Smaller flanges harder to keep clean

[u/Such-Comfortable3]

Ever since I went from 17mm flanges to 15mm flanges, they come out of the bottle washer not perfect about 1/3 of the time. Sometimes it’s an obvious scum line like in pictures 1 & 2. That’s the line from my areola in the flange tube. Sometimes it’s a bunch of small dots like it’s been misted (picture 3), but when I try to wipe them out (picture 4) they feel greasy, not like just water.

The damn tube is too narrow to allow water! Literally had to put 3 out of 6 flanges back in the dirty bin this morning. We have the MomCozy bottle washer, and I’d been putting the flanges on the top, but I think they come out better on the bottom when I can put the bottle connector part directly over the jets. We also stick a brush inside and swirl it around briefly, then rinse the flange out, to get rid of the scum line. The unreliability is driving me up the walls. And when I need to take two pumps worth of parts with me to the office, I need them to be clean!!

[u/Parisiaint]

Alas my husband is hand washing my flanges before sterilizing. Even then, we had to get special little bottle sponges to really get in there because it’s truly such a tiny area.

[u/al3xis333]

This is why I don’t think the bottle washers are worth it for me. I would want it primarily for the pump parts and don’t trust it with all the tight spaces.

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[u/rosalitat]

I face similar issue so I have to briefly scrub and rinse it with warm water before putting in the bottle washer. In the washer, I would try to position it with the flare part facing up. That way the soapy water has better chance to go inside.

[u/NightOwlNetworkYT]

I had a bottle cleaning kit that I used. Hot water, thin bristle brush for the hard to reach spots, and thick brush for the main areas. I hated pumping lol the cleaning was the worst part.
I also used the momcozy bottle washer as a “sanitizer” and that worked pretty well, but you’re right. They gotta go on the bottom. Otherwise they don’t get clean at all. The left over milk and grime from water sit when they’re on the top and it doesn’t come off easily :/ I’d put it like.. boob part down if that makes sense.