Tips for Properly Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Children's Toys

Throughout childhood children are encouraged to share; however, sharing unclean toys can be potential dangerous to your child's health. Properly cleaning and disinfecting toys is a topic that many parents have questions about. Many wonder if it is safe to use bleach, what about toys that cannot be washed and so on. The following information and tips will help to ensure that the toys your children are playing with are all clean.

It is recommended that all toys be cleaned if they will be shared; however, baby and toddler toys need to be cleaned regularly each day. Younger children tend to place toys in their mouths, it is important that you wash the toy before allowing another infant to play with it.

There are some toys that you can just wash with soap and water; however, there are some toys that you should clean with bleach. To clean these toys with bleach you should use one gallon of water and around one or two teaspoons of bleach. Adding more bleach will mostly likely not get the toys any cleaner and is not recommended. It is extremely important that you rewash the toy and make sure that no bleach is left over. You can also use a bleach and water combination to clean areas around the house like the changing table. It is important that you remember not to mix any other chemicals with the bleach. Most chemicals are okay on their own; however, if you mix them toxic fumes can be produced.

To be completely honest, I was a little bit uneasy with cleaning my child's toys with bleach. If you have this same feeling, another great way to disinfect toys is by placing harder surface toys in the dishwasher. If the toys are lightweight, you may want to think about tying them to the rack with twisty ties or something else.

Many plush stuffed animals can be cleaned right in the washer or dryer. Be careful when placing these items in the dryer, because some materials will react different than other. When I was little my mother washed a pair of plush monkey slippers and after she dried them, they were fuzzy and not furry anymore. There are some talking electronic toys that are not washer safe. These items will have to be surface washed by hand.