In a chance, my friend gave me a silicone feeding set, the packaging is very delicate, which contains a baby suction bowl, baby silicone separator plate, baby bib, baby fork and spoon, which is simply a big surprise for a new parent. I then put away the plastic tableware that my baby usually uses.
In the beginning, silicone tableware is the perfect set of tableware for my baby and a great helper for me around the house, why?
For the baby, silicone tableware material is particularly soft compared to plastic, the baby in the process of eating cleverly used as his teething toys, after the meal to grind his little teeth, looks like the gums are massaged very comfortable, simply fun. In addition, the silicone bowl and plate bottom of the suction cups, strongly adsorbed in the baby's high chair, before the use of plastic bowls without bottom suction cups, it is easy to be baby over a few times, even when the baby tantrum, but also threw the bowl out, the home floor is full of food, awful.
With the silicone suction bowl, the baby how to fuss, the bowl is safe and sound on the baby high chair, I just need to go after the baby eat and then simply put it away, directly into the dishwasher to clean, especially easy, all to say it is a good helper on my chores.
However, after a few months of use, I found a big flaw.
Every time after cleaning and drying, there is always a taste attached to the silicone tableware, like flies have been stuck on the fly tape, no matter how scrubbing can not completely remove the taste.
I almost threw away the baby's silicone tableware and took out the old plastic tableware for the baby to use. But I couldn't bear to do that because of the cute shape of the silicone cutlery and it was really good to use. So, I started to study how to completely remove its smell.
The lingering smell may be the usual seasonings, garlic and other heavy smelling things attached to it. Once the smell is absorbed by the baby's silicone tableware, it is difficult to be thoroughly cleaned, so I started to look for ways everywhere.
I went to Google and Quora and searched for questions, and many answers appeared.
For example, soaking baby's silicone bowls, plates and spoons in white vinegar, or cleaning them with baking soda or toothpaste, or even burying silicone dishes in cat litter sounded like a lot of trouble and I was reluctant to go out and buy cat litter that would be useless to me. I first tried using methods such as soaking in white vinegar and cleaning with toothpaste, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the smell really diminished quite a bit after washing, but I could still smell it if I smelled it carefully. I don't want such a lovely silicone tableware attached to the smell all day!
So I began to study how to completely remove its smell, I searched and searched for books, and even found a friend who is a chemical expert for advice.
I finally found a way that worked. Baking silicone tableware in the oven to remove its odor.
I preheated the oven to 120 degrees Celsius and then put the baby's silicone dishes in it, and miraculously, they were completely odorless when I took them out after about half an hour.
So, I have come up with the easiest way to remove the odor from silicone dishes:
Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Celsius and then place the dried baby silicone dishes in it. Of course, before operating this action, you need to clarify whether the silicone tableware you buy is allowed high temperature. Normally, FDA-approved qualified baby silicone tableware is made of 100% food-grade silicone material, which can withstand up to 420 degrees Celsius, whether in the oven or microwave oven. If you do not know how to identify, you can look at How to Ensure Your Child's Safety with Silicone Dinner Plates?.
After this is clear, you can safely put the baby's tableware into the oven, the time is recommended to be set at 10 minutes, then bake for ten minutes, then check again, if there is no more odor can be put up, if there is still odor, bake for another 10 minutes until the odor is eliminated. According to my experience, the whole process should not exceed 30 minutes. But if the baking temperature is too high plus the baking time is too long, it may easily cause the baby's silicone tableware to harden or even break, and then you can't give the baby a happy teething.
After so much journey, the baby silicone tableware is back to its original lovely appearance, good and no odor, the baby is happy to eat every meal, after eating happy teething, and I am also happy to reduce a lot of household chores.
