Boiling Bottles and Pump Parts - weird residue

[Anonymous]

I just boiled all of my bottles (Dr. Brown's and Medela) and pump parts (Medela) and everything seems to have some kind of weird residue on it now. The bottles all feel sort of rough to the touch. This has not happened in the past when I have boiled everything. I used two different pots to boil them, but all of the stuff has the residue/roughness. Anyone know what this might be?

The only difference I can think of is that I believe we have recently been switched from Fairfax City water to Fairfax County water.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Falls Church City and we were just switched to Fairfax Water and the water is now cloudy of the tap and I suddenly have dandruff for the first time ever. You're not crazy--there's something different about this.

[Anonymous]

^^out of the tap

[Anonymous]

Well, at least I know I'm not the only one!

[Anonymous]

We live in Arlington. We use the same pump parts and bottles and also ended up with a residue. So after boiling everything, I would then wash and dry them to remove the residue.

I was boiling everything every night, since that's what the Medela book said to do.

Then I discovered that I was the only one of my friends doing this!

I now boil once a month and just wash everything really well every day. Much less work and my daughter, at 10 months, is fine.

[Anonymous]

I live in Vienna, and have noticed the tap water has been extremely cloudy lately. Not sure when it started happening, but it's gross. When I boil pump parts -- and now even when I steam them in the microwave bags -- they get cloudy. I read this isn't anything to be concerned about, and a bit of vinegar in the boiling water will help clear it up (which I haven't tried). I DO feel kind of weird putting milk in these bottles, though...

[Anonymous]

Boiling? I've never boiled! :O Well, maybe the first time I used bottles, but I don't think we even bothered for the 2nd kid. We just handwash in hot soapy water.

I cannot imagine boiling every night - wow! I must have missed reading that medela booklet...

[Anonymous]

Not necessary to boil unless your child has immune issues.

[Anonymous]

I just use the microwave bags (for small jobs) and the dishwasher for larger loads. Makes life much easier!

[Anonymous]

I was boiling because I bought new bottles and because I thought my pump tubes had gotten icky when I was pumping at a hotel last weekend. And then I decided I might as well boil everything else while I was at it, which I regretted after the nasty gritty crap was on everything. It's only the second or third time I've boiled stuff, so maybe this happened before and I just don't remember.

[Anonymous]

I have preemie and am very careful with the pump parts but because of this very issue am done with boiling (just use the sanitize setting on my dishwasher). I also had one bottle almost melt (which seemed odd since they company recommended boiling). I thought maybe there was some milk in one of the bottles that got into the pot and coated everything else but tried again with washed bottled only and it still happened. Seemed like something in the plastic changing almost.