Tommee tippee prep machine cleaning

[edoodle]

Hoping to get some advice on keeping my prep machine clean. I’ve only been using it for a few days (baby is only a week old!) so there’s no rush but I want to be prepared for when I do need to clean it.

the instructions only say to clean using hot water every two weeks (is anyone aware if I need to remove the filter before doing this), and then descale if the warning light comes on, and change the filter when it says. This to me doesn’t feel enough to keep the machine clean tho? Surely I should be removing the hopper and cleaning it every so often as well as the inside of the machine. If so, how should I go about doing this and how often. I was thinking using hot soapy water for the hopper and lid, but I’m not sure about the inside of the machine itself. I’ve also heard people using sterilising tablets. Feel like there is a lot of conflicting advice out there (as there is for everything it seems)

Also when you take the filter out, which bit should you not touch? I’ve watched different video which say different things. Is it the blue bit at the top?

Sorry if this post seems very over the top, I’m a young ftm and struggling a lot with anxiety and just want some reassurance on what to do as I want to make sure machine is kept clean for little one. Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

I found this YouTube video to be really helpful. I probably cleaned it like this every few weeks:

If you're flushing with hot water definitely remove the filter and hopper and fill the tank.

I do a clean once a month or so with distilled vinegar as per the instructions they give online. Empty machine of water, remove filter and hopper, add 1 litre of distilled white vinegar and then top up the tank with boiling water. Then run a cleaning cycle to flush the pipes. It does say to then run a rinse with fresh water but I end up doing this four or five times as I've found it still smells of vinegar after only one rinse.

I wash the hopper, lid, bottle stand etc in hot soapy water.

I honestly found their cleaning instructions to be badly laid out, confusing and conflicting (depending on if you read the machine leaflet or their website) and not easy to find online (searches bring up a bunch of YouTube videos and third party websites which all give different ways to clean).

I've been using mine for seven months and haven't had any issues cleaning the way I do (though I haven't opened up the back to look at the pipes).

I would advise only using the TT filters as from research the third party ones seem to be where people are having most of the issues without mouldy pipework. You can usually get them from Amazon for around £8.

Never realised you were supposed to clean it 🤣 DD's been using it for 6 months and I haven't cleaned it once. She's been absolutely fine so I don't think it makes a huge difference? Might just be bubs having iron guts but who knows...

I don't think I ever cleaned it when DS used it 5 years ago 🤔 but I did clean it when we put it into storage and when we got it out again given it was absolutely full of dust!

I bought mine in 2019 and it definitely says to clean it using steralising tablets.
I also used to give the outside a spray and wipe with milton spray and clean the hopper etc with hot soapy water when I did the 4 weekly clean.

This is super helpful thank you! Glad I’m not the only one who found the instructions for cleaning to be quite confusing.

I plan to use the proper brand filters - do you know which part of the filter I should avoid touching? The instructions say hold from the top (assuming they mean the blue bit) but others say not to hold from the top?

@Laurakiaora

I just hold it at the sides on the top, probably touching a bit of both. You have to grip it quite well to give it a shake about in fresh water to remove the bubbles before use so I wouldn't worry too much which part you're touching. As long as your hands are clean it's fine, I think they're just being cautious in case someone were to get bacteria or something gross into the filter which isn't going to happen if you have clean hands.

Congratulations on your new baby, by the way 🥰

@Laurakiaora thank you!

Also got ours in 2019 and cleaned with Milton. You need to clean both inside (I swear it had a cleaning cycle) and give it a wipe down outside.