Son and Babysitter question...frustrated

Oh hon, it's going to get FAR worse than sharing chew toys. Seriously, wait till he's a toddler and eating cedar chips at the play ground, playing in toilet water, or licking a bus window. (all have happened with DS, and that's just the tip of the iceberg...)
Unless it's medical waste, I don't worry about it.
And you know what? My son is RARELY sick. He's 2.5 and has had maybe 5 colds total. So I tend to fall into the "it builds his immune system" side.

Really, don't worry about it. You simply can't prevent all the stuff he's going to get into.

Try to relax. If he were SICK, I'd ask her to pay more attention to it, or if the kids were playing IN the garbage instead of "near" it; if not, don't worry about it. Actually, with all this disinfecting wash and everything people are so crazy about using, you can WEAKEN their immune systems, and we can breed stronger germs. The less freaked out about exposing him to non-harmful germs, etc. that you can be, the better off his immune system will be. Deep breath! You'll both be fine :)

:) he's fine. It is actually good to be exposed to some germs to help build immune system. My DD use to play with the trash can but I always bleached the top. Now I just have it on my counter cuz she started to take the top off.

You are a first time mom huh? It will be ok he will be fine!

the kids are all in the same house and are all breathing the same air. they ALL have the same germs. Imagine your kid at a daycare center with 3 teachers and 12 babies! there is a reason farm kids are healthier and have less allergies! germs do not make you sick! weakened immune systems do, keep your kid healthy and they can fight off anything!

There is nothing that you can do about any of this except try to relax about it. Yes, it's a little gross, but children can be a little gross. This is going to be a losing battle, and not worth bringing up with your babysitter.

Your son will do far worse then chewing on toys other kids have chewed on.

She can't possibly segregate your sons toys and the others. Even if she did, the other little boy is probably chewing on your sons toys as well.

Ibabysit and am pretty good at keeping those things cleaned, but I'm telling you, it's impossible to never let it happen.

You can always ask the sitter how often she cleans the toys.

Try not to freak out about it. I know it seems gross but kids that age will chew on any and every thing. There's no avoiding it unless you stay at home with him and don't allow other kids in your house. The same would happen at a daycare or anywhere else. Just try to think of it as the kids trying to build their immune systems :)

relax. Buy her some disinfectant wipes to use on the toys(if she doesn't already). I have a daughter who ate those rolly poly bugs(potato bug/pill bugs) all the time. I don't know where she would find them because I was constantly sweeping, but she always had some in her mouth! eww! I had another who ate mud and grass any time we were outside.
I work in the baby room at my church and those kids are constantly swapping things to chew on. We do our best to wipe them off with the disinfectant wipes when one child is done playing with something, but those kiddos are fast! It's a lot easier with only one child to chase him down and make sure he isn't eating or chewing on anything other children have- but when you add more kids to the mix- it's almost impossible. Your son will be fine.
~C.

Dear A.-

I feel your pain!! With my first son...I sterilized EVERYTHING! I would have sterilized my breasts if I could have! By the time my twins were born (children # 6 and 7)...they were lucky if I 'sucked off' their paci if it fell on the ground! lol

I am 'with' the 'it builds your immunity' camp on this one!

Enjoy!
Michele/cat

I dunno, my kids played with all of their little friends toys... and even the ones available at the pediatricians office while waiting for shots or whatever. They are still alive. But I do see your point if you want to go germaphobe, it's not an easy place to go in this world though. Some things are just unrealistic and uncontrollable. They will be sharing germs with people all the time when they get older, best to arm their immune system while young was always my philosophy. He will eat dirt if you put him outside, it's what they do.

Talk to her and tell her that you really don't want him chewing on toys that other kids have had in their mouths. Either get duplicates of what she has just for him or insist that she keep those from him.

I am pretty sure your son will survive, eventually he will have to go to school and touch things all the other kids have touched- I know hard to imagine- relax if you over sterilize, over antibiotic clean your kids you are just asking for trouble. And yes kids will play in a kitchen where the garbage can is and in the bathroom prepare yourself

do you seriously think she can keep toys segregated between pre-verbal tinies? even if she got duplicates for every single child there they would still want to chew on each other's.
relax, hon. if you've got a good sitter, consider yourself fortunate.
khairete
S.

I think even if you try hard to only have him chew his own things, they're bound to find their way into another kid;s hands. Thus is life for this age! I think you'll just have to suck it up unfortunately. Just make sure he gets a bath every night and if you bring his toys home to wash them. And also make sure she washes her toys too. it's really easy for her to just disinfect the toys in a sink of diluted bleach water and wipe down the other stuff with lysol wipes.

Well i am a bit of a germ-o-phobe so yes it would freak me out. Now I did throw my kids cheerios on the carpet, when it wasn't obviously dirty, and let them eat them, but sharing chew toys with other kids, yeah gross. I tried to keep that from happening. I am sure it did happen though. And playing near the garbage would make me think yuck too, and I wouldn't want my kid doing it. Now all people have different perspectives on these things, and I would guess your baby sitter is of a different mindset than you. You could do a couple of things. Let it go, and know he will not die from this. Talk to her about your concerns and hope she takes a few more precautions with your child, or find a new sitter. It looks like you like her and so I would say not to find a new sitter, and ignoring it could drive you crazy, so I would recommend talking to her about your concerns. It can't hurt to talk to her, after all she is being paid to watch your child and should be doing what you are paying her to, but if she doesn't know your expectations she can't do it. You may also just have to realize once you talk with her, there is little more you can do, and you might have to gin and bear it when you see two of them fighting over the same chew toy. Good luck!

i can't see the garbage can, but your son is really too young to distinguish what toy is his and what is not, he's after bright colors and weird shapes. and at that age with other kids around, there's not really much going to stop him from chewing on an already played/chewed on toy.

i can understand the trash can, shouldn't there be a baby gate up at the kitchen door keeping all kids out of the kitchen without supervision?

talk to your baby sitter and let her know how you feel, but if she has many kids in the day then it'll probably go in 1 ear and out the other, she's paid to love your son, don't mean she actually does....a daycare would probably allow this too (more than 1 crawling baby chewing on a toy) he's probably stuck worse things in his mouth and i agree with mommy b, it's ok to get some germs in there, there immune system is like a muscle, if it never has germs to fight, eventually it will weaken maybe give him daily vitamins to help him fight germs (talk to your peditrician about types of vitamins first)