How to Clean and Descale the Bebello Bottle Washer: What We Learned
Bebello bottle washer cleaning has turned out to be much easier than we expected. After around six months of regular use, we’ve only needed to properly clean and descale ours a handful of times.
One of the reasons we bought the Bebello bottle washer was to make life easier during the newborn stage. The last thing we wanted was another baby appliance that needed constant cleaning and maintenance.
Thankfully, after around six months of regular use, that hasn’t been our experience at all.
We’ve cleaned and descaled ours a handful of times, kept an eye on the water jets and occasionally removed hair and debris from around the drain. That’s about it.
It will eventually need deeper cleaning and maintenance, but so far the amount of work involved has been very manageable — which is exactly what we needed while getting used to being new parents.
Our Bebello verdict
A genuinely useful time-saver for new parents. After around six months of regular use, the occasional descale and clean feels like a very small trade-off for not having to wash and sterilise bottles by hand several times a day.
If you’re deciding whether to buy one, you can also read our full Bebello Bottle Washer review, where we cover capacity, MAM bottles, detergent costs and whether we think it’s actually worth buying.
Bebello Bottle Washer Cleaning After 6 Months
Probably less than we should have.
The reality is we’ve been busy being new parents. Deep-cleaning the bottle washer hasn’t exactly been at the top of our priority list.
We’re now around six months into using our Bebello, usually with several bottles and all their separate parts going through it every day, and we’ve only properly cleaned or descaled the machine a few times.
So far, that has been enough for us.
We still look inside occasionally, check the jets and drainage area and deal with anything obvious, but maintenance hasn’t turned into another constant chore.
For overwhelmed new parents, we think that’s quite an important point. There are already enough things to remember without having to service your bottle washer every few days.
The main thing we’ve noticed: limescale
The most obvious maintenance issue we’ve encountered has been limescale around some of the smaller water jets.
These little openings spray water around the bottles and their separate components, so we don’t want scale gradually building up until it starts restricting them.
We haven’t personally noticed any reduction in cleaning performance yet, but when we can see scale beginning to appear, we’ll descale the machine rather than deliberately leaving it there.
One of the main things we’ve learned about Bebello bottle washer cleaning is that keeping an eye on the small water jets is more important than constantly deep-cleaning the whole machine.
What we actually use to descale our Bebello
Bebello sells its own descaling products, but we’ve found the branded option quite expensive.
Instead, we’ve been using a normal appliance descaler with our machine and it has worked perfectly well for us so far.
A quick warning: this is simply what we personally do with our machine. We’re not saying you should ignore Bebello’s instructions or that every third-party descaler will be suitable.
If you choose to use a different appliance descaler, do so at your own risk and check the instructions for both the descaler and your machine first.
For us, the important thing has simply been staying on top of visible limescale without spending a fortune on branded maintenance products.
The inside does need cleaning occasionally
Although the Bebello is constantly running wash cycles, that doesn’t mean the inside stays completely spotless forever.
Every now and then we give the washing chamber a proper clean and inspect the areas where residue, scale or debris can collect.
- The bottom of the washing chamber
- Around the drain
- The smaller spray jets
- Corners and edges
- Anywhere we can see residue or limescale building up
Again, this hasn’t been something we’ve needed to do constantly. It’s more of an occasional job when we notice the inside could do with some attention.
Our Bebello bottle washer cleaning routine is fairly relaxed: we check the inside, wipe it when needed and deal with visible limescale rather than following an elaborate weekly routine.
Hair around the drain was something we didn’t expect
This is probably the strangest maintenance issue we’ve found.
We have a hairy household, and over time we’ve noticed hair gathering around the drainage area at the bottom of the Bebello.
It’s quite an awkward little area to get into, so we’ve found tweezers and a small pipe-cleaning brush particularly useful.
It’s not a major problem with the machine, but it’s the sort of real-world ownership detail you don’t necessarily think about when buying one.
We now have a quick look around the drain occasionally rather than waiting for a noticeable amount of debris to build up.
We also keep an eye on the water jets
The smaller nozzles are probably the area we’re most conscious of because they’re where we’ve seen visible limescale forming.
Our approach has been pretty simple: if we can see scale starting to build up, we deal with it.
We haven’t experienced a noticeable drop in washing performance so far, even with the fairly relaxed maintenance routine we’ve had over the first six months.
Is the Bebello high maintenance?
Not in our experience.
After around six months of regular use, we’ve only needed to properly clean or descale ours a few times.
It will inevitably need deeper cleaning and more maintenance as it gets older, but so far we’ve mainly:
- Descaled it occasionally
- Cleaned the inside when it looked like it needed it
- Checked the small water jets for limescale
- Removed hair and debris from around the drain
Compared with hand-washing several bottles, teats, bases and other parts multiple times every day, that’s a tiny amount of work.
And that’s really the important comparison for us.
Low maintenance matters when you’re a new parent
Before having a baby, giving an appliance a proper clean every couple of weeks might sound easy.
Once you’re dealing with feeds, nappies, washing, broken sleep and everything else that comes with a new baby, those little jobs have a habit of slipping down the list.
Ours certainly have.
That’s why we’ve actually been impressed by how forgiving the Bebello has been.
We’ve hardly had a strict maintenance routine, yet six months in the machine is still doing what we bought it to do.
Would the maintenance put us off buying it again?
No.
The occasional descale, interior clean and bit of fiddling around the drain doesn’t come close to outweighing the amount of time the machine has saved us.
We currently use MAM bottles, which completely separate into several pieces. That makes the Bebello particularly useful because all of those little components would otherwise need washing separately.
You can read why we changed bottles in our MAM vs Tommee Tippee bottles comparison.
For us, the Bebello remains one of those purchases that genuinely made the newborn stage easier.
What we’d tell a new Bebello owner
Don’t obsess over it.
Keep an eye on the inside, look at the little jets occasionally and check around the drain. If you see limescale building up, descale it. If the inside looks grubby, give it a proper clean.
That fairly relaxed approach has worked for us through the first six months.
Overall, Bebello bottle washer cleaning has required far less time than we expected during our first six months of ownership.
Eventually ours will undoubtedly need a deeper clean and more attention, but so far the maintenance required has been refreshingly small — particularly considering just how much work the machine does for us every day.
Our maintenance after 6 months
- Only a few proper cleans
- Occasional descaling
- Small amount of limescale around jets
- Hair can collect around the drain
- No noticeable loss of cleaning performance
Still considering the Bebello?
Read our full review or check the latest price.
Check the Current Price →Our quick take
Maintenance: Low
Biggest issue: Limescale around the small jets
Unexpected issue: Hair around the drain
Would we buy it again? Yes
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This article is based on our own experience using the Bebello bottle washer. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when cleaning or maintaining your machine.
