Vomiting and Car Seats
Vomiting and car seats seem to go hand in hand. Whether your little one gets motion sickness or has chronic vomiting due to a medical condition, puke will end up in your car seat.
Car Seat Manufacturers are very clear about what you can and cannot do with a car seat in order to keep them in safe working condition. If you have thrown your manual away, you will want to look up your specific brand online. We will go over the must know information about cleaning vomit out of a car seat.
How to clean vomit from car seat
The first step to cleaning a car seat is to look at your manual from the manufacturer. If you don’t have a manual, you can look it up online very easily.
I recommend grabbing a plastic grocery bag or small trash bag and remove as much of the vomit as you can with paper towels. We really just want to get the majority of it removed, so then we can actually clean the car seat.
Most car seat manufacturers recommend that you clean your car seat with a damp cloth and a mild detergent. Notice I said damp and not wet.
Ideally to clean a car seat you would need at least 2 wash clothes, and 1-2 containers of water.
I like to take a washcloth and get it wet with water, and then wring it out. Add a very small amount of mild detergent like baby laundry soap or even baby wash, then gently rub the area to get out any stains.
Then you simply rinse out the rag and remove the soap residue with a clean washcloth. I get the clean rag wet and wring it out and keep wiping away the soap residue until it is gone.
Cleaning car seat straps from vomit
When most children get sick in the car, the vomit is going to fall in their lap and on their chest, which is wear the harness and car seat straps are located.
Most car seat manufacturers recommend that you only use water to clean car seat straps. Some moms like to use a microfiber cloth, regular wash cloth, or even a toothbrush to clean the straps.
Once the majority of the vomit is removed from the straps, use a microfiber cloth or washcloth that is damp with water only and try to remove any stains. If the stains appear to be deep into the grooves of the straps or harness, this is where a toothbrush can come in handy.
Can car seat straps get wet?
Car seat straps should not be soaked or drenched in water! The straps and harness have been treated with a flame retardent layer and getting the straps soaked in water will remove the layer.
When this flame retardant layer is removed, the car seat is no longer considered safe.
If you submerge the straps or harness is water, you may have cancelled any guarantee of safety or manufacturer’s warranty.
Most car seat manufacturers offer car seat straps and harness replacements at a very low cost compared to buying a whole new car seat. Check out their website or 1-800 to talk to customer service.
Some parents have even had free replacement straps and harnesses sent to them at no additional charge, when they called the company and explained their mistake of getting these submerged in water.
Why can’t you use bleach in a car seat?
Bleach is a highly powerful cleaning product that is used a lot within the home, so it makes sense to use it in your car.
DO NOT use bleach on any part of your car seat. Bleach can actually breakdown and weaken the different parts of a child’s car seat.
This can make the car seat ineffective and no longer safe if you are in a car accident.
Bleach can come in sprays or wipes, and neither option is safe to use in a car seat. Even all natural or ecological sprays and wipes should not be used in a car seat either.
How to get the vomit smell out of a car seat?
So, you have cleaned the car seat, but it still smells. What do you do next?
Unfortunately, there is no nice way to say it, but vomit just stinks. Even if you clean the car seat really well, you may notice a lingering odor in the hot summer heat or during the winter when the heat is on in your car.
The number one way to get rid of a vomit smell in a car seat, is to remove the car seat from the vehicle and place it in the sun.
Do not use any type of air freshener or Febreze type product on a car seat. Most of these sprays contain alcohol or other chemicals that can damage and weaken the car seat. They also may remove the flame retardant layer that we spoke of earlier.
Most car seats have a section of padding that can be removed and washed in a washing machine. Check your manual, because most will say to only wash in very mild laundry detergent with no bleach or bleach additives like oxi-clean.
Do not put the removable padding in the dryer to dry. Even though it seems like the natural thing to do once you wash the padding in the washing machine. If you put the padding in the dryer, you can shrink or distort the padding where it won’t fit back on the car seat correctly.
Can you hose down a car seat?
DO NOT use a hose to clean a car seat. Almost all of the cloth and straps on the car seat can be damaged by being drenched or submerged in water.
Even though hosing down a car seat seems like a great way to clean vomit, it will probably damage the car seat. This will mean you will have to replace the car seat with a new one.
Ways to prevent vomit on car seats
Most children are required by law to sit in a car seat or booster seat up until age 8 unless they are over 4 foot 9 inches, so that is a lot of time in a car seat. The odds of them throwing up at least one or twice in 8 years is pretty high.
Some mom recommended tips to prevent vomit from getting all over the car seat is to use a smock or full cover bib. These cloth or plastic bibs will be placed over the child on top of the straps of the car seat.
You do not want to place a bib or smock under the car seat straps and harness because then these items will still be exposed if the child vomits.
If your children are older than infants or babies, then you may want to purchase disposable barf bags. Another cheap alternative is to have the child hold a towel or receiving blanket over their lap.
My 5 year old is a frequent motion sickness sufferer and he does well having the thin receiving blanket over his lap. If he gets sick, the majority of the vomit is on the blanket and the blanket is way easier to clean then a car seat!
If you are planning a road trip soon, check out our mom recommended tips for taking a Road Trip with a Feeding Tube!
