Need Help!! What is a safe disinfectant for toys?

[sarah c]

Hi, I have a 6yo and 14mo and recently started babysitting a 2.5yo and 3.5 part time at my house. The children play with all the same toys and I have never disinfected anything. All of the kids have been dealing with being sick on and off for the past 6wks. My 6yo has not really been sick but my 14 mo has been sick(runny nose, stuffy, coughing, a little fluid in the ear, no high fever) for about 6wks, but has never been sick prior to this. The 2.5 and 3.5yo have pretty much been sick the entire time I've been watching them. It is hard to tell what is causing my 14 mo symptoms. He is going through a lot right now(teething, sharing his mommy more, and being 1). I finally took him to the dr and they don't really either. But they did say I should start disinfecting all the toys and everything. But I don't really know what to use. I don't really use chemicals in my house. I use a mixture on water, vinegar, tto and lavender oil to clean most everything. Any suggestions for the toys?

[Ruthla]

Just washing toys should be enough to get the germs off. I don't think there's any real need to disinfect anything.

Soft toys can go in the washing machine and hard toys can go in the dishwasher or get washed in mild soapy water the same way dishes can be handwashed. Anything too large for the dishwasher can easily be washed by hand (maybe in the bathtub if you're washing a lot at once.

Also, remember that your kids are exposed to whatever germs the daycare kids have, even if you cleaned and disinfected everything every 5 minutes. They're playing together, breathing on one another, etc.

Stuffy and runny noses are sometimes signs of an allergy, rather than always being signs of an illness. Is there anything new in his diet in the past 6 or 7 weeks?

[spitbath]

vinegar works great!

[NicaG]

Can you boil them or wash them in the dishwasher? Also, I sometimes use Chlorox Anywhere to disinfect countertops--it's really mild, basically like water with a really tiny bit of bleach in it. You just spray it on and leave it on, no rinsing. No chemical residues or anything. It smells like pool water and probably has less bleach than that.

[Think of Winter]

I have a squirt bottle full of diluted detergent or Dr. Bronners. I'd spritz them with that and wipe w/ a clean, damp microfiber towel.

ETA: My kids are 2 and 5, and still spend most of the cold months with a respiratory infection. It's just the age. Doesn't mean your toys are making them sick.