How to clean breast pump tubing
Your must chore of the day is cleaning breast pump tubing that protects your newborn intake germs with breast milk. You will need a breast pumps well sanitized and rinsed with or without breastfeeding because cleaning and washing is must for disease control and kill germs like mold, fungi, and bacteria.
It may seem like a lengthy chore but it doesn’t require much efforts at our hand, just a little soaking, rinsing, sanitizing, and drying.
How to keep your breast pump kit clean and sterilize. It is a straightforward process. Put all the breast pump parts in the dishwasher safe. Just wash your breast pump parts and the tubing under running water after every feeding and fix them every 24 hours.
Thus cleaning breast pump tubing ensures extra protection and you can start safely pumping breast milk.
Breast Milk
Nursing moms want to express their breastmilk because of many reasons like they feel engorged or swollen breasts. Baby is full even you have running boobs. There are mainly three ways to express by hands, with the help of manual pump or with an electric pump.
9 Steps To Clean Breast Pump Tubing
Your breast pump’s tube connects the machine with your breast milk bottles to extract milk. You can easily detach the tubing from the pump machine and the pumping bottle.
Follow these nine easy and quick steps to clean the breast pump tube:
- Remove the tubing from the pumping bottle: Very first, turn off your breast pump and unplug it. Now disconnect the tubing from the shield and turn on the pumping machine to flush out the remaining liquid.
- Once you complete breast pumping, eradicate the tube from the pump and keep it in clean area. Place your tubing in dishwasher under running tap and let it get rid of all the breast milk present inside.
- Flip the tube and let the other end get cleaned. You can use microwave sterilisers, As you know these bottles are dishwasher and microwave safe because these are made from BPA free material.
- Put all small bottle parts like nipples, caps, rings and valves in a mesh laundry bag.
- After than, place the tube in sink or dishwasher. Fill the sink with warm water, and soak the tubing for 2-3 minutes.
- After soaking your tubing, rinse it with the help of bottle brush while using warm water or a heated drying cycle. Ensure you are holding the opening of your tube right under the running water and flip it often while rinsing so that both the doors are washed and rinsed.
- You can sterilize your pump after wash, or completely dry. Remember, you don’t need to fix your breast pump every time while washing or using your pump. Sterilize once every 24 hours.
- If you choose this method, hang both the tube ends to dry parts.
Your pump tube is free from bacteria and ready to be used or stored with the other dry parts. And you can start pumping again.
How To Sterilize Your Breast Pumps Tube Properly?
- After sterilization, wash and rinse pumping tube with clean water. To sterilize your breast pump and tubing, boil water and let the tube float in the boiling water. Let it stay in the water for 4-5 minutes. Don’t add soapy water for sterilization.
- Once you complete clean process, wash the tube in cool water and then let it air dry with dish towel, as explained above.
Sterilizing and Cleaning Your Breast Pump Parts
When to clean these breast pump parts, how to wash the pump, and where to clean them? A few questions and answers round to subside our doubts concerning breast pump and its cleaning.
How Do I get Started?
Dismantle other pump parts with the help of your breast pump instruction manual. If you are unsure, you can call your pump company or follow drug administration. After that, follow the exact cleaning procedure mentioned above. Before you start to clean, wash hands and disinfected them.
Do I Need Cleaning Breast Pump Parts Before The First Use?
Yes, it is best to rinse, wash, and sterilize your breast pump parts before using them for the first time. Fill the pot with clear water and Boil it. After boiling, let it cool a bit.
Now sink directly all the plastic parts in wash basin or dishwasher like flanges, membranes, and baby bottles into the warm soapy water. After washing breast pump parts let them dry completely in top rack of dishwasher.
How Often Should I Clean My Breast Pump
As discussed above, make sure you must clean your breast pump parts after every single use and sterilize it once every 24 hours. Read here the best tips for pumping milk and what mistakes should be avoided while pumping breasts milk.
What Breast Pump Parts Do I clean?
Everything the water and the milk that contact with your breast pump accessories will need a thorough cleaning. That is, almost every part of your breast pump needs a deep cleaning. Let it be bottle lids, pumping bottles, tubing, breast shields, valves, membrane, connectors, etc with the help of clean tongs.
How Do You Clean Tubing in a Medela or Medela Symphony?
First turn off the pump and unplug it from power source. Remove the tubing from flange. Now wash the tubing in warm and add soap water in dishwasher, and rinse till all soap removed from the tubing. Then hang the tubing to air dry.
You can either air dry it or use the pumping machine to get rid of the water. To dry your tubing, hang it in a drying rack and let the water drip away. Now clean surface with damp cloth and keep all the item on it. This process is lengthy and time-consuming.
How to Dry Tubing In a Medela Breast Pumps?
You can try drying your tubing with the machine. Attach your tube with the device and leave the other end loose. Turn on and let the air pass through the tubing.
- Remove items like flanges, leave the tubing attached to the Medela Breast Pump.
- Allow the motor to run for few a minutes, and it removes all the condensation.
- If still you notice milk remains, then remove the tubing and twirl it.
Allowing the motor to run for a few minutes would help to remove all the condensation from the tubing. The best idea is to have an extra tubing on hand; it helps uninterrupted breast milk storage.
If this process is not fit for you, I’ll consider a few more steps to follow. Because I used different pumps like Medela , Spectra S1, and S2, while exclusive breast pumping and finding the cleaning process is different from others.
How to Clean Medela Sonata Tubing?
Below are the steps to clean Medela Sonata Tubing:
- Turn off the pump and unplug from an electric source
- Remove flanges tubing
- Keep the tubing in the warm soapy water in dishwasher and rinse well to remove all the soap
- After that, hang the tubing to air dry and wipe items.
You can apply the same process for cleaning tubing the Medela Symphony and in the Medela Style Advance pump.
If you don’t get much time because of your little monster who always keeps you awake (parents may make these baby sleep mistakes and ruin their baby’s sleep), the good idea is to replace Medela Freestyle tubing.
How to Clean and Dry Tubing in Spectra Pump, Spectra S1, Spectra S2, or Spectra S9?
If you don’t want to waste your time cleaning tubing in Spectras’, then the best way is to replace it. Flexible Airline Tubing is the best substitute for replacement tubing in Spectra S2 and Spectra S9. It fits well and even is so inexpensive.
Another excellent replacement is Aquarium Tubing that fits great the Spectra with a backflow protector; You can cut it to a length as you think comfortable.
Can I use Boiling Water To Clean Breast Pump Tubing?
No, You can’t. It is not good to clean breast pump tubing in boiling water because your breast pump tubing may melt in it. You can follow the breast pump manufacturers or drug administration instructions that come with breast pump and clean accordingly.
How Do I Remove Mold-Yuck From Breast Pump Tubing?
If you notice any mold or yuck in the breast pump tubing, you must replace it immediately. If you use the moldy tube, you can transfer germs into the breast milk. You can change or replace it with a new one.