IΒ hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it turns out the chances areΒ your teddy isΒ harbouring poo. And staphylococcus, a virus associated with food poisoning.
Microbiologists have swab-tested a load of kidsβ teddies and found more than 80% were contaminated with staphylococcus and almost 25% contained bacteria linked to faeces.
Whatβs more, owing to being dropped on the floor and being cuddled by germ magnets small children they have the highest level of bacteria in the family laundry basket.
To make matters worse, nearly half of us unwittingly put teddies in the wash with contaminated things like dirty pants and one in five teddy bears have never been washed at all.
I shudder to think what ours contain.
All this has prompted Dettol to launch a Care for Your Bear campaign to raise awareness of the germs and bacteria found on soft toys. They very kindly sent me a bottle of their laundry cleanser, which you add to the wash and itΒ kills 99.9% of bacteria, and which I actually already use (washing denim on a cold wash canβt be right without something to zapΒ the germs, surely).
Apparently we should be washing soft toys regularly with laundry cleanser, either in the machine or a sponge bath, avoid cross contamination and then let them dry naturally.
Crikey. I scanned BBβs teddies and my eyes fell on Tenderheart, my old Care BearΒ which I got for my 7th birthday in 1987 and which BB loves (do you remember the red heart on their bum to prove it was βrealβ?)
Has she ever been washed?
I asked my mum, and this is what she said: βI don’t specifically remember doing so, certainly not ‘properly’ in the washing machine. Possibly the odd sponge to remove the most offensive stuff.β
Yuk.
Tenderheart is now going for a long overdue spin…
Linking up with…
OMG those stats are horrifying. I have to wrestle the little man’s raffi off him when it’s filthy so god knows what’s in it! #picknmix
It’s probably best not to think about it!x
Wow this is awful…but not surprising! I must put my little ones bunny in the washing machine! X
Ours are going through the wash on a rota system!
Ewwww. I had a feeling teddies were gross, and now I know it’s a fact. Why is raising children so disgusting?? This wasn’t in the brochure! #fartglitter
I’ve been sniffing ours to determine the level of grossness!
Eww! I do wash the cuddly toys regularly (and antibac wipe toys that can’t be washed), and always after illness, with antibac detergent, and leave them to air dry. Don’t wash them separately though – who has time for even more wash loads?! #fartglitterlinky
You do more than me – some of our cuddly toys have never been washed!
Guess I know what I’ll be doing all day today. washing stuffed animals!
Sorry – I don’t mean to make more work for you!
Ha this is one of those posts that (no offence intended) I wish I hadn’t read! Several of our teddies have been washed, but mostly when they’ve been sick on them or are looking grubby. Think I may start popping all teddies in when I do their bedding in future now!
Thanks for linking up to #PicknMix
Stevie x
I usually do the sniff test – if it smells grim wash it, if not leave it until it does!
Poo, snot, and probably E-Coli! I used to be good at putting teddies in the wash when our girl was a bub and now I’m totally rubbish at doing anything like this. And we worry about them eating stuff off the floor ha! #FartGlitter
I follow the 5 second rule where the floor is concerned!!
Ugh, nasty. I saved my cabbage patch doll for my daughter…think I’ll just toss her in for spin tomorrow. Blech!
#fartglitter
I have a talking cabbage patch – unfortunately she can’t go in the wash owing to batteries etc!
Ahhhh….ahhhhhh…and ahhhh some more! We don’t have teddys yet but we do have equally disgusting ‘noo-noos’. Thankfully we have 6 so we can wash them fairy regularly. That’s the last time I kiss a kid’s toy goodnight!….At their request. I don’t randomly go around kissing teddies. Honest.
Anyway…thanks so much for linking up to #fartglitter xxx
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve kissed a teddy – yuk!x
Yuk!!!!!! My little ones bunny went in the other day but only because he vomitted all over it! #fartglitter
That is yuk!
That is pretty frightening. Some of Mrs T’s have been dragged around airports and all sorts. I try to get them regularly washed but she has so many! She loves my old teddy too although he definitely used to be washed – I remember watching him go round and round in the washing machine ! #throwbackthursday
I shudder to think what the class teddy bears are harbouring!
I loved Care Bears!!The thought of what my old one might be covered in though…not so much lol x #throwbackthursdays
They should bring them back like they have My Little Pony…
Oh I hope Tenderheart’s arm doesn’t fall off in the wash hun!! It’s a gross post but I know it’s true eh? Product looks good. Thanks for sharing with #throwbackthursday and see you soon xx
Yes poor Tenderheart!x