Share your stories about your children’s favourite toys with Munchkin Nursery Steriliser - £100 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

Whether it’s a cuddly bear or a favourite blanket, young children become very attached to certain toys and comforters. Many parents will know the struggle of keeping these toys clean - particularly when they get taken on outdoor adventures or when your DC won’t let them out of their sight, even at mealtimes! With this in mind, Munchkin would like to hear your stories about your children’s favourite toys and comforters, and how you navigate cleaning them.

Here’s what Munchkin UK has to say: “Life with a little one is always going to be messy, but luckily the Munchkin Nursery Steriliser means that in just five minutes you can make sure toys, blankies and soothers are clean and ready to use, meaning you can spend less time cleaning and more quality time having fun”

Which toys were your DC particularly attached to and what’s the weirdest place/situation your child insisted on taking them? Did you experience that heart sinking feeling when you realised the toy they’re attached at the hip to had been left behind or lost? How did you rescue them? How did you keep their favourite toys clean, and did you experience any washing related disasters? What distraction methods did you resort to when your children’s favourite toys had to be taken away to be washed?

All who post on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £100 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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When my DS was between 1 - 4 years old he had a George Pig soft toy that went every where with him! We used to have to sneak it off him when he was asleep so we could wash it!
One day he took it to nursery and ended up leaving it there- on a Friday afternoon so we couldnt get it until the Monday. Knowing a whole weekend without George Pig would have been heart breaking for DS, we had to make an emergency trip to the shop to buy another (interim) one!!

My eldest DD has an attachment to a minni mouse roadster toy that her younger sister "brought" with her when she was born! Can't get it anymore so it never leaves the house now!

Youngest is attached to a pp Everest toy. We didn't mean or force anything on them they have a lot of toys and teddies characters and not but these are the ones that have stuck.

My son was very keen on a particular wooden jigsaw piece (it was animal shaped) and he carried it everywhere. At least it was easy to keep clean!

We had a brief spell where she needed to take a spoon everywhere. Didn't need to be a particular spoon luckily but just one of her baby spoons. I remember once having to retrace our steps in a country park to find the missing spoon, gave it an antibacterial and then she was happy again.

Luckily most of the time the dishwasher sufficed to keep them clean!

My second born picked his big sister's gorgeous, cream & pink, silky bunny as his favourite toy. You know how this goes. Before long it was a smelly, grey bunny and regular washing was making it progressively less silky.

I did the usual and went hunting for emergency spares. The bunny had come from Babyblooms, but was no longer on their website. I gave them a ring on the off chance. The lady who answered said the magic words "I think there may be some of the blue ones left in the stock room. Hang on..." She sold me 3, would only take £5 each for them and wouldn't even charge for delivery as they had a promotion on.

So my son had one pink and cream bunny, and 3 blue ones, on rotation. Eventually we dropped the pink one out of rotation and paid it forward by donating it to a story sack for his preschool. I think a couple of the others are still hiding at the back of the airing cupboard.

My daughter had this beanie baby teddy that was actually mine it's missing ears now and one leg and been stitched back so many times. It's got to be about 26 years old now. It also was white, it's more a luxe grey now should you say.

My LO is obsessed with his wooden ring teether with rainbow tassel and also his silicone star stacking toy from lovefromharlie.myshopify.com. Guess it’s because he’s teething and one is constantly in his mouth. Whenever we leave the house I have to make sure we have one of the stacking stars with us or he will have a meltdown!

It was a little play kitchen for my DD. Played endlessly with pretend cooking, parties etc. Very sociable child she is too. In terms of sort toys, there was and still is a rabbit from JellyCat - but that is not a toy. That is a fully enfranchised member of the family, even if it has gone from white with pink stripes to matted grey..

My son's Toy Story Woody went everywhere with us - there were lots of imaginary games, and tea parties with him. He was the best Christmas gift he ever

My two both got very attached to their Sophie giraffe. Came everywhere with us, no replacement would do, it had to be the original!

My husband saved the day once when we got ten minutes away from a holiday house we'd spent the weekend in with friends, and he asked 'did you pack bunny?' Cue stopping the car to check, messaging the other families to see if they'd seen bunny, and then turning round to go back. Fortunately the key was still in the key box and the cleaner hadn't arrived. Bunny was found on the bunk beds in a room which had been cleared of everything so we thought was fine, but the kids had been back into to play. Lesson learnt!

In terms of keeping them clean, they all seem quite happy to go in the 'roundy roundy machine'. I do try and wash them in the morning so they can sit on a radiator and be dry for bedtime.

My daughter used to carry around the tattiest oldest saggy cloth rabbit that her great granny gave her. The only time we could wash it was when she was asleep

My ds had a thing for spiders when he was about 12 months (I consciously tried to be enthusiastic about them as I'm a wimp and hate spiders) then had the mother of all melt downs when he was about 14 months and found a rubber spider in a shop I wouldn't buy him (worried about the legs coming off). So we ordered him a cuddly toy spider and it goes everywhere with him (actually we have 2 for when spider needs a bath, but shh ds doesn't know that).

Almost all of our photos from then on have Spider lurking somewhere near by.

Which toys were your DC particularly attached to and what’s the weirdest place/situation your child insisted on taking them?

My youngest DC was particularly attached to an old mobile phone of mine, he had pretend phone calls and loved to play with it - we had to take it up the lift in Blackpool Tower, when he was having an imaginary conversation with his grandma - telling what he could see and how far he was going up.

Did you experience that heart sinking feeling when you realised the toy they’re attached at the hip to had been left behind or lost?

Yes - we left it at the playgym in Blackpool tower

How did you rescue them?

joining the queue again (about an hour long) to get back up

How did you keep their favourite toys clean, and did you experience any washing related disasters?

I find an antibac wipe does the job

What distraction methods did you resort to when your children’s favourite toys had to be taken away to be washed?

It's not something I washed - but when I washed his blancky which came in a close second - I found an episode of Thomas did the trick

My daughter's favourite toy is the Peter Rabbit her Nana got her when she was born.

I have a friend who has two 'Mr Floppy's on rotation. Every fortnight one goes in the wash and the other comes out. Very admirable, and they have the same amount of wear and tear etc, but I could never manage it

My son loves (for some reason only known to toddlers) his Happyland hen that came in a farm set. This chicken is about an inch high, made of hard plastic and really easy to loose but he insists on taking it to bed with him. He generally falls asleep clutching it and/or chewing on it. As it falls through the cot bars so easily, we often hear him wake crying out "dick, dick" "diiiiiiicckkkk diccccckkkkkkk". Then we need to go find the blinkin thing, which generally has rolled just out of reach, under the cot 🙄.x

My son is almost 7 and still very attached to his bunny. It’s one of the first things we need to pack when going away. I’ve always been very strict about not taking it out day to day though as I’m terrified of losing it. When I was a child I accidentally threw my brother’s beloved teddy out of the car window on the M25 and still feel bad!

My sons both have white floppy eared rabbits one is jelly cat and the other is Morrison’s, they love them and have named them after special people in their lives. What is odd is before they were born I had a real floppy eared white rabbit. They received them as gifts and I never knowingly encouraged them to be their favourite toys. We must just all love white floppy eared rabbits!

DS had a furry lilac gorilla that he won at the fair. It had black googly eyes and really soft fur, very cuddly and went everywhere! (including the washing machine lol!) Ended up practically white. He absolutely loved it!

My 2-year-old son's favourite toy is a large Guess How Much I Love You bunny that my gran picked up in a charity shop for him when he was born. He has become so attached to it that we now have 4: two at home and one at the home of each set of in-laws! He also loves a Primark penguin that I bought him when he was 1 month old as part of a clothing set. Yesterday when it was drying on the clothing rack he explicitly dragged my husband over to it to see if it was dry yet. It's so sweet to see him developing affection for these toys. A bit nervous about the penguin though as unlike the bunny I can't seem to find a duplicate anywhere! I have scoured eBay and set up an alert, but to no avail...

My older 2 have comforters from when they were born. Dc1 stopped being so bothered about hers when she was around 4 certainly before she started school. She still has it in her bed every night tho. Dc2 now 4 is absolutely obsessed with a v expensive white company toy, its not allowed out the house normally but it does go on holiday with us. We bought another one a few years back as he sooks it and it smells like death after a few days so needs regular washing. DC3 doesnt have one and I dont think Ill start, she sucks her thumb and Im delighted that it doesnt need to be laundered and cant go missing, dentist probably wont be pleased . Older 2 have driven me demented with nearly losing their comforters and turning the house upside down looking for them.

My husband bought a cat Teddy on the day my youngest was born and she took it everywhere. She dropped it one day on a walk and finally found it a few days after so we bought a replacement just in case. She wouldn't entertain new cat and unfortunately original got lost again, this time forever. New cat has been a regular and I bought another as a back up in case the worst happens again. Took a picture of loved 3 year old cat beside the recently bought one and her 'love' has not been kind on her!

My little ones favourite teddy was the free cow from c&g. She used to take it everyone and hold it by its neck. When it got left at nursery once I contacted c&g to get a spare and they said no, only if I'm pregnant! Luckily a friend had one that they didn't use and we had a spare which was great when it really needed a wash.

My 2 year old daughter has a comforter well she has 4 the same which she was happy until one day she made a hole in one and pulled all the stuffing out of its head, she now sleeps with her hand inside the comforter and won’t take any of the others. I even tried to make one of the others the same by ripping it and taking out the stuffing but she always seems to know the difference!!