Have you ever given a real good look to the areas in your house or things your little ones spend their time around?
Well if you haven’t, be prepared for a few icky surprises you may find when you take a closer look.
As moms, we all make sure to inspect and baby-proof potential hazards around the house, but sometimes we can overlook a few things here and there that can be full of yucky germs and even pose health risks for babies.
Take a look at these 4 germ-infested areas I found after doing some investigation and let me know in the comments if you’ve encountered them before!!
1. The Changing Table & Surrounding Areas
This is probably the first germ-filled place that comes to mind. You go through God-knows how many diaper changes a day, (not to mention the fact that baby may have had a few accidents here) so you expect the changing table to be a bit icky. What you may not know is that it can also be a potential breeding ground for bacteria like E.Coli. True Story!
You might also overlook the things near the changing table that you touch while changing baby and then hand baby to pacify him in the process. Think: diaper wipe containers, creams, the wall and door knobs. Pretty gross if you think about it! Make sure to wipe down all these areas once a day to prevent germs from spreading!
2. The Carpet
No one wants to think about all the dirty feet that pass through the home, baby’s room and therefore onto the carpet. Trust me I’ve been there — my “no shoes in baby’s room” mantra wasn’t strongly enforced nor adhered to, so I had to just deal with the reality that I could no longer just let the little guy roll around and play on the floor without wiping it down or covering it up with a blanket beforehand.
You either have to STRONGLY enforce this one or be prepared to wash the carpet every now and then. TIP: Get a “NO SHOES” sign to enforce your rules.
3. Sippy Cups
YES! Even after you’ve run the dishwasher, mold can still accumulate inside the lining of a sippy cup top and straw! What I found really surprised me the other day, as I decided to take apart a sippy cup…I saw dirt and mold buried under the rubbery top!!! EWW is right! It’s just one of those things you may not notice until doing some close examination.
So remember to hand wash these tops whenever possible using a brush specifically made to reach those out of reach areas!
4. Bath Toys & Stuffed Animals
You’d think baby’s cute little toys would be something you didn’t have to worry about, right? Wrong! Similar to the sippy cup issue, mold can build up inside all those rubbery ducky bath toys that squirt water. Thinks it’s not true? Next time you give your little one a bath, take a closer look at those particular toys with wholes that squirt. Fill them with water and squeeze and you’ll find some black particles spewing out occasionally! Not a pretty sight.
Best way around this is to simply squirt out the excess water from each toy after bath time or cover them up permanently.
Similarly, stuffed animals should be tossed in the washer or wiped down occasionally as they can carry germs transferred from dirty little hands.
Did any of these germ-infested areas surprise you? Please share!
Ana, a mom to three rambunctious little boys, has supported hundreds of thousands of women throughout their pregnancy and motherhood journey since 2012 as a blogger and maternal health advocate at MommysBundle.com.
Ana, you are absolutely right, most of these are not things I would have thought of right away. My daughters are grown, but now I’m taking care of grandbabies…this information is important- thanks! 🙂
I still can’t believe the germs I found in the sippy cups AFTER they were dishwashed! Glad the information is helpful!
Great post!
The bathtime toys were always a big one for me. I would spend forever trying to clean the insides and even used to mix a bleach solution and try to suck it up inside the toys and squirt it out… then you say cover them up… why didn’t I THINK OF THAT! Genius!
The bath toys are a biggie, and really gross me out. The moisture gets up in the rubber duckies and they turn green inside. Eww!
Stuffed animals GROSS ME OUT. I am sure they’re covered in boogers, drool and god knows what else. Eww.
I work in a library and we have toys. I clean them several times a week and Lysol the heck out of them.
Thank you for this reminder. It’s really important to keep our homes clean and safe with babies around.
We have a no-shoe house because I hate carpet and how dirty they are. I do not care if you are a guest – your shoes are left at the front or garage door. I do not allow bath toys that are not easy to clean – rubber duckies are so cute but they also fill with water and that is just gross.
Those bath toys with little holes can get mold in them. I recommend doing a bleach soak occasionally too, just to be safe. Great tips!
None extremely surprised me. I have always took apart my sippy cups, washed by hand then put them in the dishwasher while still apart. Just so I know they will be disinfected too!
I’d love a no shoes rule in the house, but no one would follow it but me. 🙂
I’ve experienced those too when my kids were still using sippy cups. The bath toys especially the rubber duckies are gross when the water stayed inside and turned into molds, ew!
Eww, I never thought of that. lol. I will now be watching out for those areas, thanks!
That’s so yucky to think about what accumulates on a sippy cup! I need to go back to shoes off at the door policy too!
Okay, the nastiness that I would find inside sippy cups when I worked as a nanny scarred me for life LOL I will ALWAYS keep an eye on those things, for sure!
Thanks for sharing! I remember finding mold in my daughter’s rubber duck when she was a child. She is allergic to mold, so that made it even worse…
I will share this with my brother, he and my sister-in-law just had a baby. Thanks!
Sippy cups are the worst for me. As a mommy of 2 little girls ages 1 &3!
this is good to know for those becoming new parents as for me my son is a teenager now and if doesn’t know how to keep germs away from his mouth he has bigger trouble
This is definitely a great post. I myself just recently squeezed my daughters rubber ducky and was horrified to find gross black (I’m guessing mold) come spraying out of it! GROSS! I threw them away so fast! I always squeeze the water out after her baths but turns out my boys were using her rubber duck in their bath too! I threw all of them away and got a new rubber duck for her bath. This one doesn’t have a whole so i don’t have to worry about it growing nasty stuff inside.
The carpet one scares me thankfully we don’t do much carpet these days so hopefully with all the moping it gets the floor is a cleaner place. x
These things are so important – thank you for sharing. It’s really wise to really sanitize these stuff as well.
I have to sneak my daughter’s stuffed animal away from her at night – wash, dry and replace it by the time she wakes up to make sure we don’t have a complete meltdown. Gotta love the terrific 2s 🙂
Bath toys surprise me but I don’t know why. I understand that just because they go in the bath water, it doesn’t mean they are clean. I hear purses can be pretty full of germs too.
In my next home and throughout the rest of my life I vow to no longer have carpet!! We have dogs and need to have hard wood anyway… Throw rugs will be the way to go for us!
I am more of a why ever wear shoes in the house person.
I’m not surprised at those areas at all. I have a toddler who still loves to put things in her mouth so I’m always careful.
Oh my gosh yes this reminds me to much of what my husband did. He was washing the sippy cups and I thought they were clean. Well one day I opened the cup to re-fill it and noticed all mold inside the plastic part. I about flipped a lid on him about washing it. Grr men they sometimes do not think. lol
I went crazy on my son’s bath toys once, when I realized how gross they were. 🙁