Toy Cleaning?

I use Clorox Anywhere sanitizer. It's easy to use. I just lay the toys out on a towel, spray them down, let them sit for a few minutes & dry them off. You can also let them air dry completely if you have the space to leave them.

Sometimes it is not such a good idea to keep things ""too"" clean. Let me explain the reasoning to this, if we prohibit the body from building an immunity to disease, then we are hurting our children. Don't get into the habit of sanitizing "everything" for if you do in the long run, they can develop infections, diseases and who knows what else. Let them get dirty sometimes (not in public though) let them be a child for as long as they can. Dirt doesn't hurt them unless they live in a toxic waste dump. If you keep your house clean, (not especially sanitized) then he /she will be able to build immunities to infections and diseases.

Hi A.! Great question! Make sure you don't use any lysol or bleach as these are registered pesticides and can do more harm to your son then good. You will want to get more of a plant and vegetable based cleaner. I work from home with a wellness company and can show you how to get this type of cleaner that is 99% disinfectant approved by the EPA to be used in hospitals and daycares. It works wonders and is not harmful if your little one puts it in his mouth too! As for any cloth toys, I would throw them in the washer and use the same type of laundry detergent, naturally based, not Dreft though because it has added chemicals and filler to it as well. To learn more visit my website to give more info. on finding a better alternative at www.livetotalwellness.com/cindygeoff

Hope that helps and let me know if you have more questions, I would love to guide you in the right direction and help you shop from the same store I have been shopping from for 2 years to help save you time and money as well :)

Cindy

I've washed my boys stuff several different ways.

The hard plastic toys on the top shelf of the dishwasher with the drying feature turned off. Hard or soft plastic in a sink/tub filled with hot water and anti-bacterial dish soap. Soak, wash, shake out the water and air dry. I also wiped them off with baby wipes.

Plush toys I followed the instructions on the tag or if it was bad, they got rinsed off and thrown in the washing machine on delicate and air dried.

If they were sturdy they got washed regular and dried regular in with the baby clothes.

Sometimes all they needed was wiped off with a baby wipe.

Hope this helps.

clorox anywhere spray is good...for toys that he uses in his mouth and are just basic teethers with no electronics in them or anything--the dishwasher is a good way to keep them clean...lysol is also a surface spray...i use alot of clorox wipes on hard surfaces too--but that will be more for bigger toys when he gets a little bit older...toy washing is a good routine to get into--especially if you have several other children who come over to play...when mine were his age i always carried a little baggie of clorox wipes in my purse to wipe off cart handles and restaurant tables and high chairs when we were out somewhere.

I will use Clorox's Anywhere Hard Surfaces cleaner, especially for the big toys. And, for smaller toys that can be immersed in water, I'll put in the sink and use dishsoap and some friction. I've heard that can be just as effective....and it feels safer to me as well.

Try the new Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface cleaner...its great for quick sterilization on toys and its safe around kids and pets. If you're looking for a deep clean solution, soak the toys in bleach water for a little bit. I try to do that once every week or so (when I have the time! lol)

Hope this helps!
Jen

Hi A.,
I'm a home child care provider and what I do is once a month I go thru and take all the toys (if plastic) and out them in the sink with bleach/water, I wash them really good and then let them sit in the drain. I take the ones that can go in the washer and toss them in also. I spray down all chairs and high chairs. I also do all cabinets, door knobs and light switches. I have one of those shelves with all the colored bins in them and go thru and spray them down with bleach/water also. I also boil all sippy cups/bottles and nipples.

For daycares the bleach/water has to be between 100 ppm and 200 ppm and with the clorox sprays and even the wipes there is not enough disinfectant in them to register on the little strips they give us. Thats why it is better to use bleach and water in a spray bottle rather than the other things.

But also you should try not to do this on a regular basis, if you are constantly using bleach or any other disinfectant everyday all the time than your sons immune system will never learn to fight off any infections on it's own and will always be reliant on an outside source. So my advice if it is only him at home only do it once a month, if he goes to daycare make sure you wipe his hands off before he touches any of his toys at home. Hope this helps you, W.

I used to put the plastic ones in a mesh laundry bag set them on the top rack of my dishwasher and run them through. They get washed and sanitized then just let them air dry on a towel or whatever. I was more dilegent when one of my kids was sick- or we had friends over to play and swapped toys. I've also been known to grab a couple and wash them right along with the dishes I'm hand washing in the sink.

Hi A.,

I would definetely wouldn't use anything with clorine, here is a link with some information, you can decide:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/chlorine-in-household-cl...

I clean all my kids toys with sol u guard, it is free of harsh chemicals and I get it through a naturally based comapany, you can check my website and find out more, it is worth it! Oh, thay are inexpensive too!

M. Abadie
www.MyKidsFirst.com

If it's plastic it goes in my dishwasher. If it's plush it goes in the washing machine.

If it doesn't survive the wash then we're probably better off without it! Fwiw, i've had very few things not survive washing! Maybe 3-4 in 14 months.

You can dump the plastic toys into a bucket or sink filled with bleach water...1 part bleach to 10 parts water.

I'd use a three step process, once he is in bed for the night...wash them in soap water, then rinse them with warm tap water then spritz them with a bleach water mixture--more water then bleach--. I used to work in a preschool in this was the procedure at the end of every day.

Clorox anywhere spray works great and the item can go in the mouth safely after spraying the item. I love it!!

I always washed things in ivory soap and warm water in the sink. Kind of like you do when washing dishes by hand. The toys that are too big for that, you can try in the bathtub, or I have used wipes before. It's good that you recognize keeping things 100% sterile isn't going to be possible, so you're in good shape there. Ha!

If it's plastic it goes in my dishwasher. If it's plush it goes in the washing machine.

If it doesn't survive the wash then it goes to the trash... I have a home day care and over the past 3 years we haven't lost many toys to the trash. I generally put the smaller plastic toys in a mesh bag as well as baby doll socks and such in the clothes washer. I have about 5 "ditty bags" and they are in constant use. I have to run everything through the "washers" or use a bleach solution 1/10 ratio or so. The washers just seem so much cleaner to me. Some toys with holes in them may need to sit and drain awhile, and if the water doesn't come out you may have to make the hole a bit larger with a hot nail...that has been my experience any way.
Hope this helps...
Miss T.

What we did for our church nursery - worked easily. At the end of the class we had a dish tub with clorox water and a tub with plain hot water. We'd drop in a few toys at a time in the clorox water - then - using tongs or gloves - remove and drop in the plain water tub to rinse. Then just remove them and lay out on a thick towel to dry. Fast and easy. Disinfected. Some toys we had to wipe off instead of dunk. I like this method better than spraying lysol on toys. When they put them back in their mouth- I feel like they're getting some of the lysol.
J.

Well for me I started out with Mr. Clean but have used bleach, and the lysol wipes. All of them work in my opinion just basically take all the toys and either stick them in the sink or bathtub and put a lil of whatever u select and just let them soak for a little bit in hot water or for the wipes just wipe the toys down.

The easiest thing to do would be to just run whatever you can through the dishwasher. I think plush toys can be sent through the dryer and that might help, too.

Each morning I prepare a disinfectant solution of 1/4 cup bleach to one gallon of water. I pour the solution into spray bottles and have them readily available. I have tubs I use to throw the dirty toys in and spray them with the solution. You can wipe them clean or let them air dry. Just make sure they are dry before giving them to your little one. I use this solution to wipe down play areas also(ex.tables, high chair). This is a very inexpensive way to keep things clean. I hope this helps.

One thing I was never told is to avoid any bath toys with holes in them. That cute little rubber ducky can hoard massive amounts of mold. My children had one and I actually cut it open and found mold in it. My boys now have cloth bath toys that I can easily toss in the washer.

I use that Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface sanitizing spray. I have an 8 month old daughter. She puts everything in her mouth also. I usually spray her toys, high chair, etc in the evenings after she goes to bed. That gives the spray time to dry. It says its safe around pets and children and she's never had a problem. I love the stuff. Hope this helps.