All kids love bath toys. It makes bath time a lot more fun. A bathtub, bubbles and these rubber/plastic creatures add a lot of excitement for our little ones. But they also bring with them potentially dangerous and undesired friends.
I threw out Rey’s favorite fishes (bath toys) a while back. He loved those fishes. Even had names for all of them. Carried them around. They helped keep him entertained and distracted while I gave him head baths. They were his bath buddies. Hell, they were my best buddies during his bath times.
It made my job a lot easier, then why did I decide to throw them away?
Here’s why. One of his bath buddies, the Nemo fish ended up with a small slit in its body and gave me a peep on what was going on inside him. I cut open the poor fish (and later a couple of other toys) and what I saw was enough to not let the fish and his friends stay another second in my house.
The bath toy had a layer of mold and gung inside it.
I decided to slaughter the rest of his bath buddies too. And as suspected, all his bath toys had mold growing inside. There was not much to ponder upon and I threw them all out.
Here is the photo I took of one of the toys before getting rid of them. Not sharing all photos as they are all equally gross.
FACT: I regularly washed his bath toys every week and hung them out to dry in the sun.
If you notice closely, you will see that every toy has a small hole in it. This allows water to seep inside. When we wash the bath toys, it’s just the exterior that is getting cleaned.
The combination of water, humidity and overall contamination of germs (especially if you have a toilet in the same closed room) makes the toys a welcome breeding ground for bacteria and fungi, which form “slimy films” inside. If you squeeze a bath toy you’ll notice a stream of watery, black gunk coming out of the little hole at the bottom.
These toys, over a period of time, can harbor potentially dangerous bacteria that could make you and children ill. The plastic in the toys may also leak chemicals for bugs to feast on and the material that they are made of may also serve as nutrients for the bacteria to grow.
I researched on the internet and there are plenty of studies which talk about why these deceptively cute toys should not be a part of your child’s bath routine. A study which included a swab test revealed a shocking statistic, “A swab test shows the bath toys had a result of 6,000 and a public toilet had 600.”
So, no matter how cute these little ducklings and fish may appear, they could end up causing serious health issues to your little one. If your child plays with bath toys, I would urge you to check for yourself before you make a decision.
I checked and I don’t regret mine.
Great to know !! Some parents use for fancy and some use for comforting the child !!You have educated many parents which they wouldn’t have given a thought about bath toys !!
Oh my god! That’s disgusting!
And to think we expose toddlers to these bacteria carriers!