Mildew in sippies!! ew!

So, I posted a long time ago on the FY boards about black gunk in my sippy cups. Recently I realized that it has to be mildew. Gross! Does anyone else have this? How do you get them dry enough this doesn't happen? Is it just my water? Does it matter if I put them in the diswasher or hand wash them? Really, I'm not a dirty person, I just don't know how to fix this. Can anyone enlighten me? By the way, these are the gerber sippy cups.

 

So, I posted a long time ago on the FY boards about black gunk in my sippy cups. Recently I realized that it has to be mildew. Gross! Does anyone else have this? How do you get them dry enough this doesn't happen? Is it just my water? Does it matter if I put them in the diswasher or hand wash them? Really, I'm not a dirty person, I just don't know how to fix this. Can anyone enlighten me? By the way, these are the gerber sippy cups.

 

Which part of the sippy cup was it? The cup itself, the valve, or the lid? Once every few weeks I will boil a kettle of water and take all the valves and all the lids from "clean" sippy cups and put them in a big glass jar. Then I pour the boiling water over them and let them sit for about 5min. Its amazing how much gunky sediment is left after I take the lids and valves out. I dont know if its really sanitizing anything, but it makes me feel better! HTH

 

It's mostly in the lids and valves. Isn't mildew the result of moisture, though? WOuld boiling water take care of that?

 

It happened to me once w/ Berkley about 5 yrs ago.
Since then I treat mine the same.
I wash all of the parts in the dishwasher, once they're clean I shake/tap off excess water and leave them all spread out on a towel to dry overnight, then put them together in the morning.
It honestly hasn't happened again since that one time. I was pretty freaked out by it and am now pretty OCD about making sure every piece is uberdry.

 

My girls cups will do this as well...any of their cups in the past and even the sipsters they use now. I clean them well with a little brush and soap in all the cracks and crevices and I use a pipecleaner down any straws etc, everyday.

Every once in awhile they go into the dishwasher but mostly I do them by hand, since they are being refilled.

We tend to just use them for milk and water and its only the milk ones that do this...even though I'm good at not leaving them out long, I'm sure that anytime out of the fridge contributes to it.
I keep their cups in the fridge except at meal times or when they get them themselves for a drink.

 

I don't use the no spill things for this reason. And I dismantle every piece before running it through the dishwasher. I do allow them to dry as much as possible.

 

Yes, boiling them will KILL the mold and mildew, but you'd need to make sure they were 100% dry before putting them back together. When you take them out of the dishwaher, are you screwing them together or letting them dry completely? Don't put them all back together until they are dry...that will help. I'd soak them in a 10% bleach solution, too every few days. Then, put them in the dishwasher to make sure the bleach gets rinsed off really well. I couldn't get the black off of one of mine the other day (accidentally left it in the car). so, I threw it away.

 

This happened to the sippies at my mom's house. She didn't realize you have to take the valves out of the lid part. Ugh, I opened up two sippies to give them some milk, and yuck! The smell about knocked me out. It was all black and nasty. Anyway, she soaked them in a bleach solution and ran them through the dishwasher on sanitize and they are OK now. Make sure the sippies are completely dismantled and very dry before putting them back together. HTH!

 

This is why I don't put the sippies together until they are ready to be used. I have three collenders of different sizes. After washing, I put the cups in the big one, the lids in the middle one and the valves and straw parts in the smallest one. They stay there until they are reassbled just before filling. But I think my kitchen is unique in that I actually have more counter space than cupboard space!

 

I DO always disassemble them. Maybe I don't have enough cups or something? It takes forever for them to dry.

 

I saw some mildew once. yuck! I clean the top with a bottle brush after I take it apart. I also replace the drinking part every couple of months - just in case.

 

I use the Dr. Brown bottle brushes to help clean the straws/tubing.

Sharon

 

I take everything apart and put it in the dishwasher upsidedown so the water jets get in there good. When I put them away, I put the valve inside the cup (not attached to the lid) and place the lid upside-down on the cup so everything is together, just not assembled. I don't put everything together until I'm ready to use it. I've never had a problem with mildew unless someone looses a cup and I don't find it for a while.

 

quote:
Originally posted by MusicalAli:
Maybe I don't have enough cups or something? It takes forever for them to dry.

Yeah, I have about 8 per kid, I guess that's why leaving a bunch out to dry overnight hasn't been a problem{?}

 

8?!?! Yikes. I think I have half that. Perhaps Santa will include that in his deliveries.

 

Hey, Alison...you probably already do this, but I wanted to mention the "heated dry" button on dishwashers. It makes the cycle longer, but it does really help with the drying process!

 

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda:

Yeah, I have about 8 per kid, I guess that's why leaving a bunch out to dry overnight hasn't been a problem{?}


That's about what I have too. I also have some that are just for milk and others for water or diluted juice. Yes, I was laughed at for buying that many sippies, but whatever.

 

I never had a problem with mildew or mold unless I discovered one hiding somewhere (usually way back under the couch!)

We used the heated dry for the dishwasher. I kept them all apart until I was ready to use them. I stored all the parts in a small bin. It drove DH crazy trying to match up the cup, lid, and valve. I like the colander idea!

 

another idea if you don't want to spend a lot on additional sippies would be to buy those take and toss sippies....they are inexpensive, come in packs of about 6 or 8 cups and have no valve at all to collect mildew....and you don't have to feel bad about throwing one out if need be...it can be a little messy with no valve, so we use these for either water, or for milk but with the milk it's only for snacks while they're in their highchairs...this will at least buy you a bit more "drying" time for your sippies!

 

bleach kills mildew. i would do boiling water and bleach solution, then rinse rinse rinse. check to see where else in your house the mildew is growing. warmth and moisture cause mildew to grow.

 

I have handled this 2 different ways. When I worked at the daycare we soaked out cups in bleach water, just a lid full in the water then washed them, that helped remove it.
I use a dishwasher and make sure every piece possible is broken down (esp. in the sippies with the straws) then I let them air dry on a towel.