Disinfecting many toys at once

[sunnydays]

There is a natural disinfectant spray that I got at All About Kids here in Ottawa..it is expensive, but I don`t use it all the time on everything. It smells kind of herbal and at least I don`t worry so much about it being toxic. I would definitely NOT be spraying with Lysol anywhere in the home (it gets into the air and we breath it), and definitely not on toys that could be put in kids`mouths. Otherwise, soap and water or sometimes bleach as it does evaporate when dry works as well. I am not convinced that disinfecting all the time actually prevents germs from ebing passed...I could wash all the toys at the end of the day, but then when the kids are here, they pass toys from kid to kid, they sneeze and cough on each other, put fingers in their noses and then touch their friends...etc. They will probably still get sick depsite your hours fo daily disinfecting...plus, as Playfelt said, they do ahve to build their immune systems up.

[Dreamalittledream]

, but then when the kids are here, they pass toys from kid to kid, they sneeze and cough on each other, put fingers in their noses and then touch their friends...etc. They will probably still get sick depsite your hours fo daily disinfecting...plus, as Playfelt said, they do ahve to build their immune systems up.

So true!! I just shake my head when yet one more child mouths a toy, gives another a big kiss...at least we can say we do what we can.

[Spixie33]

I barely ever disinfect toys unless a child wipes their nose on a stuffy or sneezes directly on something.
If it is a matter of mouthing things then I am not too worried. Most of the kids are over 2 and barely put stuff in their mouth and I only have one infant who does still taste everything.

personally I find the smell of bleach and possible risks much worse and same with Lysol. I did find that superstore has a natural disinfectant spray so once I wipe down teh change table i use the disinfectant spray that is natural on it.

I have a very small group of kids and barely ever any turn over so I am not too worried about the germs on toys.

Like some others have said - I am much more worried about the kids not covering their mouth and coughing directly on each other or close to each other's face or sneezing and wiping noses on things around the house.

We are really vigilant about hand washing here - even for the kids

I also mop and clean the house a lot

The toys occassionally go through a sanitation cycle in the dishwasher if they ended up in the bathroom on the floor or in some dire circumstance but I really don't worry about the toys much

[Play and Learn]

Another great, and natural disinfectant is vinegar and water. We use this a lot too!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I barely ever disinfect toys unless a child wipes their nose on a stuffy or sneezes directly on something.

This is me as well - I keep a vinegar and water solution on the top off the shelve out of reach with a 'towel' beside it and clean anything that is 'mouthed' in that and toss it to air dry beside and than back into the playroom. I do not use 'chemicals' to clean the house with but rather 'enjo' cleaning clothes, a H2O steam mop and an organic toilet bowl cleaner and good old vinegar and water for glasses and surface cleaning ... occasionally if there is an actual outbreak of something with a client I will use bleach and water to sanitize but only THEN not daily!

I worked in centre care for decades before waking up to realize that being in a home environment was more in-tune with my child-rearing philosophy....when I made the switch I was engrained with the anal disinfecting practices of 'centre care' and washed my mouthed toys daily, all the toys weekly and anything 'fabric' went into the washer and dryer.... it was TIME CONSUMING and than I reflected 'why am I doing this so often?' .... if a centre has 150 children playing in it plus all their parents in and out sure they have way more germs flying around, if each room has 24 kids playing in it sure things might get dirty quicker ... but this is my home with only FIVE children playing in it - surely this is not 'necessary'!

I stopped doing the 'everything gets cleaned weekly' thing - toys get cleaned AS NEEDED ... if they are mouthed or if they are visibly dirty somehow than they get cleaned and put back as they are 'found' ... if something is not being played with often and I want to rotate it out I will clean it THEN before putting it away - but no more of the everything every week.

Compared to my experience in 'centre' care despite my lack of 'anal cleaning' my crew is RARELY sick here and when they do catch something the whole community has it anyway so they likely caught it at the grocery store or church and what not - it rarely goes through the 'whole program' here the one family will get it and maybe one other ... unlike in a centre where despite their anal cleaning if a rotavirus or chicken pox or what not comes through pretty much bet the entire classroom will get it ... have to wonder if it is not because their little immunities are being damaged by the constant exposure to bleach and antibacterial disinfectants in that environment?

[playfelt]

I went through that same thinking with bedding which of course is supposed to be washed weekly. Then when I didn't feel like doing it one week it occured to me that they only nap in it 2 hours times 5 days or a total of 10 hours a week, and it airs out in between. That is only equivalent to one nights sleep at home. You can bet most parents don't change their child's bedding daily so why do we. Monthly is working so much better for me. Usually I do pillowcases weekly and all bedding monthly. I know not the norm but have had no issues. Also we do outside play at the end of the day so it isn't like they are bringing sand or ants into the beds with them either.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Yup - had the same epiphany with the bedding as well - I wash it as needed due to an exploding diaper, training accident or visible dirt like a bloody nose or whatnot but other than that I do it monthly too which is the equivalent to 'weekly sleeping hours' of their bed linen at home assuming parents washed bed linen weekly - no lots of people who do not even do their own bedding at home that often

Again I can empathize that in a CENTRE which these rules are made for that the need would be higher because of how bedding is stored, exposure of germs being higher and so forth - however in my 'home' each child has their own personal cot and it is not stored with 'other cots' in a pile like in a centre but rather tucked into a closet in which ever room they are sleeping - no worries there!

The only sheets I do 'weekly' are the two infants crib sheets from the pack and plays because they drool more, leak more often and so forth and well I take those down every Friday for the weekend so am 'stripping' them anyway!

[lunademiel]

Check out the video for the H2O steam mop. Steaming the toys is safe and easy. The H20 steam mop is an "as seen on TV" product with not all that great reviews but the steamer idea is what I am getting at. There is also the portable shark steamer that would do the same thing. I think it kills like 99% of germs and is SAFE and easy!

[sunnydays]

I have a steam mop, sanitizer, but I barely ever use it (it's a Dirt devil) because it takes awhile to heat up, then I read that you have to expose things to steam for 15 seconds to kill germs, so I am thinking that is actually a long time to hold it over each toy when you start counting...maybe the H2o mop is better...I was disappointed as I thought it would be the solution to all my problems!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I love my H2O mop - wish I had held out a bit longer and got the newest version with the 'handheld' piece you can take out for your clothes, curtains and would be awesome for the toys - just lay the little pieces out over the a towel ... although IMO it would not 'clean' them if visible dirty you would still need to 'wash them' anyway to remove any soiled dirt/food or things that might have go transferred by little hands?