Any parent knows that if you give a baby a high chair and some food, you’re going to end up with a mess! A lot of moms wonder just how to clean high chair straps. What products are safe to use to wipe down the tray? How do you clean the high chair straps? How often should you wash the cover? We are going to go over all of those cleaning tips and tricks to help you have a clean and disinfected high chair for your baby!

It’s very important that you keep your child’s high chair clean in order to avoid harboring bacteria that could potentially make your child sick. Did you know that some restaurant high chairs, which are usually not deep cleaned, harbor more bacteria than a public toilet? That really makes me reconsider covers when we go out to eat!

I’m going to go over the steps you should take to clean your baby’s high chair on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, plus provide you with lots of tips to clean your baby’s high chair.

How to Clean High Chair Straps

The high chair straps can surely get disgusting. I prefer to look for a high chair with removable straps, so they can be laundered in the washing machine. If the straps are really stained and gross, use your washing machine to soak them. I like to soak my straps in a bit of Oxi-Clean along with the water. It works really well to get the stains out!

After I’ve soaked the straps for an hour or so, I’ll run the washing machine cycle and then, I always allow the high chair straps to air dry. They come out super clean if you use the washing machine. So if you’re wondering if high chair straps can go in the washing machine, the answer is yes!

How do you clean non-removable straps on a high chair?

What if your high chair doesn’t have removable straps? You’re going to need to make a paste with baking soda, water, and a drop of dish soap. Rub the paste on the straps, let sit for at least 30 minutes, and then use a damp cloth to wipe it down.

If you have really stubborn stains on your high chair straps, use a cleaning toothbrush and scrub those stains away.

How To Clean Your Baby’s High Chair

What about the rest of the high chair? There are many other parts to your baby’s high chair, and it’s important to keep them all clean. Here’s what you need to do on a regular basis.x

Daily:

• Remove all crumbs and debris
• Sanitize the high chair tray and eating surface

Weekly:

• If you have a space saving high chair, remove it from the chair and clean underneath.
• Clean the entire seat using a non-toxic cleaning solution.

Monthly:

• Remove cushion and straps and wash.
• Remove food from crevices.
• Wipe down entire high chair.

What do you wipe down a high chair with?

I prefer to use as non-toxic of a solution as possible. For the daily cleaning of the tray, I use dish soap and water. Some high chair trays can go through the dishwasher. I typically just hand wash my high chair trays. It only takes a couple of minutes.

To wipe down the rest of the high chair, you can use a bowl of soapy water and rag, or a solution of 50:50 vinegar and water to spray down the high chair and wipe.

It’s also possible to use a bleach solution to make sure the high chair is sanitized. Use two teaspoons of bleach to one gallon of water to make your disinfectant solution.

How to clean a high chair cover

Let’s talk about cleaning that high chair cover. After every meal, you’ll need to wipe it down to remove all the yucky food. You can use a damp cloth to do this, but what about a more deep clean?

I’ll never forget the time my oldest son had a terrible blow out in his high chair. The easiest way to deep clean the high chair cover is to soak it in the washing machine with Oxi-Clean just like you did the high chair straps. Then, launder the high chair cover and allow to air dry.

How to get mold out of a high chair cover

It’s important to prevent the growth of mold on your high chair cover to begin with by removing food particles after each meal, but if you ended up with some mold, here are some things to try to remove it.

One thing you can try is to use hydrogen peroxide and a good scrub brush. Pour the peroxide on to the mold and scrub. Place the high chair cover directly in the sun to dry. You could also try a diluted solution of bathroom cleaner instead of the peroxide. Scrub as described above and let the cover dry in the sun.

How to get stains out of a high chair tray

If you’ve ever fed your baby spaghetti with pasta sauce, you’ve probably faced a stained high chair tray.

To remove stains from the high chair tray, cover the tray with baking soda, cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the baking soda. Use the cut half of the lemon to scrub the tray. Once you’ve thoroughly scrubbed the tray, wash it off in the sink. It should be much brighter!

While most high chairs of made of plastic and metal parts, take care never to soak your high chair if it is made of wood or is padded.

There is a lot involved in keeping your high chair clean, but with a little maintenance you can make sure it doesn’t get so gross that it is hard to manage!