If you have little ones you probably have a rubber ducky. And if you love that rubber ducky as much as we do in our house, you’ve probably noticed he can get pretty gross inside. Old bath water can get caught inside rubber bath toys and black mold can start to form. It is disgusting!
We have a ton of rubber squeeze/squirt toys that Hudson loves putting in his mouth. Black mold + my baby’s mouth really freak me out! So recently I cleaned ALL of our bath toys to put my mind at ease! Here’s what you’ll need to do: First, squeeze all of the bath water out of each toy. I tried to clean them with vinegar but just couldn’t get them clean enough…so I had to bring out the big guns…bleach! Soak the toys in 1 gallon of hot water mixed with 3/4 cup of bleach. Then, keep squeezing bleach water into and out of each toy until all of the gross stuff comes out. Be sure to wear gloves during this process so that you don’t get bleach everywhere!
Assistant optional.
Next, squeeze all of the bleach water out of the toys, rinse them thoroughly, and then let them dry for a day or so. These little guys lived on my chopping board for at least three days until I finally got around to the next step! My husband kept joking that I was plotting a bath toy massacre.
You could choose to clean your toys with bleach periodically but what busy mom has time for that? This next step is optional, but it has proven to be a lifesaver for us! Grab your hot glue gun and place a tiny dot of glue over the squeeze hole on each toy. That way, no more yucky water can get inside and your toys stay clean!
Yay for clean toys! Hudson doesn’t even care that the toys don’t squeak or squirt water anymore.
And now for some cute baby in the tub shots.
Bath time might just be my favorite time of day.
Great post Julie! I've been meaning to clean ours. I did read a vinegar solution somewhere that is a bit more "green" friendly than bleach, but at least with bleach you know the nasty stuff is killed 🙂
Lex would DIE if we did the last step! She loves her squirters!! Adorable baby bath time!!
I do need to give a good cleaning to Max's bath toys. Thanks for the reminder! Hudson is just so cute in the tub!
I was actually debating throwing away my son's toys and getting new ones. I'm glad I read this! I'm definitely doing that last step also!
Black mold! Gross! I have never cleaned the bath toys — looks like I meed to get on that!!
Good to know! It's funny how when Noah was a newborn he hated the bath and now he LOVES it! Hudson looks so cute in the bath 🙂
I have been meaning to do this for the past few weeks, thanks for the reminder. I want to do the glue trick too, but worry Maddie would miss the squeeze factor! Such cute tub shots!!!!!xx
I threw out all our squirt bath toys a few weeks ago when I noticed how icky they were getting. I had no idea they could get so gross!
THis is so good to know! We just started putting toys in the tub for Scarlett, and I had the same thoughts as I was squeezing the water out of them. Glad to know vinegar wasn't effective, because that would have been my first step. Great lesson 🙂
I was actually just thinking about this the other day. Thanks for sharing…I had no idea!
I've been wondering about Caleb's little rubber ducky – it's always got water up in there and I knew that just couldn't be a good thing:( Will definitely be using this method to clean his toys out asap!
I've been meaning to do this too! I'll add this to the ever-growing list of a mom! 😉
Thanks for the reminder!! I need to do this also.
Oh wow love the glue gun idea! K loves to squirt water but I hate it when that yucky black stuff gets out and into the water.
We don't have any squeaking bath toys and now we won't!!! Our bath toys are all dishwasher safe (I didn't plan it that way it just sort of happened) but I only have cleaned them like twice… maybe I need to do that again here soon!
I was just thinking we should throw out a bunch of our's. Great ideas! Maybe you'll inspire me to clean them out. Or maybe buy some new ones and start with the hot glue on them!
Genius! Where has the hot glue trick been my whole life?! Thanks a ton for sharing 🙂
http://www.sadieskyboutique.com
Such a great tip! I forget that those things can get so gross inside. Recently my baby has been more interested in standing and playing with our whale spout so I'm sure he wouldn't notice if I hot glued the water spouts closed 🙂 Thanks for the tips!
I just did this over the weekend! It's so funny. I was just thinking (while I was squeezing water out of all those darn squeaky toys) about how I've never read a blog post on cleaning bath toys, and that it seriously needed to be done. Bath toys can get SO nasty. Thanks for the post!
Love this! I've heard about the hot glue gun trick! I need to throw Joseph's toys in some bleachy water!
Thanks so much for the tips!
-Nicole
OurHumbleWebb.blogspot.com
Great idea!! So going to do this to our rubber duckies.