Car Seats

Em&Bee

We have 3 Eddie Bauer car seats that we got from someone and I must say that the more I'm using them, the more they're driving me nuts.  For one thing, you can't remove the infant neck roll thing (that upside down U), you can only adjust it (move it up and down).  The second thing I don't like is that the cloth cover is difficult to remove.  You literally have to totally unthread the belts from the seat, to take the cover off to wash it (um, hello, vomit ! ! !)  You can't even remove the little shoulder strap pads because they're sewn together.  Well, I suppose maybe totally unthreading the belts might work, again.  Lastly, the straps twist, all. the. time.  So my questions are.

#1 Do you have a carseat that's easy to clean?  I mean why can't the cloth part velcro on and off?

#2 Do you have a carseat that you love, that's easy to adjust?

#3 How do you get the smell of sour milk out of your car seat.  Upholstery cleaner didn't work.

TIA ! ! ! 

 

gimmietimmies

Okay, if the neck inserts have to come out, you have to take the straps off the car seat (yup, unthread them all!) and they will slide off. You?ll be able to take the harness pads off and the cover off the seat. You can throw the cover in the wash, do a rinse cycle (at least once) with vinegar to get rid of the smell, then wash in a cold water cycle in mild detergent. Hang to dry, or if you have a no heat setting on your dryer that works (don?t put it in the dryer even on low, too many synthetics).

The straps twisting only have two fixes, wash in the sink (no washing machine) and lay flat to dry, or order new ones. The straps on this car seat make me nuts, they?re soft and thin and prone to twisting. Washing them only gives you a week or two of them not twisting, new ones maybe a few months. Believe me, I know....I have had two of these seats. Hate them. Still have yet to understand why I bought two (consecutively).

And in answer to #1, this car seat is honestly one of the easiest to get apart to clean. I have an Evenflo Generations that the cover does not come off at all, and is difficult to clean (for some reason stays clean longer and looks nicer though).  If you are looking at current car seats, the majority come off the same way. I have had a car seat where the cover came off easily?they stopped doing this as the Velcro and other things holding the seat in would wear and not hold together, and the cover slid all over the place (I threw that seat out). It?s a safety feature rather than a convenience feature. You want the seat to work the way it was intended in the engineering tests and crash tests (yes, I know kids who have died in car crashes; one was absolutely a fail on the car seat).

#2. Even though my Evenflo Generations is difficult to wash the cover, it wipes down clean and stays cleaner longer, and crud doesn?t seem to accumulate under the cover like it does in the Eddie Bauer. The webbing on the straps is thicker and stiffer, and has yet to twist (it?s 3 years old). The shell shape seems to fit the girls better. Adjusting the straps is fairly easy. There are lots of good seats out there, depending on the height, weight and age of your dk?s, and the vehicle you drive. Some are expensive and some aren?t. What ages, stats of your dk?s are you putting in car seats? What kind of vehicle do you drive?

#3. Vinegar. Lots of it. And upholstery cleaner can?t be used on the covers, it?s too harsh. See instructions above. Also, if your weather is good, after washing, stick everything outside but not direct sunlight. It will help get the smell out.

Also keep in mind that Cosco, Eddie Bauer, Safety 1^st (3 in 1) expire 6 years from date of manufacture, so this may help in when you need to replace them (and get a less frustrating seat). Also to keep in mind that they really don?t work well as a booster seat. At all. If you have a child that should be able to use it weight wise (40lbs+), the seat belt positioners are awkward and don?t position the belt correctly, or the belt slides out of the positioner. I never used either of mine for boosters; there are easier seats (like Evenflo Big Kid High back). My favourite rf/ff car seats are Cosco Scenera (less $), Britax (Marathon/Boulevard), and RadianXT (more$). I heard Recaro are good as well, but we don?t have them north of the 49^th, so I can?t comment for sure.  My favourite booster only are both Evenflo Big Kid low back and high back (high back preferred) (less$) and Clek olli (low back) and oobr (full back, both more$).

Sorry this is so long, I?ve been through 14 car seats/booster seats, so I?ve seen the changes and come across all sorts with car seats over the last 14 years. And if you?re still stumped, I highly recommend car-seat.org, they are fantastic. Hope this helps.

 

Em&Bee

Wow, thank you so much for the info.  I'll check out your suggestions and get out the vinegar.

gimmietimmies

Hey, no prob....dh is a car seat tech, so I have acess to all his "stuff". And if it helps, I'm junking our Eddie Bauer's for the RadianXT for a long laundry list of reasons...including trying to fit 5 kids properly in our minivan. I would say happy washing, but car seat cleaning and reinstalling is my least favorite chore, it ranks up there with cleaning the toilet.