Cleaning Your Baby Toys

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When your baby is in the "putting everything in the mouth" stage you'll want to wipe down her toys more often. Most of the time I just rely on Dettol.. but voila..there are baby safe cleaning alternatives. I'm talking about going back to basics...don't worry; you can keep your vacuum.

Cleaning Baby Toys - Mix together equal parts distilled white vinegar and water for a cheap toy cleaning solution. Try putting it in a spray bottle and just spraying a little on a cloth and then wiping down the toys. The vinegar smell goes away completely after it dries and it doesn't leave any residue on the toys. Vinegar is edible...but you can clean with it too!

Cleaning Stuffed Toys - Stuffed animals, fabric mats and fabric toys fall into this category. These too get mouthed and can even stain. Please follow the washing directions on the tag for how to clean baby toys. However, if there are no directions or the tag is long gone there are still some gentle cleaning methods you can try;

Washing Machine with Vinegar & Baking Soda - Yes, you can throw most fabric toys and stuffed animals into the washing machine and they'll be fine if the material and content is cotton or polyester blends. For heavily stained or soiled stuffed animals sprinkle them with baking soda and wash, adding 3 capfuls of white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Most fabric and stuffed toys can also be tumble dried on low.

Cleaning Wool Toys - If your wool toy is "felted" you can simply wash it in the machine in a pillow case or net bag. If not, you need to take special care when washing. Spot cleaning is ideal. To spot clean, use mild wool soap and a damp wash cloth and let air dry. For very heavily soiled wool toys you can also hand wash using wool soap and then lay in a sunny window to dry. Do NOT tumble dry wool toys unless they have already been felted.

Sunning Out Stains on Whites - Our beloved white teddy bear had seen better days but what if we minus the bleaching and gave "sunning" a try and you will be surprised by how well it worked! Lay white toys (this works well on cloth diapers or stained cotton onesies too) in direct sunlight and the stains disappear in a few hours. Really! For really tough stains spray a bit of lemon juice on the stain and then put in the sun it works like magic!

Happy Trying!