Your baby’s high chair is a welcome convenience to you as a parent.
As growing babies, they do spend a lot of time on it and infant feeding high chairs in turn make feeding time a lot easier for you.
As an attentive parent, we are sure you do a lot of baby-related cleaning and sanitizing in a day.
You make sure their food is always provided on sanitized serving utensils right from breast pumps to the feeding bottles, sippy cups, plates, spoons or properly washed food tray on the high chair.
But sometimes ensuring that the high chair surfaces are also cleaned and sanitized as a whole is often overlooked.
Sometimes some things just wouldn’t cross your mind. We get it but that doesn’t make it any less important.
Did you know high chairs are more germ-prone than most places you would actually think are not clean enough?
Especially the high chairs available in restaurants are proven to harbor more germs than a toilet seat would.
Shocking, yes? This is due to repeated usage by anyone and everyone and improper cleaning.
Your baby’s high chair at home could have a similar outcome if not cleaned properly and regularly.
Babies are messy eaters.
When they’re only just learning to eat, they tend to spill a lot of their food.
And everything is not always concentrated on the attached tray on the high chair or the floor surrounding it.
While it is easier to pick and clean finger food, it is not always easy with mushy food.
So sometimes if not looked after properly, these food particles sink down into smaller crevices on your baby’s high chair that are not easily reached.
These parts when not cleaned give way to the growth of molds and bacteria which in turn end up in your baby’s stomach through food-borne contamination when they touch those parts while sitting on the high chair for their meal.
Because anyone that has watched a baby self-feed knows that they are sure to touch everywhere else.
And that is a definite health hazard you want to avoid.
Therefore, it is recommended that a baby’s high chair be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized regularly.
It could be twice or thrice a month or more often if you can manage it.
However that is just for the bigger cleaning part because you should wipe and clean the chair completely right after every single meal to prevent bacterial build up or mole formation.
And moreover, you also don’t want your baby’s high chair to be dirty as most food stains when dried to not come off easy.
It is not really appealing. Basically, after every meal, once you remove the tray from the chair to wash, also remove the straps.
You could just wash them with a little detergent under the tap and with an all-purpose cleaner, wipe down the entire chair including the seats, legs, arm rests and all.
Always, use a clean cloth or tissue for cleaning because using an already soiled cloth totally beats the purpose of cleaning at all.
This helps in cleaning the spilled food before they have a chance to dry or get soaked into the chair.
The tray can be washed in a dishwasher or whatever way you would any other dish.
Make sure the tray and straps are completely dry before reassembling the chair for the next meal. The residual moisture could be bad too.
Once all is done, you could just use a clean, damp cloth to wipe the detergents away.
Thrice a month (at least), do a thorough cleaning of the chair. If your high chair cover is removable, then all the better.
All you have to do is remove it and if you are using a washing machine, give it a thorough wash and dry while you take care of sanitizing the other parts.
And if it’s non-removable you could always do a spritzing using a spray bottle filled with your favorite detergent.
And once the cleaning is finished, a dry cloth or microfiber drying mat can be used to dry the chair if air drying isn’t an option.
Did you know a toothbrush can be an effective tool for cleaning high chairs?
There’s a tip.
A toothbrush can reach tougher to reach crevices on the high chair and effectively scrub.
Use of baking soda with vinegar has been suggested to be good with removing stains and germs effectively.
Did reading all this could make you feel tired and daunted.
Don’t worry – it’s only fair.
But we promise you that it is not as tiring or difficult as it sounds.
All this could take a maximum of fifteen to twenty minutes and that to ensure your baby has a clean, sanitized meal.
I’m sure nothing can beat that.