Getting puke smell out of a car seat...?

MrsT0514

I posted last night in the Whatcha drinking thread that on our way home from a family daytrip OOT, DS must have come down wIth a bellyache. He started screaming out of nowhere and then puked up his entire bottle everywhere in the car. All over himself, the carseat, and the seat protector. Ugh.

We've.already taken the whole damn thing apart and scrubbed/wiped it down witwith antibacterial wipes, but the puke smell remains. Any tips? The care instructions say to hand wash only, no abrasive cleaners....so I'm at a loss with what to do to get the stink out. Yuck!!

And as a side note...a baby puking in a carseat is a scary fucking incident. He not only puked, but started choking on it (Im guessing this is bc of the reclined position of the RFing carseat, he couldnt really sit up straight?) MH pulled over and my ass flew to the backseat to help DS so fucking quick, I barely know how I got back there so fast.

s0ulchicken

Can you put the cover in the wash? Maybe wipe it down again, and then sit it in the sun to air out? That really sucks, I do not look forward to dealing with that!

Maybe page Fred? She seems pretty knowledgeable about car seat safety, and if I recall correctly, there are some cleaners you can't use on car seats?

MrsT0514

@Wordsmith226 Awesome advice! Thank you! The febreeze was what I was wondering about last night. I'm gonna spray that sucker down with it!

MrsT0514

@s0ulchicken Thats what I was afraid of...I kmow it says certain cleaners may be too abrasive, so I was literally just scrubbing the cover with water and Babyganics all purpose antibacterial wipes. Which worked well getting the puke off...but not getting the smell out.

s0ulchicken

MrsT0514 said:

@s0ulchicken Thats what I was afraid of...I kmow it says certain cleaners may be too abrasive, so I was literally just scrubbing the cover with water and Babyganics all purpose antibacterial wipes. Which worked well getting the puke off...but not getting the smell out.

I can only imagine the ick factor! Hope you're able to get all the stink out today!

ByeBabyBunting

I just washed ours in the washing machine and dried it in the dryer with no apparent problems

MrsT0514

peanutrach1 said:

Ugh. Sorry this happened. Hope your DS is feeling better. I would spray all the Febreeze I have on it and then give it to DH to deal with. GL!

Thanks, I sprayed it with febreeze and left it out in the sun to dry/air out for a while. Hopefully that will do the trick.

As for DS, we ended up giving him some tylenol last night, he slept well. We woke yp a bit cranky and took a longer nap than usual this morning, but no fever. So that's good. Maybe he's just fighting off a bug or something.

Eta..spelling

azzyberry

I've removed our car seat covers and washed them in the washing machine and then hung them out to dry.

gimmietimmies

You probably can throw the cover in the wash. Febreze is actually not recommended, it might (and no way of knowing) affect the fire retardants. And plain plain laundry soap, nothing with boosters or bleach, etc.  Do you have your manual handy? It will say for sure, if not say so and I'll find the pdf. Some only allow front loads and hang dry (mine does). When I had top loads I washed in the tub, and hung dry. Now it's in the washer, and I cheat at hang drying - in the dryer, no heat/air only and on the shoe drying rack so it's not being tossed around.

And only mild soap on a damp cloth to wipe down the straps, no soaking/submerging in water. Hang/place everything outside in the sun for a few hours, it does help.

RayRay007

I take it outside and hose it down with the garden hose. Eta: after removing cover and washing that in the washer. It gets the puke out of all the nooks and crannies. I think it's against the 'rules' because it can damage the warning labels etc but I'd rather not have my car smell like puke.