How to Repair and Sanitize Your Child's Beloved Stuffed Animal

This is a sponsored post by Lysol. As always, all opinions are uniquely my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Stuffed animals, bed toys, stuffies, loveys – whatever you call them as a parent, what do you do when that stuffed animal rips and/or gets super gross? Also, what about the all the bacteria that must be on those stuffed animals? Do you swap out the stuffed animals and hope your kid doesn’t notice? Pretend that the stuffed animal went on vacation and throw it out? Keep going through rinse cycles in your washing machine and hope for the best? So, what can you do to keep your child’s stuffed animals clean and in one piece? I recently attended a breakfast event with Lysol, Momtrends, and Mandi Gubler, blogger, DIY expert, and mom, to chat about how we can take better care of our child’s stuffed animals.
How to Repair and Sanitize Your Child’s Beloved Stuffed Animal

So, what can you do to keep your child’s stuffed animals in decent shape?

Mend:
Stuffed animals can be mended. While I may not have the sewing skills that I once had, Mandi Gubler showed me some tips on how to easily sew up my daughter’s beloved Llama Unicorn, Blueberry – using a slip stitch. Since Blueberry had a hole in the back, she recommended I take some tape and cover up the stuffing and then sew the outer edges of the fur together. I also asked her about repairing the fabric on the horn. She showed me that a few quick stitches would easily make the horn the way it was. Genius! You can also cover up bigger holes that can’t be fixed by stitches by using fabric patches from old t-shirts.
Wash in a Mesh Lingerie Bag:
Fragile stuffed animals should be placed in a mesh lingerie bag (this is the one I use). I love these mesh lingerie bags that I even use one for washing my stainless steel straws in my dishwasher!
Wash Stuffed Animals Every Couple of Weeks and Use Lysol Laundry Sanitizer with your Regular Detergent

Mandi Gubler also recommended washing stuffed animals every couple of weeks when you wash the bedding. To get rid of 99.9% of Bacteria, add Lysol Laundry Sanitizer alongside Detergent, as directed, when you do a wash. Lysol® Laundry Sanitizer is a one-of-a-kind product that is safe to use on washable fabric items and kills 99.9% of bacteria that regular detergents may leave behind, when used as directed. Contrary to popular belief, washing laundry (and stuffed animals) with regular detergent and cold water does not kill all bacteria, including harmful bacteria that may cause skin infections like staph. Lysol® Laundry Sanitizer helps eliminate these sickness- and odor-causing bacteria. While you can use the Sanitary Cycle on your machine, it takes almost 2 hours to complete and I know I don’t have time for that!

Momtrends Founder Nicole Feliciano talked about how her daughters travel with 2 special Woolly Mammoth Stuffed Animals and how they have been on a ton of planes and in airport bathrooms (wedged behind the commode). She tries to always wash the stuffed animals when she gets back and run it in a heated drier to kill the bacteria. But she found an easier way — to wash her children’s beloved stuffed animals with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer and her regular detergent (Lysol Laundry Sanitizer is added to the wash separately).