How do you clean your babies plastic toys? Is it safe to wipe toys with clorox disinfecting wipes?
or using deluted bleach? I feel like just soap and water doesn’t get them clean enough because it doesn’t disinfect. What ways do you clean your babies toys?
I have been a licensed child care provider in my home for 20 years. I have also overseen the toy cleaning procedures for our church’s nursery, toddler, and preschool rooms. For normal home use with toys that are played with mostly by just your own child, washing with soap and rinsing well is all it takes to keep toys clean. If other children visit your home and play with your child’s toys then you may want to disinfect, but if they aren’t sick it really isn’t necessary. For my daycare, I regularly wash most plastic toys in the top shelf of my dishwasher. Teething toys, rattles, and anything that has been in a baby’s mouth goes through the dishwasher if possible. Other things are washed in warm soapy water, rinsed well and placed in a bleach water solution using 1 Tablespoon of bleach per 1 gallon of water. Let the toys soak for about 5 minutes than let air dry overnight. Bleach evaporates and there is no danger of babies ingesting it when the bleach water is thoroughly and completely dry from the toy. You can use disinfecting wipes on large surface toys such as climbing toys, chairs, and ride-on toys. Or, you can use a spray bottle that has 1 quart of water with 1 tsp. bleach in it. Either way, just let the surface dry completely before letting the baby play with the item again. I suggest you wash everything you can in your dishwasher and for other items, washing in soap and water works fine. It won’t hurt to disinfect your baby’s toys, but it isn’t necessary with normal usage.