Can baby bottles be washed in the dishwasher?

Children's dishes undoubtedly require very careful care. Now that almost every home has a dishwasher, washing baby bottles should not take much effort and time, but another problem arises. Detergents contain a ton of chemicals, and some moms are wary of putting baby bottles in the dishwasher. Let's find out how justified these fears are.

Dangerous bottles

First of all, it is worth saying that the bottles themselves can also pose a certain danger. In specialized stores and pharmacies, bottles are made from high-quality materials that are absolutely harmless to the health of your baby. But if you buy a bottle in some uncertified store or even from an unverified person, you will not receive any guarantee of the safety of the material from which the bottle is made.

Attention! If you wash dishes made of poor quality plastic in the dishwasher, under the influence of high temperatures it will begin to break down and release harmful chemical microelements in monstrous quantities.

After cooling, all this will settle on the inner walls of the bottle and, together with its contents, will enter the child’s body. Obviously, the consequences and impact on the baby’s health will be terrible. To protect your child, it is recommended to buy bottles from Avent or from other companies that make bottles not from plastic, but from special glass.

Many mothers claim that bottle nipples are perfectly cleaned in the dishwasher.Indeed, manually removing food debris from such hard-to-reach places is much more difficult. However, it is worth remembering that after a dishwasher, detergent residue may linger in the nipples, and this is much more dangerous.

Can it be washed with regular dishes?

Dishwashers do not have any special program for washing children's dishes: contrary to popular belief, almost any mode is suitable for these purposes, except for Intensive washing, where the temperature rises to 70 degrees. All other programs will do a great job, so choose any one.

The next step is to decide whether you are going to wash the baby dishes separately or with something else. Experts do not recommend combining washing children’s dishes: Vegetable bottles should not be washed

with “adult” dishes;
with toys, especially untested ones;
with vegetables.

Important! Many people are surprised, but you can actually wash root vegetables in the dishwasher: beets, carrots, potatoes. However, in this case, no detergents are used.

When combined with baby bottles, this may not be a bad idea, but it is still undesirable to combine vegetables with dishes.

As for toys, it is simply impossible to know for sure their composition and the consequences of washing them in the dishwasher, so if you are not sure of the quality of the toy, do not wash it with a baby bottle.

What “chemistry” should I use?

If possible, it is recommended to completely avoid any detergents when washing baby bottles. Dishes in the dishwasher are treated with hot water, which provides a decent level of disinfection without chemicals. Of course, this will not replace boiling, but it will wash the dishes well. If you are sure that the dishes will not be washed properly without chemicals, use chemicals, but with extreme caution.

It is better to give your vote to products based on natural ingredients. They differ in that they officially do not contain harmful active substances. A special mark on the packaging will help you identify such a product in the store. But still remember that any detergent, even for children, is only formally safe. It’s better to set a long program (1.5 hours or more), but wash the baby accessories in plain clean water.

The dishwashing detergents mentioned above that are safe for children include:

Bio Mio. The product is in tablet form. Performs not only cleaning functions, but also conditioning functions. It does not contain phosphates or fragrances, but gives the dishes a pleasant smell due to the presence of essential oils in the composition. Has the Certified organic quality certificate. Works great even in cold water.
Tablets made in Germany, concentrated. For this reason, it is recommended to use half a tablet per cycle. Absolutely odorless, recommended for use by the German Asthma and Allergy Association. The product contains only natural ingredients or microelements grown from microorganisms, which makes it completely safe for children's dishes. It is recommended to use in combination with salt and conditioner from the same brand.
A line of dishwashing detergents (powder, salt, tablets, rinse aids), entirely mineral and plant based (the products are so natural that they decompose in nature). The composition does not contain petroleum products and chlorine.

As a result, although washing baby bottles in the dishwasher is fraught with some nuances, you should not completely abandon this method in the name of safety.Washing baby bottles in the dishwasher is possible and even necessary if done with caution. Still, specially “trained” equipment will do this better than most parents manually.