My toddler's silicone bowls make food ta

Tonight: take the silicone bowls out of rotation and use the stainless ones

What you're smelling and tasting is almost certainly detergent left in the bowl, not the silicone itself. Silicone is porous enough to hold onto grease and detergent film, and a dishwasher pod's alkaline film is exactly the thing that lingers. Taste alone is not poisoning — but a real pod fragment or a "soapy" mouthful is a different story, and that's in the red flags at the bottom.

Tonight, in about 15 minutes: the stainless bowls go on the table for tomorrow, the silicone ones go into a soak, and the pods go somewhere the toddler cannot reach. Read the bottom section once so you know when to stop doing dishes and call.

1) What you already tried vs. what actually changes it

Washing again on hot cycle — you've already done this. It re-runs the same film over the same scratches. Hot water alone also sets some oily residues rather than lifting them. Repeating the wash is not the lever; what changes the result is a *different cleaner for the surface, a physical scrub for the film, and taking the dishwasher out of the equation for those bowls.*

The 20-minute reset that does work

1. Take the pods out of the equation. Wash the silicone by hand, from now on, in hot water with a small amount of mild dish soap that is fragrance-free and dye-free. Scrub with a soft sponge or a bottle brush, paying attention to the rim, the inside corners and any suction base — residue hides in texture.
2. De-grease with something mild. Coarse salt or a baking-soda paste, worked in with the sponge, then rinse under hot water. A paste of baking soda and water left on for a while lifts the film without leaving its own taste.
3. Then a short vinegar soak for whatever film is left — a diluted white vinegar in warm water, a few minutes, then rinse. Do not combine vinegar with any bleach or with the pods, and never mix two cleaners.
4. Air-dry completely, stored apart. Drying with the lid on traps what is left. Store open, fully dry, and never in the sink where a wet pod or a soapy dish sits next to it.
5. Check the next meal, not the bowl. After the reset, put a plain familiar food in the bowl and taste it yourself. That is the real test — the bowl is clean when the food doesn't.

If it still tastes soapy after one reset: the film is bonded into the surface, not on it. That bowl is retired from food, full stop. Silicone is a replaceable, non-precious item — you already have the stainless bowls, so this costs nothing.

On the dishwasher itself: it's fine for metal and glass. If the whole load smells soapy when it comes out, the pod dose or the spray-arm is the issue, not the bowls — one pod for a small load, and check the spray arm isn't blocked.

2) Constraints and the avoid list

• No hot dishwasher for the silicone — including the "sanitise" or extended programs. High heat and detergent is what drives the film in.
• No bleach on silicone, no vinegar and bleach in the same sink, no two cleaners together. If it goes wrong on a surface, ventilate and rinse; never mix.
• No lemon juice or vinegar left to soak for hours as a "natural fix" — citrus and acid left sitting is a flavour source of its own, and long soaks on a toddler's bowl invite more residue, not less.
• No DIY sterilising with boiling water. Boiling water warps silicone and drives more detergent into the surface.
• No mystery powders or online remedies. Anything you'd have to mail-order into a child's bowl is out.
• The pods are the real hazard, not the bowls. A pod is concentrated alkaline detergent that looks like sweets. Not on the counter, not in the open caddy, not on the floor by the bin — high shelf, closed, out of reach. If you use pods, you already own the safest bowl for them: the pod itself, closed, and your stainless ones for the food.
• Skip the fragrance-free hunt if you can't find it. A mild, unscented soap you already have is better than a new product bought at 9pm. Do not buy a "silicone-safe" or "baby-safe" product to fix this.
• Keep it under 25 minutes: soak 10, scrub 5, rinse and dry 5.

3) Red flags — when to stop the dishes and get help

Stop the routine and call your local emergency number or poison centre now if any of these are true:

• Your toddler ate a pod, half a pod, or a chewed bit of one — or a wet tablet from the open caddy. Pods are concentrated alkali; this is the one real emergency in this picture, and it is time-critical, not "watch it".
• After eating from the bowl, he has drooling, a mouth that looks sore or blistered, trouble swallowing, or refuses to swallow.
• After eating from the bowl, he coughs or chokes repeatedly, vomits, or won't stop retching.
• After eating from the bowl, he has trouble breathing, noisy or fast breathing, swelling of the face or tongue, a wheeze, or is pale, floppy, or hard to wake.
• He seems fine but you're not sure what he swallowed and a pod is missing from the pack.

For any of those: call first, and keep the pod wrapper or the detergent box in your hand to tell them the product, how much could be gone, and when. Don't make him vomit, don't give water or milk or salt water to "flush it", don't give charcoal or any cupboard medicine, and don't wait at home to see how it goes. The poison centre or emergency department decides that, not the kitchen.

If none of that applies — no pod eaten, no mouth soreness, no vomiting, no breathing change — then this is a taste and smell problem, and the stainless-bowl swap above is the right answer. It's a nuisance, not a poisoning.

I don't diagnose and I can't check anything from here, so this is the practical route, not a verdict on your child. Which country or city are you in? Tell me and I'll point you at the actual poison centre or urgent-care door for your area next time, rather than a generic "call your local number".

What success looks like in 24 hours: tomorrow's meals come out of the stainless bowls and the toddler eats them normally; the silicone set is either back in rotation and clean, or quietly retired to the toy bin — either is a win; the pods live somewhere out of reach; and you know which single symptom would have sent you to the phone, so you're not re-deciding it at midnight.