Last Updated On June 10th, 2020
Babies and toddlers are messy when they eat. Anyone who has kids knows this to be true. We all own pictures of our child sitting in their high chair, covered in spaghetti sauce from head to toe. Or the famous smash cake that they play in on their first birthday. We all find it adorable when our little one puts their bowl of smashed peas upside down on their head. What a mess! Highchairs take a daily beating from the child who eats in it. Covered in food, drinks spilled that soak into the fabric, even the occasional vomit. Here’s the question. Can you wash a high chair cover? Is it safe? Will it ultimately ruin the cover?
Your little one’s high chair will get messy, really messy, that’s the honest truth. Before you purchase a high chair, shop around, look for the right one. The easier to clean, the better. Remember, you want overall function more than fashion.
Steps To Wash High Chair Covers
Hopefully, you bought a high chair where the cover is removable. This makes cleaning the cover much easier. Most high chair manufacturers want you to be able to easily clean your high chair cover. Employees of big companies have children too, they are highly aware of how messy our little ones can be.
Step 1. Pre-Cleaning
- Get a baby wipe or a wet cloth.
- Do not use chemical cleaners.
- Wipe Down the entire high chair, this includes the frame, the tray, and the cover.
- Remove any chunks or bits of old food you find hidden in the cracks and crevices.
Step 2. Spot Removal
- For this use a sponge or wet cloth.
- Use either dish soap or hand soap. ( you could use your baby wash if you want)
- Scrub the spots where juice or other liquids soaked into the material.
- Immerse spots of sauce or juice that are really noticeable with soapy water and let it soak.
- Scrub off any large spots of dried up crusty food. This happens when you still have an infant and your feeding the child baby food.
Step 3. Detach Cover From High Chair - If possible remove the high chair cover. It could be attached by velcro or designed to snuggly fit over the frame.
- Even if the manual states the cover is not removable, it most likely can still be removed. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Personally, I have to take out half a dozen screws to remove the cover from my seemingly simple Costco high chair. The screws don’t hold the frame together. They go through bands of fabric and hold the cover in place.
Step 4. Wash
- Put it in the washing machine.
- Choose the low or delicate setting, you can presoak if desired.
- Wash with clothes or items of similar color, just as you would typically separate laundry.
- Use only cold water.
- Do NOT use bleach. Even though bleach kills germs, it shouldn’t be used on baby products.
If you are still worried that the washing machine will ruin the cover, take it to the dry cleaners. Although, most moms simply don’t have the time for that. Nor does a child want to wait a few days to use his high chair.
Step 5. Dry
There are different ways you should dry the high chair cover depending on the cover itself.
All Fabric Cover
You can put this type of cover in the dryer on low heat.
Plastic
If the cover is not completely made out of fabric material and pieces of plastic or rubber material, never put in the dryer. Simply, hang it up to air dry.
Cover with buckles and snaps attached
When the high chair seat belt is permanently attached to the cover, that means there is plastic. Air dry.
Step 6. Finished Product
- Your high chair cover is now washed and dried.
- Put the cover back on the high chair’s frame the same way you removed it.
- It looks new and clean.
Non-Removable High Chair Covers
If you have a high chair that you can absolutely not get off of the chair’s frame. Then you have two options.
1. Hose
In hot weather simply take the high chair outside and hose the entire chair off. Let it sit in the sun to dry.
2. Shower
In colder weather the only option really is to place the entire high chair in the shower. Air dry in the house.
- When washing the cover and the entire high chair this way, be sure to pre-clean and spot clean before hand.