Photo by Colin Maynard | Unsplash

Have you just had a baby? Congratulations, that’s wonderful news! No doubt you’ve already been inundated with visits from family and friends and you are surrounded by lots of lovely new baby gifts. If this is your first baby, you will likely receive many gifts and gift baskets filled with everything from blankets to bottles to books and a wide variety of baby toys. If this is your second or third baby, you will have a vast mix of new and old baby toys for your new little one. As your baby (and family) grows, you’ll quickly find that this collection of toys rapidly grows too.

While your new collection of baby gifts and toys are shiny clean and bright, keep in mind that over time (and not necessarily a long time) your baby toys will collect germs. For this reason it is very important to keep them clean. Babies’ immune systems are not fully developed yet, which makes it even more important that you do what you can to keep them healthy. Babies very quickly discover the inside of their mouth and most toys will end up being chewed, sucked or licked. This provides an easy way for your baby to pick up germs.

Regular cleaning of your baby’s toys will help to reduce the risk of them becoming sick. Here are a few quick tips to getting your baby gifts and toys thoroughly clean every time and making them safe for baby to play with.

• Avoid using toxic cleaners or any products that have heavy scents.
• For quick cleans, put plastic toys in the dishwasher or give them a thorough wipe over with a baby wipe.
• Before putting fabric toys in the washing machine, make sure you put them in a pillowcase first.
• If you have toys that cannot go in the washing machine, then give them a thorough vacuum and a wipe with an antibacterial cloth.

Always check your baby’s toys regularly and anything that looks broken or has dirt that you cannot remove should be thrown away. Check out this helpful guide to cleaning baby toys safely for more tips.