Would you buy second hand soft toys

[Ladyoftheapple]

They are way less than half the price of new on Vinted so I am tempted. I haven’t ever bought second hand stuffed toys before as I feel they could be harbouring germs. Not sure if I’m being unreasonable?

Of course. From charity shops, school fairs. You're being silly.

My mum swore that if you put soft toys in the freezer it would kill the germs.

Even with brand new soft toys for babies she’d put in the freezer…

For my dog? Yes. For my baby? Probably not.

I would think most modern plush toys are machine washable.

Yep.

about to do a major charity shop for Christmas ones!

I recently bought some paw patrol toys and the state of them was awful (described as very good and photographed from the best angle) I won’t be buying any more plastic toys from there again, definitely not soft toys. I think it’s a bit of a false economy with the postage too.

I do for my DCs. Most can go in the washing machine so I give them a wash (if my DC let me get them that far after opening them!
DS also tends to buy one from the soft toy table at the Christmas fair or summer fair.

It seems kind of cruel, though

I wouldn’t. My family member kindly gave me lots of toys for my baby at the time. I almost threw up when I saw the crusty mashed in biscuit/ banana that was also gifted alongside it. Nope, nope, nope

It's never occurred to me not to, although I'm not one to get riled up about germs. My babies crawled and grabbed and ate everything they could, and touched other snotty kids and ate sand. A second hand toy being a harbinger of deadly germs didn't cross my mind.

I do for my dogs but I wouldn't for a small baby. Maybe toddler age and up as long as it could be machine washed.

Throw them in the washing machine. Maybe not for a very young baby though. That said, the the baby has older siblings, there's going to be a few germs/biscuit crumbs about anyway.

I do all the time, especially books from charity shops and from Vinted. It seems silly to spend £££ on toys when you can buy them more cheaply in great condition second hand. My DC are still quite young and grow out of toys quickly, so it would cost a fortune to buy them all new. I also love the idea of reusing things that are already in circulation rather than continually buying new. I'd be unlikely to buy teddies second hand but they can be washed, so no issue with it!

Ive bought loads of Squishmallows second hand as my son loves them. They are easily cleaned don’t see the big deal.

Yes of course, you wash it in the machine.

However, I would not pay for something that was visibly dirty. I don’t want other people’s minging rubbish.

Completely agree with this.
I tour our local charity shops every month to get our dog his monthly victims.
But it took me a year to persuade DH that a few germs wouldn’t kill the dog.
Not sure about children though sadly.

They are fine. Nurseries have loads of toys that are shared between children. Imagine the germs at soft play centres!