What do you find is the best way to disinfect all your toys? How often do you do it?
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What do you find is the best way to disinfect all your toys? How often do you do it?
Toys put in the mouth should be disinfected daily, but I do find it hard to find the time. I use bleach and water. I hate the smell and end up with a headache, but it works! I do a weekly disinfecting of major toys, surfaces, I will empty bins of toys into a sink full of water and bleach and then rinse and let dry.
Toys put in the mouth should be washed daily or after each individual toy has been put down (depending on how many infants in care), toys on shelves are washed on a monthly basis, and toys in bins because I have them on a rotation are washed when they come out of storage.
I use detol to clean the toys, the smell isn't so pleasant but it works. I would use bleach but I always bleach my clothes if I even open a bottle, lol.
I use hot water and soap, the sun for bleaching, and a great non-toxic cleaner as an all-purpose. I keep clorox wipes on hand for pottys but really try not to use it.
I use a bleach solution too. 1:8 ratio of bleach to water, approx.
The only child I have who puts toys in his mouth is my own...so his toys are seperate for now. Everything else gets washed once a week.
I'm not a huge fan of bleach but I've yet to find a gentler method that disinfects as well as it does.
Vinegar and water works just as well and is safer and gentler. :)
I use Tea Tree Oil for cleaning...works great.
I use dishsoap and hot water, vinegar and hot water, bleach and hot water - depends what else is going into my sink at that time! On big items that I can't fit into my sink, I use Lysol wipes. I let it air dry (and luckily the sun hits our kitchen doors in the afternoon).
vinegar and water works fantastic!
There is a difference between cleaning and disinfecting and not all solutions that "clean" do a strong enough job of disinfecting for what we are expected to do.
On the other hand I wonder if we worry too much about the disinfecting to the point we waste our time since by the end of the day the kids have all touched and played with the same surfaces anyway transferring the germs amongst themselves. Which does explain why spending hours sanitizing doesn't always prevent the spread of colds and flu in the daycare just tires us out when we should have been taking care of ourselves all evening so can fight off the viruses too.
Sanitizing is good for removing things like bacteria rather than virus', IMO. If a child had impetigo or strep then the sanitizing is great for that because it can be caught over and over, rather than a virus that can only be caught once.
I do love TTO and vinegar! But, when I managed restaurants our legal standards were that cleaning could be done with those, but sanitizing must be with bleach, so that's why I do it.
What are the standards set for licensed providers regarding cleaning?
I agree. There is a difference between cleaning and disinfecting, in my books. Unless my daycare has something contagious being spread (worse than a cold) I do not disinfect my daycare. Disinfecting means getting rid of the good germies and the bad germies and starting with a clean surface. Essentially, we need the good germies to help fight off the bad germies so this isn't always a good thing, imo.Quote:
Originally Posted by playfelt
Bleach, tea tree oil, dettol, vinegar are all cleaners but not disinfectants. They clean the surfaces and leave behind good germies.
I find in my network of friends, I am the only home daycare that does not use disinfectants in my home/daycare nor will I use antibacterials. Amazingly enough, my kids and I are the healthiest group out of the bunch.
This is soooo true! And Amazing!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhonda
I don't know whether the standards vary from area to area, when I was with an agency we had to use either bleach and water or dettol and water or soap and water, which are recommended by the DNA. I haven't been with an agency in a long time so I am curious to know what agencies recommend as weel :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Emilys4Guppies
Bleach DOES disinfect. It contains chlorine and kills germs/bacteria/virus'/ect. :)
The daycare I used to work at uses a disinfectant that is called Percept. It is bought in Stittsville (can't remember the name of the company!). It was used to a ratio of 1:10 (i think?) with water.
I often wonder the same thing! My kids are all little, so they all put everything in their mouths and it is nearly impossible to wash things every time. I do clean surfaces and toys regularly, but often wonder if it is a waste of time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by playfelt
I too have a hard time constantly using bleach solutions as my clothes take a beating.
I contacted the makers of Mr. Clean(they have a disinfecting solution) and they said that after trials with bleach and their cleaner that Mr Clean was just a good killing viruses and bacteria.
Unfortunately, some of the more natural disinfecting solutions do not kill viruses and bacteria.
I spray all the toys and carpet and couch with lysol spray every day after the children leave. Lysol is suppose to kill viruses and bacteria also.
The Lysol air freshener type thing horsegirl?
Bleach and percept are the only licensing approved disinfectants in my area, bleach gives me a headache and I'm not sure where to get percept.
Oh wow, I started out as a bleacher, but now it's a mild antibacterial disinfectant. I'm so proud of my 3 year olds because every time the baby puts something in his mouth they tell me and run it out to the kitchen sink for washing. It just shows me that my handwashing/sanitary lessons are sinking in!
I still wash my micrfibre couch every weekend with soap and water and use Febreeze on non-washable things but would like to find an equivalent green product. I'm always washing all the big things when I dust like the children's trucks, bins, plastic kitchen, rocking toys, etc.
I spoke with my licensing officer and after mentioning that I had been in touch with the company that makes Lysol and Mr. Clean and she agreed that this was OK, as long as I sprayed it on the area for the length of time that the manufacturers said it needed to become disinfected.
The Lysol spray (it is for air and disinfecting) is what I use. I like the apple fragrance.
It makes me wonder if we are over doing all this cleaning and that is why we have the super bugs that are hard to kill.:confused:
I do agree. I am with an agency and they suggest bleach and water to disinfect. Not a fan of bleach as I don't like using it around the house. Smell is too strong and I don't feel right having it around the kids.Quote:
Originally Posted by playfelt
What are your ratios for tea tree oil, vinegar or any other natural cleaner/disinfectant?
I use vinegar pretty often, typically 1/4 or 1/3 vinegar to water
look at dr. bronners soaps also- I love the lavender castile soap
totally- there has been a lot of research to support the idea of being 'too clean' breeding resistant strains of things and the development of allergies etc. finding a balance is HARD thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by horsegirl
I would never use a spray such as the Lysol spray as those things are very toxic...you can feel it in your lungs when you spray it. I buy a natural disinfectant spray at All About Kids (a daycare supply store in Ottawa) for those things that are hard to wash as well as things like the diaper pail etc.
I use bleach as well when I have to do a full disinfect. Usually every few months I'll do a full disinfect. I always have to go back to the local public health website to get the ratio, I always forget, but I find that the ratio that is recomended isn't too bad for smell, and I've never bleached my clothes doing it. I just get a big bucket and some towels and spend a few hours in the daycare room dunk and lay to air dry, dunk and lay to air dry. Then I pay my oldest child to put them away... LOL.
But I clean surfaces daily and try to wash any mouthed toys with soap and water. I have a "this toy went in a mouth" bucket I just keep adding to all day.
I researched this subject in depth on the Internet. Living so close to the US border I found a product available in the states but not available here and I buy it in bulk. Here are the specifics but there are more on the manufacturers website. I purchase it from amazon.com and it's not expensive at all.
It's "Clorox anywhere hard surface daily sanitizing spray." It kills 99.9% of bacteria on hard non porous surfaces. It is gentle enough to use around kids, pets and food. It has no harsh fumes, and leaves no harmful residue. Aside from these great things I love that there is no rinsing necessairy so I just lay stuff out, spray it and put it back. It saves SO much time when cleaning and it is colour safe so won't damage anything or your clothes. This is a disinfecting product so there's never a question of whether it is sufficient or not. I also use it on my highchairs weekly and my play pens. The products intended use is for children's nurseries.
I hope people find this information useful.
I have never used a bleach solution as IMO you can never be 100% certain it has all been rinsed off and bleach is so very dangerous. I also don't use this spray constantly. If we are cold and illness free I just clean with an all natural cleaner which is completely non toxic as I think that being to clean will not help the kids immune system. I wash regularly and when there's colds going round and children are specifically putting a toy in their mouth ( I usually discourage it when there's colds but obviously the babies will still put them in their mouths) I am extra strict with having a toy bucket outside the play area which is for toys that have been put in mouths. Once the child has finished with the toy, it goes straight in the box for disinfecting.