How to Sanitize Your Baby’s Toys

Do you need to sanitize your baby’s toys?

Um, yeah.

Today I was scrolling through facebook and saw a picture of my friend’s baby wearing a cute little outfit she’d made by hand. In the background their dog was licking a baby toy lying on the floor. This is why we need to sanitize baby toys!

Whether you’re wiping down the toys after your kid’s last illness, cleaning after a diaper leak, or doing a wipe down after the neighbors dropped by and their kids played with every toy in the basket, you need to know how to sanitize without spending lots of money or using potentially harmful chemicals.

Another time to sanitize toys is when you find some great finds at second-hand store or Facebook Marketplace. I love scouring for quality toys that people no longer use and I love to pass great toys along to Goodwill any chance I get. So of course, you’d want to give these things a good scrub down.  Take a listen as I describe how to sanitize baby toys plus give hints on how to select good used toys.

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What to look for when choosing second-hand toys:

• Make sure it’s got all the parts and pieces. Or if it’s missing one or two, it won’t affect play
• Test the mechanisms to make sure they work. The best toys for infants and toddlers have a reaction to the child’s action. Pretty boring if nothing happens when it’s supposed to
• Carry some batteries with you to test battery operated toys (this is if you’re a serious shopper!)
• Avoid toys that are really specific – meaning there’s only one way to play with them (gets boring quickly)
• Count puzzle pieces
• Check children’s books for missing pages
• Look for high quality toys with very little wear and tear. I like looking for wooden unit blocks, Little Tyke structures, busy boxes, push toys, most anything by Fisher Price, pretty much anything without a battery (because I think those are the most developmentally appropriate toys for our youngest children)

The great thing about second-hand toys is it’s not quite as painful if/when you’re kid is no long interested! You can simply pass it along to someone else and they can enjoy it a while too.

Download How to Sanitize Toys now!