Boiling to Sterilize - Hard Water - White Powdery Stuff

[youngmommy]

BS"D

I am pumping about once a week to try to get my baby used to an occasional bottle. I boil my pump parts and bottles to sterilize. Problem is that we have exteremely hard water, and a white powdery stuff is all over everything when I'm finished boiling. Two questions: will it hurt the baby? and is there any way to prevent it? My pump horns and bottles are so cloudy I have a hard time seeing when to stop pumping!

Thanks so much for your help!

[hellosmiletoday]

Could you use a microwave sterilizer? Thats what I use and its so easy!

[SeekerMage]

I had this problem too and basically stopped sterilizing and only did it once and a while. I dont know if it would hurt the baby but it was my thought too because isnt the white powdery stuff calcium and other buildup?

The only thing I can think of is just wash them in hot soapy water or run them through the dishwasher if you have one. (We just got a dishwasher and I run a load with only the bottles and parts in it) If you really want to sterilize them what about buying bottled water? A little more expensive but perhaps you could use the water over and over...not sure. But atleast you will save the cloudiness some. HTH

[JElaineB]

What will work is to add some white vinegar to the water you are boiling. This will prevent the mineral builup from precipitating out of the water and getting on your pump, bottles, etc. However, I don't know if this would adversly affect your pump etc. so don't try it unless you know it won't be a problem! I also have hard water and I used the Avent Microwave Steam Sterilizer to sterilize bottles etc. (I think I did the Avent ISIS pump in there once, but not any other pump parts). I used bottled water since it only requires a little water and had no problems with powdery buildup, as I'm sure I would have if I used my tap water.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Rikkele]

I also would get the same white buildup on bottles with boiling so I started using the Avent microwave steam sterilizer just because we don't run the dishwasher very often. I wash everything in hot soapy water first. The sterilizer is super easy to use and no more white buildup even with tap water. Plus I don't have to worry about scalding myself fishing things out of the hot water. They also sell steam bags that you can use to sterilize in the microwave. That's how my Ped sterilizes her pump parts.