Car Sickness Cleaning Tips

“Mom, brother is puking!” For words no mom wants to hear while cruising down the highway. Unfortunately for me this has happened to me more times than I can care to remember. Every car seat we have ever owned in the last 9 years has been fouled with vomit. Fortunately for you my many experiences cleaning up children and car seats along the side of the road has taught me the best way to be prepared and I am happy to share what I have learned.

First and foremost, the vomit bucket is essential. Any old bucket will do. We found that a sand bucket from the dollar store works great; it has a large opening and deep well to contain all the yuck and as anyone who has ever had a sick child knows the volume of yuck can be astounding.

You will also need paper towels, baby wipes, plastic grocery bags, hand sanitizer, a bath towel, and air freshener. You should travel with a change of clothes for each child, you never know what adventures may come your way so it is best to always be prepared. The paper towels will take care of most of the vomit mess but you will want to use baby wipes to thoroughly clean surfaces including you and your child.

The plastic bags are key to containing the used wipes and paper towels. A second plastic bag should be used for clothes or washable items that have puke on them. Tie the bags tight to keep the smell inside. When you get home you can easily deal with the soiled laundry without touching it again by emptying the bag inside the washer. Everyone helping with the clean up should use hand sanitizer, of course.Stomach bugs spread like wild fire so use the hand sanitizer liberally.

Since you will not be able to get the car seat totally clean you can use the bath towel to cover the car seat so you can get to your destination. You will want to spray air freshener in the car to prevent the rest of your travelers from getting sick from the smell. When you finally arrive at your destination (hopefully you were heading home and not just starting your vacation) then the kid goes straight to the tub and the car seat clean up task begins. Watch for a post soon from Mat over at Men Clean on the best way to clean car seats.