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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A small Doodles - the dog from the Tweenies TV series.
Doodles had an adventure one day and was found sitting in the road in the pouring rain. Not just sodden but full of grit.

Not washable of course, but as it couldnt get worse it just had a good handwash in the washbasin and was no worse for it afterwards.

My children have never really grown strong attachment to comforters. My 3 year loves to take a small Tupperware box of Lego out with him. When restrictions were not in place, he'd very often have it for families meals out or visiting families. It can keep him entertained for hours! Very easy to clean - cleaning wipes, milton water or even in a better bag in the dishwasher.

Their bedtime teddies just go in the washing machine and dry on top of the radiators - they love them being washed and the fragrances fabric softener on them.

Their bedtime teddies are a dragon that was made at teddy stuffing party aged 5. My son (now 7yo) put the heart inside labelled with brave and cuddles it every night to become braver each day. My other son (3yo) has Charley bear (a passed down teddy from his older brother) its from a show we loved years ago and now have to rewatch on YouTube voiced by James Corden.

'Rory' lion was my friends' sons until he was 5 and he wanted my daughter to have him ❤️ thankfully he was quite clean to start with, but he had been around for a while, so getting a back up was impossible I found 😬 he had to be gently and stealthily removed from my daughters clutches while she slept, put in the washer, and then the radiator until morning and heaven forbid she woke during the night! I'd take extra care to thoroughly exhaust her that day! I attached a carabiner clip to his tag for extra security too.

My son has a comforter Giraffe cuddly that he’s had since he was a baby, he’s called Alan! We have 3 ‘Alan’s’ in the house to account for washing or temporary misplacement and one has ended up in my bed too. Whether anxiety related or wanting to feel my baby close, I’m almost ashamed to admit that he comforts me too! However I’m finally sleeping better so less embarrassed to admit this fact!

My son recently was admitted to hospital for over a week and Alan went with him, of course, it definitely provided him some much needed comfort through a very difficult week.

My daughter has a rabbit toy which she loves a lot and i brought 2 of them so i could wash one of them

My son has a airplane which he likes to carry around all the time with him and i use wipes to clean it as it cant be washed

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

My 13 year old got a baby teddy rattle as a baby. She still loves it and sleeps with it.

Weirdest place she wanted to take her was to the toilet.

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?

Oh yes...we forgot it one time we went on holiday and had to get up and out for 3am... fortunately we did manage to appease her by buying a different teddy as soon as we got to resort.

How did you rescue them?

We didn't it was home.

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

Doll goes in washing machine...no washing disasters. She is faded now though!

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

It was ok as she wasn't glued to it in the day only the night!

My boy has a cuddly ‘good dinosaur’ toy. He held on to it that much the neck has snapped lol. When my boy broke his elbow he demanded the nurse put Arlo’s neck in a cast to keep it up straight.

My DD had a baby she named Alice and used to pop her to bed in her toy oven at night oh to be 2 again!

My son had a kaloo teddy and he would sit and watch it in the washing machine (when I could eventually get it off him). Couldn’t do it on a night time as if he woke up and it wasn’t there he wouldn’t settle.

My DD who is now 18! had a very worn out black and white cat called Buttons. Buttons had actually previously belonged to me so was quite old, he had lost his leg several times and I had sewn it back on. My daughter absolutely adored him and took him everywhere. On her 10th birthday he went with her to collect a celebratory Chinese meal, she put him on a chair and left the take away without him, as she was so excited with it being her birthday. At bedtime she realised she didn't have him and I said I'd go to the Chinese the following day - unfortunately he wasn't there, we don't know what happened to him. My daughter was heartbroken and it took years for her to get over it. I wish we had had Facebook then as very often I see pictures of cuddly toys around our local area that have been found, and maybe it could have helped to find our dear old friend.

My mother bought my daughter a hideous thing all dressed up in golf clothes that my daughter insisted on calling 'Big Boy'. She took him everywhere and would shout out for him. Then my mother spotted a similar one which my daughter also lugged around and called 'Boy Big'. I could have throttled my mother!

My boy is completely obsessed with his toothbrush, to the point where we are now prising it from his hands, cleaning it together, “put it to bed” and say goodnight before he himself goes to bed. I’ve bought a spare for the inevitable moment he loses it!

My little boy has a toy dog called "teddy" confusingly, he can't sleep without him. My little girl has a sleeping bag not really a toy!! but she has had since she was a baby and still has it now age 6.

I may come across as mean but I managed to avoid any of my 5 children becoming too attached to any particular toy after my youngest brother became so attached to something that we had to return from a holiday after one sleepless night because it had been forgotten.

my daughter has a rather large polar ear she adores it and we have to take it everywhere, its igger that she is!!

Mine is obsessed by Peppa Pig, so her room is like a shrine. Peppa Pig everything is owned!

My son had a red Elmo teddy that he insisted on taking everywhere with him. Elmo joined us out on adventures, he went on the train, he went on the bus, he went to the park, to the shops, to the zoo. My son loved him so much, he wouldn't sleep without him either. We had to find Elmo and make sure Elmo was in the bed at bed time. When Elmo would get dirty, we would pop him in the washing machine...not that that was fun waiting on him drying as my son would just want him even if he were wet.

My sons favourite toy was a soft flat cuddly duck which squeaked. It was known as little ‘Mate’ and when he needed a wash along came big ‘Mate’ who was fatter as he hadn’t had so many washes and replaced original Mate until he was dry!

my son loves his teddy bear and likes to push it around in his pram. Luckily it is washable as he likes to feed it his food too!

My youngest absolutely adores his fluffy donkey cuddly toy. He takes him absolutely everywhere with him and he likes to treat him exactly how i treat my son - this involves me changing his nappy (pretending obviously) and him sitting at the dinner table for breakfast, lunch and dinner with us.
I try to give him a wash in the washing machine as often as my son will let me. The only way i can distract him is by switch fluffy donkey with his identical twin fluffy donkey 2 (yep we bought another just in case it ever got lost) - fortunately my son doesn't notice the difference :)

My grand daughter loves her little bunny that fits snuggly in her hand & it can be washed but we haven't done so yet! Otherwise she loves her musical drum that has a mirror surface & we just wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

My daughter went through a scooby doo phase when she was around 5 and she took her little daphne toy EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately it went missing one day and when she couldn't find it, she instantly stopped watching scooby doo.. no idea why!!