Cleaning Tips for Medication Syringes?

Updated on June 18, 2010
L.R. asks from Minneapolis, MN
6 answers

My daughter takes several medications a day. All are liquid except one which we have to crush and mix with chocolate milk in a syringe. (I can't wait till she can take pills!) I do the best I can to remember to rinse the syringes out immediately, but let's be honest here: it doesn't always happen.
In any case, do any of you moms know a good method for washing these syringes? Running them in the dishwasher isn't very efficient-the little spouts still have gunk in them-and soaking in super duper hot water then trying to "squirt" them clean doesn't always work either.
Any ideas you have would be wonderful.
(Oh yeah and I tried a nipple brush from the bottle brush and that wasn't long enough to reach the whole syringe inside)
Thanks!

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D.W.

answers from Indianapolis on

You've received good advice.

I'd recommend asking your pharmacist if they have any extra they can give you or how much it will cost to purchase some if the cleaning process is either impossible or impractical. Sometimes the cost justifies the ease of burden you face.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi,

I have to clean syringes daily too-- what I do is a put a bowl of hot soapy water on the counter in the morning and each syringe i use, I take it apart and throw it in the bowl. The soapy water helps remove any residue and then at the end of the day, I transfer the syringes to a new bowl and clean with a fine tip bottle brush. It takes about 2-3 minutes and then your done! To dry them, I simply lay them out on a towel to air dry on the counter. Good luck and hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful
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D.N.

answers from Chicago on

If this is sticky medicine, you can soak the syringe in hot soapy water to loosen the stickiness. Then try to squirt it clean. One idea for the tip of the syringe is use a pipecleaner. It works pretty well. Not sure if it wuold work for the whole syringe, but you could twist a bunch of pipe cleaners together and use it as a brush to clean the inside if squirting does not work.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.M.

answers from Bismarck on

When our son took a liquid medication with a syringe we would fill a cup with hot soapy water and pull that hot soapy water up into the syringe and then squirt it back out--do that several times in a row and then it should be clean!! Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.F.

answers from Phoenix on

I've always cleaned medications syringes (like the ones that come with Infants' Motrin) in my dishwasher. I don't rinse them right away and I have at times forgotten one on my nightstand or my daughter's dresser for a few days and have never had a problem. I take the syringe apart, put the plunger in the "small things" basket in my top rack and put the other part spout down in the silverware basket on the bottom rack. Our's has an open-designed lid-like part that folds down to hold small things in and still let water through, but we use it to stand knives up in and I put the measuring part of the syringe in there. The water runs down through the open top and out the spout and gets it sparkling clean everytime.
Good luck and I hope your daughter's health improves everyday!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.C.

answers from Minneapolis on

Hi. Separating the syringe in two parts and then running it under warm soapy water is the first step to how I clean it. Then, I place it in the sterilizer. My kiddo hasn't gotten sick yet with that method. Good luck!

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