How Do You Clean A Munchkin Cup

Sippy cups are great for preventing spills, but all their picayune parts can make them hard to clean thoroughly. They often cease up misplaced, and by the time they're found, they're growing mold.

We accept years of combined experience cleaning sippy cups, and we've done boosted research to create this handy guide to help you protect your children by keeping your cups make clean and free of mold.

Why Mold Grows In Sippy Cups
What Should You Know Nigh Mold?
What If My Child Ingests Mold?
Can I Eliminate Mold Completely?
How to Make clean a Sippy Cup
Clean Sippy Cups Are Possible!

Why Mold Grows In Sippy Cups

Sippy cups come in many different designs, simply they all accept a common purpose: to go on liquids inside the loving cup and foreclose spills.

This is nearly normally accomplished with a design that includes a cup, a spout, and some type of leak-proof valve.

While this ingenious engineering solves one problem, it creates another. Sippy cups have small parts and hard-to-accomplish corners that can easily trap particles of milk or juice and harbor harmful wet, creating a perfect place for mold to grow.

Take Note

The most common identify you volition find mold on a sippy cup is in the spout, valve, or straw since they are the most difficult areas to clean thoroughly.

These pocket-size parts can sometimes be difficult to remove, leaving parents to believe that the valve is a permanent fixture on the lid. If this happens, the valve may never exist removed, and over time, residual builds upwardly and mold will grow.

What Should You Know Nigh Mold?

Mold is a fungus that grows from tiny, microscopic spores. Mold spores are all around u.s.a. and are relatively harmless in the small amounts we live with on a daily footing. However, mold becomes problematic when it grows.

The three things mold needs to abound are wet, food, and warmth. In an environs with these 3 elements, the mold spores thrive and reproduce quickly.

When mold grows in homes, the biggest threat to a family's health is breathing in the spores. The larger the patch of mold, the more spores can interruption off and be carried through the air, which the dwelling occupants then inhale.

Take Note

Mold inhalation tin can crusade the symptoms we unremarkably associate with mold: cough, wheezing, asthma, nasal drainage, or other respiratory illnesses ⁽¹⁾.

The dangers from mold growth in sippy cups, even so, are different. If mold grows in a loving cup, the primary threat is an illness from ingesting the mold rather than inhaling it.

What If My Child Ingests Mold?

Don't panic if you lot observe that your child has used a sippy cup with mold or mildew. Not all molds are toxic, and not all children volition react to mold ^(two).

However, you should endeavor to be vigilant about cleaning your child's cups properly to reduce their chances of mold exposure, as some are indeed toxic and tin have harmful effects on wellness.

Some symptoms children may experience later ingesting mold are:

Abdominal cramps.
Vomiting.
Diarrhea.
Dehydration.
Nausea.

If a child has an allergy to mold, they could experience more acute symptoms commonly associated with food allergies, such equally:

Rashes.
Animate difficulties.
Swelling of the confront, lips, or tongue.
Tingling sensation.
Sneezing.
Running nose.
Nasal congestion.
Coughing.
Wheezing.
Flu-similar symptoms.

Can I Eliminate Mold Completely?

Substances that impale mold include bleach, vinegar, and tea tree oil ⁽³⁾. However, if you use these substances, brand sure to dilute them well and wash your child's sippy cups to remove whatsoever chemical residue subsequently disinfecting them.

High heat likewise kills mold, which means steam sterilizers or humid h2o can be used to kill mold spores.

Keep In Mind

It's not possible to eliminate mold entirely from your life as the spores are always present in the air. However, it is possible to clean your baby'south sippy loving cup thoroughly to remove the fungus and make information technology condom for your footling one to use again.

It's also possible to reduce the chances of mold growth in the starting time place.

How to Make clean a Sippy Loving cup

By taking these steps when cleaning your sippy cups, yous can preclude mold growth.

how to clean a sippy cup

1. Rinse Immediately Afterwards Utilize

Even if you don't plan to wash your kid's cup right away, it'southward a good idea to rinse it immediately. This removes some of the milk/juice particles, leaving less food residual in the cup for mold spores to eat and grow.

2. Completely Disassemble Sippy Cup

When you're ready to wash your child's sippy loving cup, brand sure yous disassemble every function. Food, milk, and juice particles get wedged in the tightest of spaces, and this is where parents most commonly find mold. To clean a sippy cup thoroughly, all parts must exist attainable.

If your sippy cup has a pop-up straw, remove it. Typically within the hat, there is a prophylactic stopper or other machinery; remove this from the cup as well as any rubber rings effectually the edge.

3. Soak In Hot H2o And Soap

Make sure that the h2o is deep plenty to submerge your sippy cups and accessories fully. Soak them for fifteen minutes in hot, soapy water. This will soften stale-on or stubborn gunk, assuasive yous to clean it off easily. Alternatively, y'all can dissolve denture tablets in water earlier soaking sippy loving cup parts. This helps become rid of stubborn gunk in the cup equally well.

4. Clean Your Cups

Avoid using a sponge as they take been shown to harbor bacteria ⁽⁴⁾. Employ a clean dishrag or bottle brush instead for the insides of the sippy cups.

If your sippy cup has a spout, a nipple brush can help you get into the small spaces. If it has a straw, you can buy a harbinger castor to make clean it. Inspect the stopper and valve for visible mold, and clean it with a nipple or straw brush.

To access the inside of the valve or closed spout, pinch the plastic together, and you should proceeds access.

Finally, wash the lid of the sippy cup. Carefully inspect and wash all the crevices to ensure there are no remaining food particles or mold.

Pro Tip

You can utilize a toothpick, Q-tip, pipe cleaner, or toothbrush to get into the tiny, hard-to-clean spaces in the lids or valves.

5. Sanitize Your Cups (Optional)

While not completely necessary, occasionally sanitizing your sippy cups tin contribute to your peace of mind. Y'all can practice this by using the same steps you lot employ for sanitizing babe bottles. Here are iii quick options:

Sanitize With Bleach: Mix 2 teaspoons of bleach with a gallon of h2o. Let cups to soak for two minutes, then baste dry ⁽⁵⁾.
Sanitize With a Steam Sterilizer: Steam sterilizers are fabricated for the microwave or are bachelor as a counter-elevation accessory. They emit high-temperature steam that volition kill bacteria and mold spores.
Boil Your Cups: Place your sippy cups and accessories into a pot of boiling water. Let to eddy for 10 minutes.

6. Dry out Cups Thoroughly

Never reassemble or put abroad cups while they still have moisture. Moisture is i of the core components of mold growth, and if you re-get together your cups before they're dry out, that moisture can become trapped in small spaces and encourage mold growth. So, permit your sippy cups to sit on a drying rack for skillful airflow.

Never dry sippy cups on a towel every bit fabrics can harbor bacteria.

7. Throw Away Stained Cups

If you have a particularly moldy loving cup that continues to remain stained after a thorough washing, information technology's better to be safe than sad — toss information technology in the trash. While at that place may non exist live mold spores still nowadays, it'due south impossible to tell for sure. Consider switching to new sippy cups every 3 months to prevent mold growth.

Clean Sippy Cups Are Possible!

Considering of all the nooks and crannies located inside sippy cups, they can, unfortunately, trap small food particles and grow mold quickly.

By completely taking them apart, washing all pieces thoroughly, and allowing them to dry earlier reassembling, you lot reduce the take chances of providing the three elements mold needs to grow: nutrient, water, and warmth.