly it looks really dirty. Like, greasy, from the fat in the milk. There are blotches (more than just watermarks) and little white spots that look like bacteria growth or old milk almost. The drying rack sits on top of the steriliser and is deliberately in an area of my kitchen away from the stove or anywhere food is prepared.
To be clear, I'm a real neat freak. I'm borderline OCD about cleaning stuff thoroughly. So I am totally effing mystified and frustrated with this. It happens with my microwave steriliser as well. I have to then clean these parts and put them through the steriliser again like another couple of times before they are fully clean. And sterilising my feeding equipment already takes up way too much of my time being done once. I'm a single parent! I don't have time for this crap 😂
This mostly affects the softer plastics - teats, valve, and flange - not the harder ones like the bottle itself or the lids.
Does anyone else have this problem? It's driving me mad. I know I can leave all the parts in the steriliser and only open the box when I use them, but I HATE using and touching them when wet, and also, if they only "look" clean when they are wet, I'd rather let them dry to see if they actually are.
Any tips guys? I heard using salt is good to help dissolve the fat from the milk.
Thanks in advance guys!