How to clean straws on sippy cups?

[Jennygt]

The straws in my ds sippy cups tend to get a little yucky and I keep throwing them out and buying new, how can I clean the straw part? I was thinking of a pipe cleaner. Just rinsing does not seem enough.

 

[laughinplace199]

I always put them in the dishwasher.

 

[lisadr]

I use pipe cleaners(the big fat fluffy ones) and dome antibacterial dish soap.

 

[Jennygt]

I do the dishwasher but I still don't like that I can never wipe it out, I am going to try pipe cleaner, where can I get some? I have not bought any since I was in about 3rd grade. Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Kimmumum]

You can find pipe cleaners at walmart or Michaels. They are usually with the craft stuff. I used them for cleaning the straws and they worked great.

 

[fortheboys]

You can soak them in a mild mixture of bleach/water over night, then rinse well. This is especially useful if you discover they developed mildew from being put away while wet... I also like the pipecleaner idea! I would never have thought of that!

 

[cheap traveler]

I have never had any trouble with the straw part getting yucky, it was always the valve. I now keep a supply of Q-tips in the kitchen, and if I notice one getting gross when I take it out of the dishwasher, I scrub it a little with the Q-tip and throw it back in the dishwasher (god forbid I have to hand wash anything!!) Works like a charm

 

[Jennygt]

I think because I can't scrub inside of the straw I feel it is never clean and I just throw it out. I have even seen small crumbs in it, yuck!! I just have to throw it out, I think that the pipe cleaner will satisfy my straw issues!

 

[bartleby1]

We only used the sippy cups with straws for water. Otherwise they got gross quick. For any other drink I went back to the ones with a valve and cleaned the valve with a q-tip.

 

[Jennygt]

We only used the sippy cups with straws for water. Otherwise they got gross quick. For any other drink I went back to the ones with a valve and cleaned the valve with a q-tip.

I did notice that also, I try to stick to just water but sometimes I use it for milk , that is where it get's eeewww. the ones with the valve are much easier to clean, I have a little attachment on my bottle brush.

 

[shoppgirl]

My DH thought of a great way to really clean out the junk inside those straws! He takes a bamboo skewer (you know those long thin sticks you might use for BBQ skewers) and then rolls up a thick wad of paper towel. Then he pushes the paper towel through using the bamboo skewer (because it's thin enough and strong enough to push the paper towel through the straw). As the paper towel goes through the straw, it drags along all the crud that sticks to the sides of the straw with it. You can do this a couple of times until the paper towel comes out clean and then throw it into the dishwasher for good measure! This works like a charm for all our straws!

 

[Jennygt]

My DH thought of a great way to really clean out the junk inside those straws! He takes a bamboo skewer (you know those long thin sticks you might use for BBQ skewers) and then rolls up a thick wad of paper towel. Then he pushes the paper towel through using the bamboo skewer (because it's thin enough and strong enough to push the paper towel through the straw). As the paper towel goes through the straw, it drags along all the crud the sticks to the sides of the straw with it. You can do this a couple of times until the paper towel comes out clean and then throw it into the dishwasher for good measure! This works like a charm for all our straws!

Very clever, beats my throw away method!

 

[PrincessPeyton]

We used Dr. Brown's bottles when my DD2 was younger. Because they had a "straw" down the middle of the bottle it came with the thin wire with little bristles on it for cleaning. I still use them to this day for her sippy cup straws. Every bottle came with one of the brushes so we had dozens of them! I just ran out of them a couple of weeks ago and was able to buy just the brushes for sale at Babies 'r' us for just a couple of dollars for 3. They work great!

 

[ChristusG]

We only used the sippy cups with straws for water. Otherwise they got gross quick. For any other drink I went back to the ones with a valve and cleaned the valve with a q-tip.

Us too.....straw cups are only for water here. Maybe the occasional diluted applejuice......and hubby knows that milk is a no-no for our straw cups LOL!

 

[Jennygt]

aaaahhhh, pipe cleaners! My straws are like new! The things that make me happy these days! lol

 

[Magical09]

I use the Dr Brown bottle brush too. I didn't know you can buy them seperate from the Bottle...I need a new one