Cleaning Bath Toys??

[Nettie]

Anyone got suggestions for cleaning bath toys? Especially ones that are showing some mould

Some of them are getting mouldy on the inside - so it's not just a matter of wiping them off!

Thank you for any help! I don't want to have to chuck & re-buy toys all the time!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

APPARENTLY - you get a bucket of warm water and bleach.

Chuck the toys in there: those with the mould inside, you need to fill with this concoction.

Leave for about an hour.

Rinse with cold water (remember to get the mixture out of the toys) as much as required

Leave in the sunlight, ideally for a whole day but for at least 5 hours.


This worked mostly for me, but not fantastically... but then, we don't have sunlight in England!

[sunshine_sieben]

I thought bleach only "hides" the mold but doesn't kill it...
I have wondered the same thing in the past. I stopped buying squirt toys for that exact reason. For all her other bath toys, I bought one of those net thingies that attach to the wall above tthe tub with suction caps. But I actually use stick on hooks, as the suction cups don't work so well. I get DD to empty all her toys and put them in the net before getting out of the tub. I think getting them dry between uses stops them from getting moldy.

Sasa

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

The bleach starts to break down the mildew and mould, the sunshine finishes the job. Which is why it only partly worked for me. The more sun, the better.

[sunshine_sieben]

That makes sense.
Pity you can't get the sun to the inside of those squirt toys... even worse when you don't get much sun. Although I can't say we have a shortage of sun atm in Queensland...

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Oh dear me. You've just explained why the lighter toys that you can see inside of worked a lot better than the really thick dark ones.

I am so silly sometimes!

But if you have light-ish toys then the sun works even through the plastic.

*puts on dunce cap and sits in the corner.*

[sunshine_sieben]

[ladybird11]

Are you a mind reader Nettie?? I was thinking the EXACT same thing this evening while getting DD out of the bath....

And my question has now been answered, it was what I had done in the past - but i wanted to check that was the best way to do it

[sunshine_sieben]

I just had a thought.
A little while ago I was looking into how to get mold stains out of fabric (my bath mat). A few people suggested that Milton steriliser solutipon or tablets is the only thing that worked for them. I have not tried it yet, but I just thought it might be a good thing to try on bath toys... unlike the sun, that stuff can treat the inside of the opaque toys, too...

Sasa

[Indadhanu]

Boiling water and lots of vinegar. Fill the toys, leave them until the water cools down, and then rinse them out.

Dininfectant might also work too.

[{sarah}]

Ones that don't get water inside, like cups for example, I just throw in the dishwasher every now & then.

[sunshine_sieben]

Now we're on a roll girls!
I love the vinegar idea. Of course, it is meant to kill mold. Why didn't I think of that?
Tea tree oil should work, too. But it isn't the cheapest method. Tea tree oil is a broad spectrum fungicide. The ratio is about 1 teaspoon of TTO to 1 cup of water.

Sasa

[[M]umma[M]ia]

ahhhh Sarah! thanks! didnt think to throw them in the dishwasher!

[{sarah}]

We put all sorts of toys in our dishwasher! Little plastic cars, plastic dolls (like the bath ones), stacking rings etc. It's hot enough to sterilise so you know they're properly cleaned & the chemicals won't hurt the kids because they have to be safe for eating off

[Nettie]

Liam will drink the bathwater almost every night. So I don't want to use something either toxic or just plain unhealthy.

Not sure about the bleach idea or the tea tree oil because of this.

Also - wouldn't hot water hurt some of the plastic toys? I'm worried it will cause it to degrade and leech harmful chemicals... Will very warm water work instead with the vinegar?

Being a bit fussy, aren't i?

Leesa - yes, I can read minds. It's a gift! LOL

[sunshine_sieben]

Toni, you are not being fussy. They were my exact thoughts.

The vinegar would work. But I am not sure about how it would affect the plastic, being so acidic...
Some plastics even deteriorate with boiling water. So depending on what material the toys are made from, the dishwasher might actually harm them.

Having said that, mold is also a serious health risk...

By the way, DD still drink the bathwater all the time. In fact, she also drinks the water at the public pool we go to - eek!!!

[Tan2705]

Vinegar works a treat! I wash DS's things in vinegar and tepid water monthly without any damage done to the toys.. because it is so humid here we get mould on everything and vinegar is a godsend!

[HollyC]

Apparently denture cleaning tablets work really well for this!