A quick note here: it’s 2am and Lucy has thrown up in her crib four times in the past two hours. Jon is out of town. I’m hanging in there, but need some advice about stuffed animal care.
Barney Bear and Piggy Lou haven’t been caught *directly* in the line of fire for these vomiting episodes, but they also haven’t escaped unscathed. I’ve been spot cleaning them, but I decided to finally take them out of the crib with this last bout as they weren’t looking (or smelling) so fresh anymore. I gave Lucy her stuffed zebra instead, and she seemed to accept it just fine — especially after I explained that Barney and Piggy Lou needed a bath.
So, can I toss these animals in the wash? or at least in the dryer? Does rubbing hand sanitizer on them help at all? I must say, being a slight “germophobe”:/news/2007/germophobe/ is not really helping me in this situation. How can I restore our animal friends to their usual clean and fresh-smelling selves?
You could pray for us, too. All the solids seem to be out of Lucy’s system now, but she just threw up a bunch of water (since she had been drinking water after her vomiting episodes). If she throws up again, I’m going to give her some ice chips, but I’m really hoping her stomach will settle now and she’ll just sleep. We both need it.
My sympathies on your situation; these sorts of nights are almost always grueling to a very high degree.
If you feel that they’re sufficiently clean with just a surface wash, then the dryer is fine as a follow-up.
However, (and your experience with your individual stuffed animal may vary) a quick dip in the washing machine probably won’t harm it. They usually recommend surface washing only, but a quick dip should be OK. Spin it out well and maybe even wring it before putting in the dryer.
Blessings and my prayers for a quick recovery (for you both! — you need some sleep) along with a good rest. May the remainder of your day go well.
Oh Ann, I wish I could be there to help you. But know that I will be praying.
My experience….NEVER in the dryer….but I have washed many stuffed animals …full cycle and they seem to come out fine. The dryer, however, may make all of the fur melt together…it is not pretty and a beloved stuffed toy might not be as soft.
I would hang it out to dry. And if it is nice outside…Let Barney and Piggy Lou dry out there.
Blessings….I will be praying.
Okay, if she has the virus that Grace, Aaron and I had (and it seems to be going around quickly–I’ve heard from friends in other cities whose little ones are getting this thing), the worst is mostly over. Here is the progression of it in our experience:
-Throws up a few times
-4-6 hours later throws up a few more times
-within 6-8 hours, unpleasantness from the other end
-seems fine
-24-36 hours later, a lot of, um, wind
-over the next couple of days, some other end unpleasantness as the tummy is readjusting
-it’s over
We survived but not giving Grace anything up to 3-4 hours after the throw up part…not even water. I know that this sounds strange, but it’s what the doctor ordered and it did help. Then Pedialite, liquid or popsicle.
After that, the B.R.A.T. diet…bananas, white rice, applesauce, toast. No milk, no protein. For 24-36 hours. Then chicken broth if she’ll have it.
You will need some Pedialite and/or Gatorade for yourself to avoid dehydration and call your midwife. Aaron never gets these bugs that Grace gets and this one laid him low.
Call in the troops to help and definitely take care of yourself.
For stuffed animals, I used a capful of pet stain cleaner plus Oxyclean in the first load of the laundry (on cold!) to get most of the stuff off. Then a hot wash with regular detergent. No dryer.
NO drying! The fur will get melted – I did this to Jake’s favorite bunny when he was toddler and it really came out looking quite disturbing. I’d wash them in the laundry on delicate cycle.
Sorry you are having sickness in the house when Jon is away – go figure! And little Lu, sorry for her, too. I always thought popsicles were just the thing in these cases. They go down slower than a drink, and provide all the water and sugar she probably needs at this point. You could even freeze Pedialyte. For you, I’d get some of those Emergen – C packets and have at least one a day. Hang in there.
Sorry to hear Lucy’s not well! I hope you all managed to get some rest.
Regarding the splattered stuffed animals: We’ve had the same experience with Evan’s polar bear and Thumper. I put them in a pillowcase and ran them through the washer and dryer. The polar bear has been through that with almost every vomiting sickness Evan’s had. Somehow the bear always manages to be in the line of fire..
oh man. Those days I do not miss at all. It is so much easier when they can (usually) at least get a bucket under their mouth. Sorry… praying for grace beyond your human ability, and peace despite the lack of sleep.
I confess I machine-wash and machine-dry all our stuffed animals. I handwash what I can, then put them inside an old pillowcase, close the end with an elastic hairband, wash them warm and dry them, still in pillowcase, on low heat (or no heat if you don’t trust the low-heat setting.)
Takes forever to dry them but so far they haven’t melted (four kids and at least 20 stuffed animals in the last 10 years.)
But it sounds like from everyone else’s comments, maybe we have just been lucky? or else the pillowcase buffers some of the heat as well as buffering the spin-cycle stress on the seams? I dunno…
Poor thing! I hope she feels better soon, and that you escape this!
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I wash and dry stuffed animals as needed, but most of the favorites at my house are all cloth so there isn’t anything to melt. Also my kids aren’t overly attached to any one toy (well Kaia is now to Hello Kitty that she received during Mo’s hospital stay) so I always decided that if it didn’t come out ok, I’d just toss it.
Take care! The pedialyte popsicles are a pretty hot item at our house.
Thanks, everyone for the advice! It’s so helpful. (And nice to meet you, Jeffrey! It’s quite a distinction to snag the first commenet on a barf-related post. :)
I’m home now, cutting short my meetings to take care of these girls. Your continued prayers are appreciated. More news soon.
Oh, so sorry to hear about Lucy. Not fun to deal with, especially when super pregnant. At least the little one isn’t here yet so you don’t have to worry about her catching it!
We machine wash and dry our stuffed animals. If they seem badly stained (Benjamin’s bear had coffee on it once), I use spray and wash first. Then machine wash cold on the delicate cycle and tumble dry low. I’ve never put them in a pillow case. We have the Whirlpool Duet washer/dryer which in my opinion is a little gentler on clothes (I do hand washables in my washer all the time) so if you have a regular washer, maybe best to go the pillow case route. I do add fabric softener to the washer (I use the downy sensitive variety that has no fragrance at all) when doing stuffed animals or the kid’s blankets – it just seems to help them stay extra soft.