Cleaning Toys

A girlfriend came over to visit the other day and brought her youngest child. He was teething and, therefore, every toy that my daughter owned was put into his mouth at some point during the visit. As soon as they left I immediately began seeking out the best way to clean toys...

There are two different ways that you can wash a babies toys.

The first way is to clean the toy with soap (regular dish soap is fine) and warm water. This gets the drool, food, oils, etc. off of the toy. This is a good way to clean a toy when you first get it home. This does not sterilize the toy.

The second way is to sterilize the toy. This way will kill most of the germs on a toy. To do this put 1 tablespoon of bleach into 1 quart of water. Spray the toy down, then rinse it well and let it dry overnight.

If you prefer a more natural way to clean (but not sterilize) use vinegar. Put 1 cup of water with 1 cup of distilled white vinegar. Spray onto a cloth and wipe the toy down. Rinse well and let dry overnight. The smell will be gone by morning.

Toys should be cleaned every 3-4 weeks just to ensure your little one isn’t sticking last months illness (like diarrhea) back into her mouth.

I used the vinegar cleaning method and found it to work well. Plus, I felt confident that Brett wouldn't end up getting sick from any chemicals. The smell of the vinegar (though strong while rubbing the toys down) really was completely gone by the next morning.