Cleaning 1 Year Olds Vomit from a Car Interior and Car Seat

Vinegar is a great cleaner and will help get rid of the smell. Although stinky for a while the "vinegar" smell will go away.

That happened to us at least once that I remember. We took the car seat out and hosed it off on the grass. Then we laundered the liner in the washing machine, and hosed off the car seat again and left it to dry in the sun. We used old rags and threw them away when we were done for the back seat of the car, and sparyed "Fabreeze" on the upholstery repeatedly. Leaving the doors open in the driveway helped, too. Good luck,
B.

Try a a non-toxic product called Simple Green. It will get rid of the stains and also the smell.
Good luck!

Not sure what I'd do about the car, but my son recently vomited all over his car seat too. We cleaned it in the bathtub with the Clorox Green Works multipurpose cleaner - the one that you just mix some in a bucket of water. Love that it's nontoxic and all-natural. Scrubbed the straps, etc with a suede shoe cleaning brush, but I'm sure there are lots of other kinds that would work. We just washed the car seat cover (Britax) in the machine w/ a little detergent and the smell came out fine.

good luck!

R.

LOC and Pursue disinfectant and deoderizer. we-us.mychoices.biz or email me. Safe and non-toxic, LOC was the first ever biodegradable GREEN product ever made and it is still just as great as it always was.

I have experience with this too. You will have to take her car seat apart and wash fabric in the washer, then air dry in the sun. This kills the bad bacteria AND the smell. Also, adding 3/4 cup vinegar to the wash will help with the stain and the smell.

The interior of he car can be cleaned with Bac Out. It is awesome, it is green, non-toxic, all purpose, all that good stuff. It is called Bac out because it breaks down the bacteria in the proteins (like the ones on vomit.) You can find it at Whole Foods. There isa spray, but I get the kind you just pour out. You can also use this in your wash. I love it and I think you will too. Good luck!
G.

You might try baking soda, which is great for getting smells out of fabric (I use it in my laundry and on my carpets).

You've had a lot of responses with great ideas. Just wanted to share my own. I've been using Quick-n-Brite for almost 16 years now. I will not be without it. It would clean your car and car seat and remove the smell. It's a pink "goo" that even removes gum from hair (just washes out unlike "peanut butter oil" residue!!!!). It's biodegradable and I think it's made from kelp. Takes berry stains out of clothes (I never stress with strawberries, etc.!); takes out blood stains; great on outdoor windows (I live with sea breezes and the 'scum' comes right off). Check it out at www.quicknbrite.com. I don't work for the company, but I am a loyal customer! :) Good luck!

Put 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water in a spray bottle and spray a small spot in your car to test and make sure it won't mess up your car. If it doesn't mess the car up then spray inside your car, I spray lots. The smell will come out and so will the vinegar smell. I had my car detailed didn't work, but the spray did. The ladies on mamasource told me this. This will help for the smell. The cleaning part I would take the seat apart and clean and scrub this and the inside of the car too. Clean under the car seat too, it gets really gross under that too.
Susie

baking soda works great for getting rid of smells! thats what i used for our kittens messes in our apartment.
you can make a paste out of it or even a spray, it just depends on how much water you add to the baking soda.

also hydrogen peroxide, you can get it in the pharmacy isle i think. my parents always used it to clean our wounds because it hurt less than alcohol but still got it god and clean. then my midwife said to me that if you dump it all over the bed it gets rid of the baby urine smell, i imagine it would do the same for vomit!

when my three year old threw up in our car i cleaned it off and sprayed it with half a bottle of febreeze (not recommended)

Been down this road a long time ago, the vomit is worse, especially if you allow it to sit there for a night, what I will recommend is that as soon as this happens, pour some water and use tissue's to clean what you can, then for the rest have steam cleaning http://www.detailxperts.net/hand_car_wash_exterior_steam_... done, this will get rid of almost all the vomit and the bacteria built-up.

I whole heartely reccomend enzyme based cleaners. They bond with and neutralize on a chemical level. Natures Miracle is one brand that I have no problem finding at pet stores/veterinarian. Pet Force is better if you can find it. The one thing that makes Pet Force better is that it can be combined with warm water. These types of cleaners work great on potty training accidents, mess from sickness, blood and food spills. Just wipe off and pick up as much as you can then pour/spray on enough of the cleaner to soak the area (don't forget you want to get deep into the padding). When it dries the enzyme dies leaving nothing behind but clean and sometimes perfume. Once I found some berries that I'd given my children weeks before dried into the carpet. These had been frozen and thawed so they were very messy. There is no stain. No one would be able to find where it was now. I do caution you though. It doesn't clean out dirt and it may in fact let dirt soak in deeper so you may want to clean in a conventional way afterward if you find dirt to be an issue. But the enzyme cleaners may be limited in their effectiveness if you've already used another cleaner that coats the mess.

It seems viniger and water works on most everything. It wouldn't hurt to try it. Hope you get some good advice. White viniger not only cleans but also deodorizes and what could be safer. Hope you get some good advice.

My mom has always recommended laundry detergent when cleaning up carpet or upholstry and also club soda water, which works great for human and animal urine. It neutralizes the acid and therefore the odor. you can also use baking soda and water and just make a solution. Email me for more info. Hope it helps! be sparing on the laundry detergent. It only takes a little bit and rinses really easy!

Hi T.!
For the all natural route vinegar is always recommended but sometimes the leftover scent of that can be just as unpleasant. I recommend checking out the line of nontoxic naturally derived products from melaleuca. They clean and deodorize anything and are sold at significant savings in super concentrated form. The company has been around for over 20 years so they have a great track record. Please contact me with any questions or to try out these great products! ###-###-#### or ____@____.com luck!
Jenny

Hi T.,

Take the car seat cover off and throw it in the wash. I hope yours isn't as hard as mine is to get off ;) Then, Shaklee has an natural cleaner made from corn and coconut that is really effective. It's non-toxic, evironmentally-friendly, super concentrated so it will last forever and save you money. This one cleaner can make an all-purpose cleaner, a window/mirrow cleaner, and a degreaser. I just had a friend use it on her smelly, stained carpet and she emailed me esctatic over the results. If you have a hand-held carpet cleaning machine you could put right in there and wash your car upholstery or just spray it on by hand and scrub it up.
Call me or email me anytime with questions. ###-###-#### or ____@____.com

C.

Oh, Yuck! I can't think of anything more fun, lol. :(
Seriously, if you haven't got the smell out yet, try some baking soda. Melaleuca has some great stuff that will clean the stain and take away the odor, Sol-U-Mel. It is wonderful. If you need someone to help hook you up with some, you are welcome to check out my website.

Good luck with that!
A.
http://ACLiveLifeWell.com

Most modern Car Seats have upholstery that comes completely off and can be machine washed. It is complicated (take pictures of each step as you remove it, to help you figure out how to put it back together, or talk to a neighbor who has a similar seat). That is the only way too completely get rid of the smell. Wash it as you normally would your baby's clothes, but let it air dry to prevent shrinkage. Then you may need to wash the foam underneath the upholstery that is usually glued to the plastic of the seat. Use a household cleaner that has disinfecting properies, (but not bleach, which can deteriorate rubber products, including foam rubber.) Be careful, some organic cleaning products (such as melaleuca or "tea tree oil" are solvents, which will dissolve the glue under the foam, and make the loose foam a choking hazard for baby, if s/he pulls off a chunk of it.) Let the foam/plastic seat air dry in the sun (not too long, though - sunlight has disinfecting benefits, but prolonged sunlight (days) weakens plastic.). For the car upholstery, I would use the same household cleaner, and then follow with a product that is for the material - leather conditioner, if leather seats, upholstery cleaner if it is cloth. You gotta get the barf and germs out first, though. You usually have to completely undo the straps, and then thread them through again. Don't loose the buckles. Good luck!

Hello, My husband and I had custody of our grandson when he was young. One day, I was driving and he called out to me. I looked in my mirror and just then he vomitted right at me. I quickly pulled over and tried to calm him and clean him up. After getting him home, I realized that his carseat was completely covered with vomit. The only thing I could do was to take the cover off of the seat and throw it into the washer. I was then able to put the cover into the dryer. Good luck with your precious little girl.
K. K.

take the whole thing apart including the seatbelts. Launder the cover and soak the seatbelts in warm soapy water. This is what we did after a vommiting fiasco and it doesn't smell at all.

I'm guessing your car seats are fabric and not leather? We have Bissell's Little Green Machine, which you could use to steam-clean your seats if they are fabric.

Most car seat covers come off so you can wash them. I'd take off the fabric cover, soak it in Oxyclean (which is just hydrogen peroxide) for an hour or so, and then run it through the washing machine. I'd let it air dry; the dryer might shrink the fabric and you won't be able to get it back on the seat.

Good luck to you, I hope it comes out!

Good luck!

I do not dry the car seat cover in the dryer I place it back on after it has mostly air dried, I hose what I can in the yard/driveway then disassemble and wash! I use woolite carpet/upholster cleaner (not the best on environment I am sure sorry, it works!) AIR IT OUT! anything the sun can reach will help (leave a door open when the sun in angled right). Been there to many times to count. I use a "bundle me" in the car seats now. They come out quick and clean fast, especially when there is no back up car seat. I also have a cheap fleece blanket on the seats, one on the bottom, one on the top. Mine get car sick at times and I live in the mountains. Good luck.

Hi T.

Have you tried some of the products that are used to clean up pet messes? There is one called Natures Miracle, another called Urine Gone, and a few others. They are mostly found in pet supply stores. Good luck.

Try "Nature's Miracle" an enzymatic cleaner designed for pet messes but should work on human messes as well. It works really well on organic stains (feces, vomit, urine). I've used it in the car (dog vomit) and in the house on the carpet (spilled potted plant and dog urine). It pulled out the stains and eliminated the odors (in fact it actually left the spot cleaner than the rest of the floor- so now instead of a yellow spot I have a white spot!) If you can't find it in the grocery store try pet smart or petco.

Hi, T.

Have you ever heard of Tough and Tender or Sol U Mel? Both are non-toxic, environmentally friendly and cost-considerate. If you'd like some more information on them then send me a message and I will send you over some info. Both work very well and I personally use them for my children's tough messes.

Nature Miracle Stain and Odor Removal.... You can get it at any pet store... Gets out orange soda, and any odor.. Even cleans off caked on food off the stove from over spills and it doesn't hurt the fabric...

I didn't have a chance to read the posts, so I hope I'm not repeating. I'd try Nature's Miracle. You buy it at the pet store. It's made for cleaning up after puppy accidents. It removes the stain and the odor. I've used it for many things other than this with great results. Good luck!

Steam Clean...believe me it will get down deeper into the cushion. Baking soda will help with the smell.
I had this guy that used to come by my job do it for me twice when my kids puked in my car.
Can't remember his name but he has great rates and will come to you.
____@____.com or ###-###-####