Bleach

When a complex chronic medical condition requires feeding via g-tube there are a few options for the actual food involved.  While doctors generally recommend liquid formula, and that may be best for some people, we have been feeding our daughter blended meals for years with great success.  There are several recipes here on my blog that have worked very well for us.

One of the concerns I have in the summer months is the cleanliness of the equipment.  The reason is: when we go places and the used tubes and syringes get thrown in a plastic bag and left in the car, the heat in the car certainly encourages germ growth in the tubes and syringes!

In all probability, my usual way of cleaning them works just fine for this situation.  However, during the summer or any time I have to leave tubes sitting around dirty, I take an extra step as a precaution.

I put hot soapy water in the sink and add bleach to it.  I estimate the amount but add enough so that about 10% of the amount is bleach.  I then use the syringes to pull this water into the tubes, empty the syringes and refill them with the hot water as well.  I let it all soak for 10 minutes to give the bleach time to work.

After that, I proceed with the usual cleaning and rinsing.  Voile’!

I have to tell you that my daughter has never had anything that would make us think she had contamination of her equipment or food poisoning, following our methods.  =D  I am very happy about that!