Germs - keeping things clean

We are always fighting colds in our house especially since my tiwns go to daycare. Do any of you use disinfect for toys excersaucers etc.? If so what do you use. I sometimes use a lysol type spray at night to let it air dry by morning but I'm not sure if that's best since they put everything in their mouths. I also wash everything down with soap and water and wash plastic toys every few days. It just doesn't seem clean enough just using soap and water. Any suggestions?

 

We are always fighting colds in our house especially since my tiwns go to daycare. Do any of you use disinfect for toys excersaucers etc.? If so what do you use. I sometimes use a lysol type spray at night to let it air dry by morning but I'm not sure if that's best since they put everything in their mouths. I also wash everything down with soap and water and wash plastic toys every few days. It just doesn't seem clean enough just using soap and water. Any suggestions?

 

I've started to use a product called Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface ("daily disinfectant spray") -- unlike other such disinfectants this is marketed as something that is safe specifically around pets, children, and food and that does not need to be rinsed off. You spray it on to whatever and let it sit for a couple of minutes, and if you are so inclined of course you can rinse or wipe it off (which I do). They really know who they're marketing to, too -- the examples and pictures on the container to demonstrate use show/list high chairs, baby toys, "nursery," changing table, and so forth. Basically it's like those wipes they sell now (clorox, lysol, etc.) for bath, kitchen, etc. but those need to be rinsed. I use it every night on their high chairs...I just got a "little playzone" yesterday and cleaned off the whole thing with the stuff...use it on doorknobs and what have you at this time of year, too. For their plastic toys I use this sometimes and wipe/rinse it off. Other toys I'll throw in the wash (even lots of stuff that says "surface clean only," so far everything has been fine) and I've been known to just use a steam cleaner on some of the stuff.

 

I heard once that vinegar was a good disinfectant and a safer alternative than chemicals (namely bleach, the daycares around here soak the toys in a bleach water mixture to disinfect). But I was thinking of trying that new Clorox spray mentioned in pp. HTH

 

Yep, vinegar is also good. There's some good sites online (and some bad ones, of course) about nontoxic cleaners with regular ole household ingredients. A vinegar solution is a good cleaner, sometimes with other things. For a nonabrasive cleaner for tubs and whatnot, baking soda is good. I'm not so interested in using things like softscrub and worrying about the bleach and other chemicals being in my kids' bathwater, kwim?

None of which stops me from using that new clorox spray.

 

We use the Clorox Anywhere spray as well and wipe it down.

 

We love the Clorox Anywhere spray too! We use it all the time!

 

Clorox anywhere sprat here too...

We should buy stock in this product we go through it like water.

 

There are wipes you can buy at BRU that are safe even wet for the kids!! Also, unless your daycare provider is cleaning their toys etc. then it's going to be fruitless at home because they'll pick up the crud there no matter what!

 

Thanks so much for the advice. Looks like I'll be stocking up on Clorox for us and our day care.