NCDR (but pee related) car seat help again

violajack

Since you ladies are awesome at both car seats and getting pee out of things, I'm hoping you can help me with my car seat woes one more time. 

I'll be killing my husband shortly. He's on cat box duty while I'm pregnant and he's slacking. I had recenlty started unpacking and washing stuff for baby #2, so the bsafe was out, freshly washed, waiting to go in the car. Well, the cat box was apparently so bad (and oh my goodness it is, I checked after I saw this) that one of the cats decided the car seat would be a better place to relieve himself. My bsafe is now soaked in cat pee. most of it pooled in the bottom of the base, but the straps are soaked. Halp!

I know I can't submerge the straps. How can I clean this? I've emailed Britax to see if replacement straps are available. I'm 3 weeks away from my due date though and I don't know how long that might take. Luckily, I have the infant wedge for my Roundabout, so worst case scenario, the baby comes home in the roundabout and we Prime ship a Radian from Amazon for DS.

I really want to use the infant seat again since it clicks into our b-ready stroller. I do baby wear a lot and don't mind it, but would prefer to be able to use the infant seat, but I am not bringing home a newborn in it unless I can get rid of any trace of cat pee.

Oh, I use Charlie's soap and have the oxygen booster. I was planning on soaking the cover in that before a few hot washes. Does that sound like a good plan for the cover, or should I add something more?

Mandmeesh

Chickypoo2468 said:

Omg I would toss it.

Lol.

I would undo as much of the seat as possible. Wash all possible parts: rinse, wash with detergent, rinse. Then replace the straps. The smell should come out if it didn't sit forever

Also, spray vinegar on the seat part with no cover. Let it sit. Then wipe again. And put it in the sun

Mandmeesh

Also. Kick yh. Tell him to clean the damn litter box.

violajack

The ragey hormone panic has died down a bit. All the washable pieces are now in a detergent wash after a soak in oxygen bleach. I made DH go get enzyme cleaner for the straps. It's designed to be sprayed on and then just blotted with a wet cloth, so hopefully that will get the straps clean enough without being able to soak them. I'm going to put everything through another rinse after this cycle and see how it smells. If it smells okay, I'll let it air dry overnight and probably do at least one more wash in the next few days. I'll try the vinegar on the plastic parts too. I already made DH wipe down and sanitize (but no bleach as per the manual) the car seat and base.

My first though when I saw it this morning was that it was ruined and I should just toss it. I was really hoping to just lightly use it through one more kid and then sell it with the b-agile as a set. I'll never be able to sell it now. But we'll see if I can save it. I had a good long hormone induced ugly cry over it this morning. This was the one thing I really wanted new for my first baby. It was my one splurge and I'm pretty attached to it. I was so set on getting to use it again with the newb. I'll probably get the Radian with my Amazon completion discount anyway, so we'd have options.

I was so set on killing DH, but maybe I should just kick him. If I kill him, then I'd have to clean the litter box myself. I also made him go straight out to get more litter so the box is currently clean.

SuperTinkerham

Cat pee is the devil. Ugh. I'm so sorry.

kmc84

@violajack‌ you absolutely can not use anything but a tiny bit of dawn on a damp washcloth to clean the straps. The enzyme cleaner will ruin your straps; you must get new straps.

ComeMai

Why can't the cover be machine washed? Just curious as I haven't heard of this before.

kmc84

@ComeMai‌ you must follow the cleaning instructions in the carseat manual. Some can only be hand washed, some can be machine washed. Straps can never be washed.

violajack

The cover is machine washable per the instructions on the tag. I got an email reply from Britax and they will send me new straps, so yay! Customer service FTW!

violajack

Hope you guys don't mind me digging up the old thread, but I wanted to update in case the information is useful to someone who comes across this thread in a search.

My learnings:

A rear facing radian with the angle adjuster is shorter front to back than a Britax Roundabout rear facing. Not by much, it's enough. It's now behind the driver for DS1with DH still able to sit comfortably. 

As narrow as the Radian is (I bet I could fit 3 across even in my Golf), the Britax B-Safe is just too wide due to the click and go things on the sides to fit next to it. The base is now hanging out behind the passenger seat. The passenger seat will be pretty far forward when the seat is clipped in, but oh well. I'd rather have the convinience of the base. 

The low side profile of the Radian is amazing. I really struggled to get DS in the Roundabout without boking his head on the ceiling. It's soooooo much easier with the Radian, and he can easily climb in on his own now. 

Britax customer service is awesome. They sent me new straps for free with a great guide to replacing them. It was a process, but I'm confident I got the new straps in correctly. I also asked them about machine washing the cover because I did see the manual said not to, but they said that while they don't recommend it, as long as there is no damage to the cover, it's still safe to use. I was ready to buy a new cover, but they told me mine should still be fine rather than take my money. 

So thanks everyone. I feel so much better about the seat with the new straps and I love the Radian.

Mandmeesh

That's great news @violajack‌ ! And we love our radian too