Guide to Cleaning Graco Car Seats
Graco is one of the best-selling brands for car seats worldwide. Thus, proper maintenance is needed to keep a high-quality standard.
Being of the top-rated car seats worldwide, Graco car seats are preferred by most moms when it comes to choosing quality for their child. The price is also one of the factors they consider as it is truly worth the money you spend.
However, as kids are messy, car seats get messy too. All the vomiting and food drinks spillage will get to your car seat whether you like it or not.
Even high-quality brands or models suffer for that and maintaining the cleanliness and quality is needed.
But most importantly, it is not only about maintaining the quality of the car seat to not spend a lot of money. It is also about keeping your babies safe from all the germs that come along all these dirty products.
We all know how kids love to reach out on a lot of things. Their hands go almost anywhere and most of the time get these things on their mouth.
Their curious and they love exploring and they wouldn’t understand even if you tell them to stop. So, it must be your responsibility, as a parent, to keep their environment clean and during your travels, the car seat is the baby’s environment.
Read the Manual
Every Graco car seats come with an owner’s manual so you must start reading that before you start with cleaning.
All important instructions are written there such as how to remove the parts, how to clean the parts, and how to reassemble the parts.
The do’s and don’ts are also indicated and must be followed carefully. Not following it might damage the car seat, thus losing its quality.
Preparation
In cleaning a car seat, you would need the following:
- Baby Wipes
- Water
- Gentle Soap
- Cloth
- Baby-safe all-purpose cleaner
As you can see, it’s noted to use a gentle soap and baby-safe all-purpose cleaner. You wouldn’t want any strong chemicals to get into your baby’s skin so you have to avoid using those.
At the same time, never use a rough sponge when cleaning soiled surfaces as this may damage the fabric of your car seat.
Finally, think about the right time to clean your car seat. Try to schedule it on a day where you won’t have any travel scheduled in a few days. This way, you can give your car seat the time to dry up completely.
Reassembling the car seat while the materials are wet might damage the quality of your car seat.
How to Clean Graco Car Seats
There are different models of Graco car seats and each comes with its own manual to follow.
Below is a guide in cleaning parts of a car seat in general, however, do not forget to follow specific instructions from the manual.
Cleaning the seat pad
To clean the seat pad, you can just simply dip a soft cloth in a mixture of soap and cool water. Wring out the cloth, make sure it’s damp, before starting to wipe off the seat.
If the dirt on the seat is too messy, then you also have the option to remove it.
Follow the manual for detailed instructions on how to remove the seat pad and the headrest. After that, you can simply throw it into the washing machine and clean with cool water on a delicate cycle.
Cleaning the Buckle
Follow the owner’s manual for detailed instructions on removing the car seat buckle strap. Gently place the buckle in a cup of water and press the button several times. This will help in cleaning the insides of the buckle.
Shake out the excess water and allow it to dry. Repeat this several times until you can fasten it easily with a click.
Don’t submerge the buckle strap in the water and don’t use any detergents as this may damage the straps.
Cleaning the Harness and LATCH Straps
In cleaning the harness and LATCH straps, you can just simply wipe it using a damp cloth. Again, do not submerge these straps in water even without detergent. These may weaken the straps which are not really good for your baby’s safety and security.
Let’s take Graco 4-Ever Convertible Car Seat for example, check this tutorial video:
Reassembling the Car Seat
Allow all the car seat parts to dry up before re-assembling it. This will help you avoid having a smelly car seat and also, you won’t risk damaging any important parts and safety features.
Reassemble the parts by just simply reversing the process on how you removed it. You can also just simply see the manual for this.
When reassembling, it is best to make sure that all the harness and straps are returned and secured properly. You wouldn’t want it to loosen while your baby is on the seat in the middle of your travel right?
Also, make sure that straps are not twisted so always check if you positioned it properly. This way, you can rest assured that it will function well.
If you’re not confident in the assembling process, then find someone who is. Besides, it’s always better to consult with someone who knows especially that it’s your baby’s safety that is the concern here.
Conclusion
Getting baby items dirty or messy is normal. It is just important to know how to clean up these items properly.
We all know the fact that germs are everywhere and it can get on the items that our kids use daily. Babies get their hands on almost everywhere so it is always best to keep everything clean and knowing how to is a great start.
Try to review our guide, here again, to get yourself familiarized on the proper cleaning. Besides, Graco is a really great brand and you don’t want to lower its quality just because you haven’t followed a correct process.
For sure, if you become an expert on this, you would be able to clean up anything in no time. Thus, keeping all your baby items brand new.
