Mold and mildrew in your water bottles and sippy cups.

One of the big pet peeves I have that involve water toys and water bottles is the potential for mold and mildew. There's nothing worse than a bathtub filled with moldy/mildewy toys. Thank goodness we live in a time where they sell rubber duckies without air holes. There is a tiny part of me that feels bad my kids are missing out on silly rubber squirt animals etc... and then I remember that they are all just a happy breeding ground for bad stuff that can make everyone sick. 

But this post is about water bottles and sippy cups, so lets get back on track. With multiple children using multiple drinking apparatuses it can be tricky to keep track of all of them including my own. Some get lost for days and are sometimes found by a kid first. I always wash them in the dishwasher assuming that this is the best way to sterilize them until I found this nonsense a few weeks ago:

This is the rubber bit that slows the water in the mouth piece. It JUST came out of the dishwasher and it is STILL speckled with mold/ mildew. Gross. I've been detailing these bits with q-tips:

But I'm not quite convinced that a dry cotton swab is going to do the trick. I'm currently soaking these bits in a small cup with hydrogen peroxide and water to make sure any bad bacteria is killed. 

I had a similar problem with my ceramic coated metal water bottle. I kept filling it up without cleaning in out and one morning while camping I caught a glimpse of the breeding ground I had created inside. It made me instantly nauseous to think that I had been drinking out of this gross water bottle for days. In fact it did make me sick ( lethargic & yeast infection tell tale signs of a mold/ candida overgrowth) I will post how to remedy this soon. 

I should mention that I only put water in our water bottles and sippy cups. 

Anyway, writing this post makes me realize how lazy I am that I do not wash these things more often. I now scrub my water bottles by hand with a scrub brush instead of depending on my dishwasher, which may not be using hot enough water to sterilize and properly clean the bottles. I hope I've encouraged you to do the same.