by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

Those squidgy, plastic toys your kids love to play with in the bath might be a health hazard, especially if they use them to squeeze water in their faces, according to new research.
Scientists in Switzerland and the U.S. tested 19 rubber ducks and other used plastic bath toys. When they cut the toys open they found the insides of all the toys were coated with slimy pathogens. Some were harmless, but others could potentially cause ear, eye and stomach infections, the researchers said.
Turns out the soft plastic used to make bath toys is a magnet for germs, according to the study published in the journal NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes. Bacteria likes to gorge on chemicals released from the plastic, and also on dirt in the bathwater, the study said.
That doesn't mean your kid's automatically going to get sick from being around bath toys. In fact, some exposure to germs can actually strengthen people's immune systems, the authors wrote. Speaking to Today, infectious disease specialist William Schaffner pointed out that the world is full of germs, yet most people remain healthy.
But some people are more vulnerable than others to getting sick from germs. They include children and people with compromised immune systems, the study authors said.
Here are a few suggestions for a more germ-free bath time:
? Buy sealed toys: Bath toys without a hole prevent water from getting inside where it can't be cleaned out, pathology expert Philip Ti...