to take my own toys?

Yeah screw that no playgroup for my child then 🤢

Scheherezada, my MIL has just said exactly the same thing.

we cleaned our toys once a term. if toys really needed to be done inbetween they would be done as and when needed. would of done it more often but it's always the same people and we don't always have the time to do all the toys more than once a term.. maybe you are at a good playgroup that has lots of willing volenteers.
if you want new toys have a look on ebay and the likes cost it all up and take it to your group leader. op you have lots of time on your hands

Yes but toilet germs are different.

A good rule of thumb is as thus:

If it's come out a bum it probably shouldn't go in your gob*

It's not the classiest mantra, but a good one to live your life by. In fact op that mantra is my gift to you. Take it, get yourself a oh fuck sack and you'll survive anything. You can even put milton wipes in yours if you have to.

*with the exception being eggs

razzlebathbone - that's brilliant! I love it. :) My brother used to do that as a child, largely because he wanted to be the Pope (we're not even religious, never mind Catholic.) In hindsight, our Mum must have been quite chilled out about the germ factor.

Another microbiologist here. I'm a dirty slattern about some things, including not washing fruit, or the 15 second rule (as it is in our house) but anything to do with 'toilet germs', I'm a clean freak about.... I second the wet surface thing, but DD regularly licks trolleys, toys, pets, other people, etc., and isn't dead yet.

My mum is a microbiologist and very vocal about the 'child cruelty' of parents who damage their childrens immune systems and -intentionally- make them susceptible to illnesses by refusing to let the child get a bit dirty.

If you want your child to be healthy, let his immune system build up strenth, so that when something big, and bad DOES come along it will have the natural resistance to fight it off. Otherwise you will have one very, very sick child.

honeydragon the grass soup was a bit bland but I used the bits of bread crusts my cherubs had dropped to make croutons obviously I blew the fluff off them first

my ex mil once presented me with a kit that had a spray and wipes and something you put under your nose to use when I flew home to protect me from 'the germs from other people breathing on the plane' shame it didnt work against her nasty germ of a son

Wow - I never sanitised anything. We never even had a steriliser for our three... The kids have great immune systems and only caught any bugs after we joined the local gym, which I think must be a real source of people from different communities mixing, which would explain why we seem to catch something every time we go. If we don't go for 6 months, we are healthy for 6 months. Weird.

Anyhow, as others have said - you are being a bit over cautious. Yes, it is a bit gross if toys are sticky etc, but take your own wet wipes and give the toy a quick rub before letting your baby play, if you are worried. If you take your own toys what new stimulation is your child going to get?

My toddler ate popcorn off the ground at the weekend before I could stop him :-( Another time at the doctor's office my 3 year old found a sweet under a chair and ate that! I think that some germs are good for them and although I definitely don't like that kind of thing, it hasn't harmed them.

my mum is a total bleach freak and me and my sister have asthma and were often ill as kids.

DD1's fav game when little was to chew the wheels of her buggy. DD2 chews everything she can get her hands on including a snail in our garden.

They are rarely ill.

Don't stress too much over dirt. Seriously my mum nearly went round the bend with her cleaning and wiping obsessions. Lifes too short and all that.

i have 4 children, never sterilised a toy in my life. Kids rarely ill and 3 never needed antibiotics.
get a life or go in early and scrub the toys

Imagine you were at someone's house and they used a spoon, licked it clean, then gave it to you to use. Would you mind, would you be happy?

But if you didn't see them do it then you wouldn't know or be bothered..

Admittedly not nice,but not life threatening.

Load of old bollocks.

Do you spray the door handles of shops and the handles shopping trolleys before touching them.

What about produce that has been touched then put back on shelves?

The toys at the toddler group DS goes to are never washed. I must admit I used to push the ones with the biggest deposits of black crud out of his reach but on the whole I left him to it, figuring that everyone else's offspring were still alive. DH takes him now and I assume he thinks the same.

I once read something a GP had said about only preventing children from touching 'toilet' germs. And he said if your baby wants to chew the handle of the supermarket trolley to let them get on with it. Don't look if it bothers you.

It's far more important IMO that your child learns to muck in (literally!), share and play with other children.

Get over yourself

Surely you mean wash, not sterilise? Would you really sterilise toys? To be fair to the OP there is a rather unrealistic bit in "What to Expect: The First Year" about choosing nurseries that suggests that a good nursery would get children to play with their "own" toys and wash in between.

OP, pls come back! How often do you think the toys should be sterilised, each time after a play session? Or is that too rarely? Maybe you should re-sterilise the lot every 15 minutes or so.

Sadly, seriously, this is why soft toys are gone from doctor's offices, now :(.

Either:

a)
b) you need a serious bout of therapy
or
c)

We're alive thank you Queencee, we sucked the scarfs and bells. The mouldy soup and toys sullied by other children haven't resulted in any serious diseases.

We are going to make cakes now ds is home from school. dd and ds are agitating nicely on a hot wash before they touch the flour in case they eat their own germs and implode.

allhailtheaubergine has a good point op, you got to a lot of parent and child groups, so only go to the ones you consider clean enough, or are the clean ones the ones where the nasty domineering 18 month old babies take the toys away to play with on their evil power trips over the smaller babies?

Me too Sarah.

I dunno OP - you're getting a hard time because everyone wants to be all cool and laid back about their kids and germ tolerance. It depends how filthy these toys are. I had a dr surgery once where I didn't want my kids to touch anything, frankly. And I let the children lick the dog, so I don't think I'm manic when it comes to cleanliness.

If everything is that revolting you need to find a new toddler group.

And if not, you need to chill out.

PS My daughter once licked the handle of the door in a public loo.

My one year old has taken to kissing the ground, like the Pope. I know he won't get ill because he's infallible.

Honeydragon - how did Rhyme time go?
Any nasty cases of wiles disease or similar to report??

just what does one do with grass nasty yukky unhygenic green stuff?

Soup.

Ours was lovely thankyou. DD and I are off to rhyme time in a bit, I'll pop back in to confirm whether we survived playing with the instruments.

DS1 once ate bird poo and carefully licked each piece of kibble in the dogs bowl before putting them back for her.

DS2 has just today had a good chew on the trolley handle, licked the ground outside, licked the garage door, found an old piece of vegemite toast behind the lounge and found out that he can clean his nose with his tongue.

I think the toys he chewed on at playgroup were probably the most hygienic thing they went in his mouth.

I would use a spoon licked by someone I know well and certainly would use a spoon after a baby.

We are all in robust good health.