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Monday, September 12, 2011

The problem with bath toys...

When bub was around 12 weeks old, we attended a Plunket PEPE course which is designed to help out new mums by providing advice, support and education. The course itself was fantastic, and we would recommend these kinds of courses to just about everyone.

A negative was one comment that a guest speaker said which has been ringing around in my head ever since. She was talking about the importance of getting babies used to water (great stuff) and talked about bath toys. Apparently the ones that have 'squirting capabilities' get really mouldy within a month- even if you sterilise them. Her suggestion was to buy new ones from the $2 shop every month and dump the rest.
It horrified me that she was effectively promoting adding a bunch of these brightly coloured, mostly non-recyclable items to landfill every month. She didn't seem to understand my issue with it either, sadly enough.

So what do you do with a bunch of bath toys you can't use in the bath? It would be great if you could give us some suggestions!

Also, how do you deal with people who just simply dont understand (or want to)?

Thanks!

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2 comments:

  1. 2 dogs + 1 cat + 2 humansSeptember 12, 2011 at 4:20 PM

    Use the used toys as sandpit/garden toys? Donate them to SPCAs for animals to play with? (The wee tiny ones like I gave you, for kitties and the bigger ones for puppies).

    That said, we had the same bath toys as kids for years, and we are still here today ;-) Maybe mould has evolved to nastier nasties in the past two decades?

    -Helen

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  2. HeatherSeptember 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    I'd just keep on using them - mold and all - at least until it starts to gross you out! Turns out that even the American Pediatric Association (in lawsuit-prone America) don't think the mold's much of a problem. The link below has some comments from them (although it does suggest that you can't clean the squirty ones):

    http://www.babyzone.com/baby_toddler_preschooler_health/hygiene_bath_time/article/whats-in-the-tub/

    This link:
    http://blogs.smarter.com/babieskids/2011/09/07/prevent-mold-by-disinfecting-bath-tub-toys-with-vinegar/

    has someone talking about how she cleans the squirty ones.

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