Babies and adult keys?

[chloemegjess]

Hello. My Mum gave my DD (5mo) her keys to play with the other day. It did keep her quiet and stop her crying, but I was a bit worried about all the germs etc. She said it was fine but sometimes has very different opinions to me on stuff when it comes to DD.

Anyway, is it ok for them to play with adults keys? Are they too dirty? Is there any way of cleaning the keys?

I wouldn't sweat it chloe. Builds their immunities

don't worry - nasties need something for them to live on - soil, skin,decaying food etc - none of which i'm assuming you'd find on your keys! It is amazing how much they love them though isn't it? Just watch out for any bits coming off keyrings - could be a choking hazard.

great, thanks!

'Tis practically compulsory for babies to play with grown-ups' keys in my experience. The ultimate baby toy - shiny, jangly, tactile and always with you when you are in a long queue at the checkout!

I'm with Smithagain, keys are the dogs danglies when it comes to impromptu toys. The son of a friend of mine will make a beeline for my bag, carefully empty it and extract my bunch, before putting everything else back in the bag and going off with them happy as a chap called Laurence.

Plus, as MarsLady points out, a bit of filth is good for wee ones. Keeps their immune system on the go

Thank you! They have been keeping her quiet!

Just don't give her your car keys if you have remote locking. Baby drool kills that IME. (Oh it also kills mobile phones!!)

Keep the worry about germs in perspective. Once they're crawling, their hands are in constant contact with the floor, then straight to their mouth. You can't keep them germ free and, as others have said, you shouldn't as they need a bit of dirt to build up a healthy immune system.

It wasn't the germs i was worried about it's that he would shake them and poke himself in the eye. Thankfully he's about passed that stage (fingers crossed) & although it was a great distraction i never liked doing it.

mine have a caribena (sp?) that I click onto the bar on top of the shopping cart, he sits in there and jingles to his heart's content and can't throw 'em! I saw this as a much preferable option to his period of sucking on shopping trolley bits

When DD1 was little I went along to a key cutters and asked them if they had any spare 'blunt' type cut keys. Once we'd established that I wasn't planning anything illegal with the keys he handed over a handful of keys that he'd been going to throw away but which didn't have any particularly pointy/spikey/scrapey bits on them. Took them home, cleaned them up, attached them to a key ring and gave them to DD1 - her favourite toy for many months!!

Very good idea snowstorm!

When mine starts playing up in the trolley he thinks it's a hilarious distraction to sink his razorlike front teeth into my hand and watch me yowl. I still have the marks from this mornings trip to B&Q.

I don't have a problem with germs - DD has eaten things off the floor for months and months. I do worry about her breaking her teeth though, so she's only had keys to play with since I was able to get the "not in the mouth" rule through to her. She has spent up to 20 (blissful ) minutes "locking" and "unlocking" the door.

At toddlers one day and another child deliberatley tried to stick a car key right in ds eye - twice! missed it by millimetres but grazed it quite badly and left a nasty mark. I dread to think what could have happened so now I don't let ds play with keys for that reason.