Argh, mould on baby stuff in the loft!

[Lookslikerain]

DC3 is due in just over 2 weeks and we finally got round to bringing baby stuff out of the loft yesterday. Everything had been well wrapped, or so I thought, but our Moses basket and the carrycot for the pram have mould on them. The basket is worse, furry looking in places and smells off. The carrycot seems better, just some marks but it is black fabric so maybe harder to tell.

My first reaction was just to bin and replace but I thought I'd ask here to see if there's any way to salvage them. Obviously, I don't want to put baby into anything potentially harmful.

If DC3 is anything like DC2, they probably won't even be used. DC2 is a wilful little thing and wouldn't tolerate either, opting instead for sleeping next to mummy at night and on mummy during the day!

Any suggestions? Can I make them safe? Or am I mad to consider cleaning them?

I had a buggy that was stored badly and this happened...dettol spray mould removal worked great. sprayed it on and bunged the covers in the washing machine.

It didn't take any of the colour away (red) but did take the black spots ,

Honestly, I'd invest in new. Though if you are happy to wait and see if they are even needed... Maybe research so you know the one you would buy, so if you decide in a few weeks that you do need it, you won't have the headache of choosing when you are sleep deprived!

Try some Milton on it. I cleaned up my maclaren like new with Milton.

Milton and leave outside in direct sunlight. This was a strategy recommended to me in the past for the same problem but I must admit I just bought new, as I was worried it would just hide the mould rather than killing it.

You might be able to save many. Some just go yellow with age anyway where fluids/dribbles/foods have previously been but wash up well.

Thaks for the replies.

I think I'll have a go at cleaning them up and see how they look. I have some Milton in a cupboard somewhere but I think I'll buy some Dettol stuff too.

breakingthebank I was worried about that too. Maybe they would look clean, but aren't really.

I have just moved from a house that had mold that made me ill. I wouldn't risk mildew with a baby. I would not risk using bleach-based products either.

I just hot washed at very high temp.

There's a company who clean baby products. They use non-toxic cleaning stuff plus an industrial steam cleaner that works at some crazily high temperature (120 degrees c or something? Massively above normal boiling point, anyway) so it's all sanitised. They take it apart and give it a service and overhaul so all wheels run properly etc and no grime build-up is left, too. They do get rid of mould but that costs a bit more, I think? We've used them and could not believe how amazing the stuff looked afterwards - complete travel system - we didn't want to put a newborn in it as it had been in the garage for a year, after 3 years use on our first, and was rancid. People thought it was new when we got it back - it's amazing how resilient baby kit is, under the crap.

They have a facebook page, and our buggy is one of the before and after albums though I won't say which as it's rather embarrassing! Suffice it to say one of the rave reviews on there is from us. Will attach a couple of images from their album of someone else's before and after shots, so you can see what they do.

Grubby Buggy. They apparently do those framed baby carriers, car seats, you name it, as well. They're in my local town so most mothers of more than one kid I know use them - they obviously are good when you have an Ebay purchase, too. They're great. Worth every penny IMO. You can check with MN that I'm on the level with this rec as well, as this is a relatively new name change - was perfectstorm before - I've recommended several companies doing various gubbins over that time. No connection with this one at all. They're just impressively good, and saved us hundreds and hundreds of quid on a replacement.

I wouldn't bother even trying anything with the moses basket, though. They're so cheap to replace (John Lewis do a basics one and I imagine IKEA may?) and the wicker is probably holding all sorts of spores - mould is dangerous to anyone's health but potentially lethal to a baby I think? That's why they are iffy about second hand mattresses, iirc. But the carrycot on ours was saved at Grubby Buggy, and they're expensive to replace.

The mould cleaners - dettol and milton - don't hide the mould they kill it. They also get rid of the black spots and milton is baby safe.
I would be more careful with dettol, maybe use it to get rid of mould (it works really well) and then wash the item.

I would fill the bath with milton solution and then immerse the items in it, so that you get the hidden mould down in cracks etc. Take off what ever you can that removes and wash it and milton it etc.

I recently did a whole load of dolls and dolls' things which had been left in shed and had gone mouldy, soaked in milton, and then left out to dry, all mould free now.

I wouldn't do a Dettol bath on something like a carry cot, tbh, because you'd have trouble drying it well enough swiftly enough that mould wouldn't regrow, wouldn't you? But maybe if it's really sunny. Dunno. I do think it's worth getting anything that is expensive to start with professionally cleaned, because steam cleaners are so effective - but not if the replacement cost isn't a lot more than getting it cleaned would be, of course.

Though I have to say, Milton baths are ace for toys. We once bought a huge box of Duplo from Ebay one Christmas, and as it was obviously pretty manky after the seller's kids had all been through it, DH had a scrub at the worst pieces and then just left it all in a bathtub full overnight. Saved a fortune on buying new. And the inside of bath toys get vile if you don't Milton them - we once squeezed out a squeaky whale and the black slime that emerged was scary.

mould won't regrow because

1. it is dead

2 it is dried in a well aired space

I'd not risk it in particular with the Moses basket. It's much better to buy a basic new one and eBay it the day the baby grows out of it to get prob half the money back. I just wouldn't risk a baby's lungs with mould.

I suppose it depends on having somewhere you could dry it? We don't, really. Certainly not in February! And I just don't see how you'd get all the gunge off, either. Dead maybe, but still grimy.

Agreed with the last poster on the Moses basket - and both mine hated them, too!

Could you use a steam cleaner?

Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to ditch the Moses basket and try and clean up the carrycot. I can buy a new basket quite cheaply, and as said, too many crevices to clean. If the carrycot won't clean up enough, I can buy another quickly as John Lewis sell them. But I'll leave that until we know whether we've had a pram or a sling baby.

sleeponeday that company look great! Unfortunately, we're quite far away so I think by the time I pay the courier and cleaning, I wouldn't be far off the cost of a new carrycot.

JamNan Good idea, I do have a steam cleaner. I'll blast it with that too.