How to Clean Baby Toys With Vinegar (and Does Vinegar Actually Disinfect?)

To clean baby toys with vinegar, wash them with soap and water first, then wipe or soak hard plastic toys in a mix of equal parts white vinegar and water, rinse them with clean water and let them dry. Vinegar is a cleaner, though, not a registered disinfectant: if someone in the house has been sick with fever or diarrhea, use diluted bleach, an EPA-registered product or a dishwasher instead.

Below: the mix toy brands use, step-by-step directions, which toys should never be soaked, what lab studies found vinegar can and can’t kill, what never to mix it with, and what to use on sick days. Our sources are listed at the end.

Does vinegar disinfect baby toys?

Not in the way the word “disinfect” is used on product labels. In the US, the EPA registers products that sanitize or disinfect, and it says “EPA regulates cleaning products only if they sanitize or disinfect.” The EPA says each registered product’s label “has a registration number.” The EPA also says it “does not review effectiveness of common household ingredients like vinegar or rubbing alcohol.”

A child care health handout from the University of California, San Francisco puts it plainly: products such as baking soda, vinegar or borax “can be used to clean dirt from surfaces, they do not kill germs well enough to be sanitizers.” The American Academy of Pediatrics’ parent site, HealthyChildren.org, lists vinegar with the “alternative or less toxic cleaners,” not with sanitizers.

For most days at home, cleaning is what you need anyway. The CDC says “Cleaning alone removes most harmful viruses or bacteria from surfaces,” and adds that you should disinfect “when someone is sick.” When Consumer Reports asked the AAP about toys, pediatrician Danette Swanson Glassy, MD, FAAP, said that unless someone sick with fever or diarrhea touches your children’s toys, “at home, cleaning is enough.”

What lab studies found vinegar can and can’t kill

Vinegar does kill some germs in lab tests. The details matter: four of the six studies below put germs in a liquid, not on a surface, and none used real toys, and results change with the germ, the strength and the time. A “3-log” reduction means 99.9% of the germs were killed. “5-log” means 99.999%.

Study (what was tested)	What it found
Rutala and others, 2000 (germs in liquid)	Vinegar “eliminated <3 logs10 of S. aureus and E. coli.” The natural products “were less effective than commercial household disinfectants.”
Yang and others, 2009 (germs in liquid, 1 minute)	3% hydrogen peroxide killed more than 99.999% of both Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7. Undiluted vinegar did that only against Salmonella.
Goodyear and others, 2015 (50% vinegar sprayed on stainless steel, 30 seconds)	E. coli dropped by 5.16 log. Staph aureus dropped by only 2.25 log.
Zinn and Bockmühl, 2020 (acetic acid in lab tests on surfaces and in liquid)	5% acetic acid worked in the surface test, but in liquid 5% and 7.5% gave “no sufficient reductions” for E. coli and Staph aureus. The authors’ conclusion: “acetic acid does not have a disinfecting effect on microorganisms in a dosage that is commonly used for cleaning.”
Greatorex and others, 2010 (flu virus in liquid with hand-hot water)	Malt vinegar worked down to a 10% dilution, but “a low concentration of vinegar (1%) was no more effective than hot water alone.”
Tropical Medicine and Health, 2024 (viruses in liquid)	White vinegar cut flu virus after 1 minute and the COVID virus after 30 minutes, but it “did not significantly inactivate” feline calicivirus, a lab stand-in for norovirus.

Strength matters too. The FDA’s labeling policy says distilled vinegar “should contain 4 grams of acetic acid per 100 mL,” and the grocery vinegar used in the Goodyear study was 5%. The Zinn study’s conclusion reports “a disinfecting effect” with 10% acetic acid plus 1.5% citric acid, which is about twice as strong as household vinegar.

The vinegar and water mix toy brands use

We didn’t find a government or AAP source that gives a vinegar ratio for toys. Every mix we found comes from a toy brand or a news article. Here is what the toy brands say:

Brand	What it says	Used for
Step2	“a simple 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water,” then wipe with a clean, damp cloth “to remove any residue”	Everyday dirt on its plastic toys
Infantino	“a simple soak in a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water” for “regular cleaning”	Some baby toys
Nuby UK	Equal parts warm water and distilled white or apple cider vinegar (300 ml each), wiped on with a cloth	Wooden baby toys (wiped, never soaked)
Infantino	Soak pre-washed toys in 1 cup vinegar and 1 gallon of water for five minutes	Bath toys
Yookidoo	Water with “some vinegar,” soak about 20 minutes, then repeat with clean water “to wash out the vinegar”	Its bath spout toy
HABA	A lightly damp cloth with “a water & vinegar essence mix” (or water and mild dish soap), then wipe dry	Wooden toys (never soaked)

How to clean baby toys with vinegar, step by step

1. Check the toy’s care instructions. Some brands don’t want any cleaner beyond soap. Lovevery says to hand wash plastic toys “in mild, soapy water” and that it does “not recommend sanitizing any of our products.” If the brand gives directions, follow those.
2. Wash it with soap and water first. The CDC says to “clean first, and then sanitize or disinfect if needed.” Kids2 says to wash the toy with mild soap and warm water, rinse it and let it dry completely before applying any sanitizing solution.
3. Mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a clean bowl or spray bottle, as Step2 and Infantino do (Nuby UK uses the same mix to wipe wooden toys).
4. Wipe or soak hard plastic toys. Wipe them with a cloth dipped in the mix, or soak toys that can go under water.
5. Rinse with clean water. Step2 ends its vinegar method by wiping off the residue with a clean, damp cloth, and Yookidoo repeats the soak in clean water to wash out the vinegar.
6. Let it dry completely before it goes back in the toy bin.

Contact time matters too. A University of California Cooperative Extension flyer on cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen, which draws on the Yang study, lists undiluted 5% white vinegar at room temperature for 10 minutes on kitchen surfaces. Treat a quick spray and wipe with a half-and-half mix as cleaning, which is fine for an everyday wipe-down.

Which toys not to soak in vinegar water

• Wooden toys. Hape says “soaking wooden toys in water may cause them to swell or deform,” and HABA says “Do not ever submerse wooden toys in water or place in a dishwasher.” Use a lightly damp cloth instead and wipe the toy dry.
• Toys whose brand says soap only. Lovevery says teething toys should be washed in mild soapy water and adds “Do not boil or sanitize.”
• Bath toys with mold inside. The EPA says to “Scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water, and dry completely,” and warns that dead mold “may still cause allergic reactions in some people, so it is not enough to simply kill the mold, it must also be removed.” Our guide on how to clean bath toys covers this.
• Stuffed animals. See our guide on how to clean stuffed animals.

Is vinegar safe to clean baby toys?

It’s a milder choice than many cleaners, but it is still a cleaner. HealthyChildren.org says the ingredients in homemade cleaners, such as “vinegar for cutting grease,” are safer, “not all are nontoxic. Treat them as you would any other cleaner, with caution.” Rinse the toy with clean water after using vinegar, and keep the bottle where your child can’t reach it.

Never mix vinegar with these

• Bleach. The Washington State Department of Health says “When chlorine bleach is mixed with an acid, chlorine gas is given off,” and it names vinegar as one of those acids. The CDC says to never mix bleach “with any other cleaners or disinfectants.”
• Hydrogen peroxide. The New Jersey Department of Health warns that hydrogen peroxide and vinegar together “form peracetic acid, which can irritate the eyes, skin, and lungs.” Don’t combine them in one bottle.
• Baking soda. A Northern Kentucky University classroom chemistry demo notes that “The baking soda will neutralize the vinegar.”

When cleaning isn’t enough: sick days

If someone sick with fever or diarrhea has handled the toys, skip the vinegar. For toys and other items children put in their mouths, the CDC’s child care guidance says “To sanitize a surface or object, use a weakened bleach solution, an EPA-registered sanitizing spray, or a dishwasher.” It also lists boiling and steaming for items that can take it.

• Weak bleach soak (CDC): 1 tablespoon of unscented bleach per gallon (16 cups) of water. Soak items for at least 2 minutes. The CDC says “Do not rinse because germs could get back onto the sanitized items,” and to let them air dry completely before storing or using.
• EPA-registered products: follow the label, and the EPA says to “Pay close attention to the contact time, which is how long the surface must remain wet.”
• Dishwasher: the CDC says “A dishwasher with a sanitizing cycle can be used for some items.” Infantino says dishwashers suit plastic toys without batteries, cloth or technology that isn’t water-resistant.
• Boiling: only if the toy’s instructions allow it. Comotomo, for example, says to sterilize its teethers “in boiling water for about 3 minutes” before first use.

Sources

• EPA: the difference between products that disinfect, sanitize and clean surfaces
• EPA: can I use common household substances to kill the novel coronavirus?
• EPA: selected EPA-registered disinfectants
• EPA: mold cleanup in your home
• EPA: should I use bleach to clean up mold?
• CDC: when and how to clean and disinfect your home
• CDC: how to clean and disinfect early care and education settings
• CDC: cleaning and disinfecting with bleach
• FDA: CPG Sec. 525.825 vinegar definitions
• HealthyChildren.org (AAP): cleaners, sanitizers, disinfectants
• Consumer Reports: how to safely clean and disinfect your baby’s toys
• California Childcare Health Program (UCSF): sanitizing safely and effectively (PDF)
• UC Cooperative Extension: cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen (PDF)
• Washington State Department of Health: dangers of mixing bleach with cleaners
• New Jersey Department of Health: mixing bleach with other cleaning products (PDF)
• Northern Kentucky University: gas production using vinegar and baking soda (PDF)
• Rutala and others, 2000, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
• Yang and others, 2009, Journal of Food Protection
• Goodyear and others, 2015, Journal of Applied Microbiology (PDF)
• Zinn and Bockmühl, 2020, BMC Microbiology
• Greatorex and others, 2010, PLoS ONE
• pH-dependent virucidal effects of weak acids, 2024, Tropical Medicine and Health
• Step2: how to clean your Step2 toys
• Infantino: how to clean baby toys
• Infantino: bath toy care and cleaning
• Nuby UK: the best ways to clean baby toys
• Yookidoo: Flow ‘N’ Fill Spout care
• HABA USA: safely cleaning wooden toys
• Hape: FAQs
• Lovevery: how do I clean the playthings?
• Lovevery: can I sanitize my Lovevery products?
• Kids2: how to sanitize baby toys
• Comotomo: how should I clean Comotomo teethers?

Vinegar is a fine everyday cleaner; just don’t count on it when someone in the house is sick.