Moldy Rubber Ducky???

First of all -

The mildew that can form in bath toys is NOT TOXIC (I suppose if all you ingested was mildew water, you might get sick, but really...) , nor is it "environmental" -heck, regular old mildew caused from bathroom moisture is one of the few most age old spores that we come into contact with that it will not make your child ill! However, it is icky, and the bacteria from our children's dirty hands/feet/bodies can grow out of control and become an issue if left there for too long: the mildew is just a result of a small amount of bath water that is inevitably left in our children's bath toys. No need to throw them out - who has that type of money in this day in age! You might also notice a little bit of "slimy scum" that can form on the bath toys too.... same stuff.
After bathtime at night, take the bath toys and throw them in a sink filled with water and a capful or two of bleach (by the way, when used properly, bleach will not and cannot harm your children - it has a very short "half life" and becomes inert when left to dry in the open air naturally) and let them soak for awhile. Be sure to suck some of the bleach water up into those bath toys that hold/squirt water - all you need to do is rinse them well after the soak, and bam, totally sanitized. I do this with my child's bath toys every other week, or every two weeks. After a bleach soak, you can also throw the toys in the dishwasher: the heat from the cycling will sterilize everything also.
The best way to keep the mildew from forming too quickly is to make sure you squirt all the water out of the bath toys after bath time and hang them in a mesh net from the bath tub wall. Toss em in the dishwasher or do the bleach thing when you notice them getting yucky (or smelling "stale")!

2 moms found this helpful

I wash my son's bath toys through the dishwasher. When I take them out, I make sure to run some really hot water, and suck it up inside the rubber ducky and squirt it out until there is no mold stuff coming out.

M. *~

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Hi. I hope this helps out.... Yes its mold. I read somewhere that toys with holes in them are prone to mold. The water builds up in them and creates the mold. They suggested sealing the hole to prevent this from happening. I stopped getting bath toys where water can collect in them (its less messy to clean up too)and the ones we had i sealed with silicone caulk. It works really well. Hope this helps. I know if I didn't read that article I would have never guessed. Good Luck

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We have the same problem with our bath toys. Just make a bleach solution and suck it up into the toy and leave it there for a few hours. You dont need to throw away the toys. Just make sure you squeeze out the water after each bath.

Mold is everywhere. You breath it in your lungs each and everyday. Houseplants have mold. Sinks have mold. And, no, you cant absorb it through your skin. Unless your child has a specific and severe allergic reaction to mold spores dont worry about it.

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I poured salt into the hole and sloshed it around and then rinsed it out of the rubber ducky. I also did this to our hummingbird feeder that was growing the same black stuff. The salt sloughs the stuff off the sides nicely.

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I throw the bath toys in with the whites (bleach) when I do the laundry. They have mostly come clean, and the ones that don't, I toss. With all of the other chores, who has time to bathe bath toys!

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Hi M.. Easy, yes it's some form of mildew. Squeeze out the nasty then throw in your washing machine with bleach (and soap if you want) then squeeze out the water when done...all of the yucky disapears!! I do mine whenever I notice the toys getting a little yucky!! Good luck!

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Once I saw the mold on those things I stopped buying them.

Update: I started taking my daughter to a mommy and me swim class and they have rubber toys in the pool. I noticed at the bottom of them they have cut larger holds in them. I'm not sure if was to keep mold out, but they seemed pretty clean inside. I thought of you =o)

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Not strange at all M....I experienced the same with our rubber ducky and unless you are highly skilled with a straw and a blow dryer, it's not worth the time. I've cleaned ours and it takes so long to fill it up with cleaning detergent and then continuousely sit there and squeeze the heck out of it over and over....rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat....you'd be better off buying them in bulk and replacing them once they get too nasty. Also you don't want to take the chance of whatever cleaning agent is still remaining in the duck itself. Besides, with a beautiful new one year old around I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time!

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bleach and water should do the trick... I also will bleach the bath mat when do this... I just leave the bath water in after my son is done, dump the dirt toys in, pull the mat up so it's floating in the water and add about a cup of bleach. You can let it soak overnight if you want. Also, I try to squirt all of the water out of the squirty toys before putting them away (although, that's not always enough to prevent the black ickies). Good luck!

It's mold. I just threw them away. Try bleach if you want.

I too have found this in my son's toys. I don't want to use bleach since it is a pestacide so I threw them out. I try to only buy the ducks without the holes in the bottom!

J. W

I was just about to throw everything out because of the same issue. If someone has any ideas on cleaning or how to prevent I would love it if you posted it. Thank you for bringing it up!

I'd get rid of them and just make sure with the next batch that you squeeze all the water out of them and take them out of the bathtub to dry.

I cleaned all the kids bath toys with water bleach solution and would suck the water in and squirt it out and try to get all the moldy yucky stuff out and let air dry for a full day before reuse make sure there is no liquid left in as could still have some bleach solution and could hurt little ones eyes...hope this helps.

J.

M.,
We had the same problem. I thought about using a bleach/water solution to clean it out, but hated to think about my daughter putting it in her mouth in case any bleach remained. So I trashed the duck. However, I did find a rubber duck that doesn't have a hole. And she enjoys playing with it just as well.

Peace, B.

I believe it is mold as well. We have found it in many of our squirty bathtub toys. I haven't found a great way to clean it out -- we try squeezing them to get hot, soapy water inside repeatedly to try to clear it out, but often just end up throwing most of them away anyway. I don't like the idea of squirting my children with moldy water.

When that happened to our rubber ducky we trashed it and got stacking cups for the tub instead. Something that doesn't hold water inside that won't completely dry. The kids have more fun with them and they are easy to clean and dry.

It's algae/mold from where the water got warm and sat. Just squeeze it out and run hot soapy water through them. Use antibacterial soap if it makes you feel better. Make sure you squeeze all the water out after each bath in the future. :-)

Hi M.~~ Congratulations and welcome to mommy world!! Don't you just love this place? You have so many ideas to go on, my input would not do you any good- I have passed this age about 5 yrs ago and now my boys are 7/9 so.. they are up to showers!! WHEW!!! But I do remember that stage- great advice on tossing the toy. I did it, better to be safe than sorry- go to the Dollar store- you can buy 10 and keep replacing.. he will only be 1 for so long, then at age 2 he may not even like it anymore.. Good luck, and you are doing well. Good question!!

I am with the first person- Once I figured this out, I just got rid of them all together. Even though mold isn't inheritally bad, I mean, are you really going to remember to squeeze them every time?
I just got stacking cups and those dry easy. My kids like that better anyways because its an active toy anyway.

We found it took a lot of work with vinegar or 409 to clean the black mold out. We have tried to take better care of them like always get the water out, or put them outside so they dry out.

Some were just too much and had to be tossed.

I just throw them out & don't get those kinds of bath toys anymore. Grosses me out too much to even attempt to clean/keep. All other bath toys I run through dish washer to sanitize.

They need to be cleaned with bleach and water regularly. That kind of mold is very toxic and could cause menagitis if the child were to ingest a toxic amount of it. Small children like to suck the water from those toys and a one year old sure does not no that the black stuck is icky... I would recommend throwing away the ones you have and getting a new set that get cleaned regularly instead of messing with the icky ones. Good Luck...

We get that here on the bath toys all the tiome. Bleach diluted 1/2 and 1/2 with water suck it up in the ducky and soak iot for 15-30 minutes and the stuff should clean out. I have also used straight bleach before and that is faster but can alter the look of the toy.

C.

Ditto Patricia's advice.

I was wondering the same thing and would love to find out what people share with you!

I just noticed the same thing inside the spout of my kid's sippy cup!!! Yuck! And could not scrape it out. I'm trying to transition him to a cup so I won't have to deal with this, but thanks for asking the question b/c the answers have been great; I might try bleach to see if we can salvage the cup. And the duckies.

I did run accross it! I soaked them in bleach - sucked the water in and out. It cleaned them out and I haven't seen it since actually! I obviously rinced the bleach like a mad woman!!!

Hi M. - The more I hear about mold and toxins in our environment that can enter our bodies both through breathing or being absorbed through our skin, I would not hesitate to get rid of a "mildewy" toy and replace it often with a new one. I am learning about how what our skin absorb can affect our health, and I no longer want to take chances. With your little one, I would err on the side of caution. The company I represent, XanGo, is coming out with a cutting-edge "green" skin care line in November and I will be happy to put that on my skin knowing that it has only natural ingredients. I think the more we all carry this into our lives, the healthier we will become.

I used to "squeeze" the tub toys when my kids were small to get the water out, but after a time they still become mildewed inside, and if they are in the water your son is bathing in, I would worry about absortion. Time for some new tub toys - maybe some that do not have holes and can be dried thoroughly after use.

Good luck and many blessings to you and your wonderful family, and you are right to be thinking about about absorption of harmful substances through the skin.

Sincerely,

V. G. :o)
www.referralco-op.com

Try a mixture of half bleach and half water. Squeeze it and let it soak with the mixture inside. Shake, squeeze, and see if it's gone. Rinse well. Good luck. NancyA.

Once a week I soak all of my childs bath toys in a mixture of bleach and hot water just for this reason. We haven't had that problem since. Good luck :)

It is mold, and I've had it happen to me as well. I honestly just rid of them and stopped buying those kinds of bath toys. It's hard enough to keep the mold off the outside of the toys!

M.-
You can try waching them in he dishwasher (Top Rack)if that doesn't work toss them.

Yep... That's mold! Same thing happened to my son's toys, so I've been trying to remember to sqeeze them out after his baths so they mold can't grow in there. I know it's wasteful to throw them out, but unless you fell confident that you can get it all out withbleach, I'd cut your losses and buy new ones... Just remember to SQUEEZE!

i think i'm going to yard sale our rubber duckies that do this and hope we don't get anymore as gifts. we do put our bath toys in a dish strainer in the tub after the bath though to help but it doesn't always get the inside water out so it's still an issue. interested in other replies...

Hi M.,
I can understand your trying to not be so wasteful! I do the same thing. But when it comes to toys your children play with the chemicals you would need to use to remove the mold from the toy could be harmful to your child. At the same time the mold from the toy is also not good for your childs health. I would suggest throwing them away and getting new ones. Just try to make sure in the future that you squeeze all the water out and leave the toys in some type of "drainable" container so that the toys can get dry in between baths. There will always be some water that can't get out of those types of toys so the same thing is inevitable but you might be able to prolong the life of the toys by doing this. Maybe with the next rubber ducky try to find one which has a better drain system. Best of luck with your little one :)

L.

I didn't like that black mold either. I found new ducks at Cost Plus, and they dont have holes. They have little sensors on the bottom and light up in the water. Ours don't light up any more, dead battery I guess. But they are great because they dont get water inside, therefore they dont get that mold.

M.,
Maybe just a little bleach. If you can submerge the ducky in a sink with bleach, so you can squeeze some in to it.Shake it real hard to loosen any mold. You would want to make sure though that you rinse them well before letting the child play with them again. I'm not sure it's worth it though as you said they aren't expensive but.......Good Luck...L.

Hello,
I soak them in clorax & hot water after the kids play with them in the tub. I rinse them with hot water and they are ready for the next bath adventure! Make sure you squeeze all the water out of them and let them dry out!

A little about me!
Grandmother of two beautiful children. A boy 3 years and a girl 18 months!

Dear M.,
It's either mold or soap scum/ickiness that gets inside the toys.
You can either soak them in the kitchen sink with hot water and vinegar, or....a very mild bleach solution. You have to squeeze the toy and suck up the vinegar or bleach and let it soak a bit, then squeeze it back out. Repeatedly. We had all kinds of rubber duckies and toys for our hot tub and they never got that, but it was because they were played with in the chlorine.
In the absence of that, give the squeezy bath toys a time out in your kitchen sink and just suck up...soak, then squeeze. The toys in the hot tub never got that, but the ones in the regular bath did. Even if you squeeze all the water out and let them air dry....the insides won't dry out.
Vinegar and baking soda can be your best friends when it comes to cleaning toys like that.
Enjoy your baby!

M.,

Bleach works the best- it will get all that junk out. Good luck!

M.

I had that happen, too. I think it's mold, & I tried to get it out, but it wasn't easy. I don't remember if I was successful, but you could try a bleach solution to suck up inside, by squeezing & releasing under the surface & shaking real well before squirting it out. I don't like the waste, either. Good luck!

I totally agree about being wasteful, so I stopped buying these types of bath toys.