It's that time of year again: spring cleaning! And while cleaning out your closets and washing your car is a great way to start fresh this season, don't forget to include your child's car seat. Children spend a lot of time in their car seat while your family is out and about, and just like anything kids touch it's bound to get dirty after a while! Between snack crumbs, juice spills, and other mysterious debris ("when was the last time we had candy canes?") your kid's car seat is a magnet for dirt. However, cleaning a car seat isn't just a great way to make your backseat look (and smell) better, it's also an important safety factor. Over time, dirt and grime can accumulate and prevent a seat from performing up to the highest standard. That's why we recommend that you clean the car seat cover and buckle periodically to keep them in their best shape.The following cleaning instructions apply to all Britax car seats; if you have seats from another manufacturer, please refer to the user guide that came with the seat for cleaning instructions.

Watch the video below for more details. For those extra dirty messes when cleaning the seat just won’t cut it, we also offer replacement cover sets, buckles, harnesses, and other parts in our online store for many of our car seats. You can also order replacement parts by contacting our customer service department.Minimize Messes with Britax Travel AccessoriesTo help minimize future clean ups, Britax offers accessories designed to protect both your car seat and your vehicle seat. Drape Pull BacksThe Seat Saver Waterproof Liner has deep sides and fits securely into the seating area of all Britax harnessed car seats to contain liquids and crumbs and prevent messes from reaching the car seat. How To Hang A Cheap Full Length MirrorThe Britax Vehicle Seat Protector protects your vehicle seat from liquid and debris with raised ridges on all sides that contain spills. Window Cleaning Kit For Van

It also features a front seat guard that hangs over the edge of the vehicle seat to protect from muddy shoes.Sheepskin is a natural lambskin pelt that features leather, or sueded leather, on one side and soft, plush fur on the underside. supple, sheepskin is one of nature's greatest sources of insulation. wool fibers are naturally thermostatic, wicking away moisture for year-round Overland Sheepskin Seatcovers - Shown with Steering Wheel and Seatbelt Covers When cared for properly, quality sheepskin seatcovers can be a luxurious, lifelong investment in comfort and style. The wool fibers of sheepskin are truly amazing, because their molecular structure allows them to naturally shed dirt. It’s only when you spill something sticky or oily on the covers that they actually begin to look dirty. need to spot-clean a spill, simply use cool water and a gentle dish detergent, as Ivory liquid hand soap, on target areas. Allow to air dry (do NOT use any

direct heat source, such as a blow-dryer). It would be good to brush the area when its dry as some matting may occur from the cleaning process. some months or years, you’d like to give your seat covers some overall sprucing up, simply remove them, give them a good shaking outside in the fresh air, and use cool water and a gentle dish detergent (such as Ivory liquid hand soap) to spot-clean any soiled areas. Let dry out of direct sunlight. After they are dry, toss your sheepskin seat covers into the dryer and set on AIR FLUFF (absolutely do NOT USE HEAT). Toss in some tennis balls or a clean sneaker or two, air fluff for 15 minutes, open the dryer and clean the filter, and then give them another 15-20 minutes on AIR FLUFF (do NOT USE HEAT). from the dryer and reinstall on your car seat—your seat covers will look We’ve had glowing reports from customers who have usedThe static electricity of the dryer straightens the wool fibers

balls/clean sneakers help to beat out the embedded dust. Also, if your seats no side impact airbag or other attachments such as integrated arm rests, we suggest switching sides when you reinstall them. This completely changes the and extends their life a few more years. Sheepskin Seat Cover FAQ Sheepskin Seat Covers: Find your perfect pair today! For more information on sheepskin seatcovers, see our Sheepskin Seatcovers F.A.Q. and Sheepskin Seatcovers Info pages.We scrub, we sanitize and we disinfect almost everything that touches kids these days, but we may just be neglecting an inconspicuous culprit of filth: car seats. According to a recent study conducted by car seat manufacturer Maxi-Cosi, of the 506 parents polled, over half wash their car seats just a few times a year. With 85 percent of these parents allowing their kids to eat while strapped in, it doesn't seem surprising that 36 percent of them would find three or more different food groups crammed in the tiny crevices of their seats.

(Fun fact: Fish-shaped crackers are the most common snack found in car seats, according to the survey.) If you're still not convinced that car seats are worth your precious scrubbing energy, just know this: Scientists at the University of Birmingham found an average of 100 potentially dangerous bacteria and fungi in each square centimeter of the car seats they tested this past July. That's twice as many germs as they found in toilet seats.* Luckily, HuffPost Parents enlisted the help of Becky Rapinchuk, the meticulous "homekeeping expert" behind Clean Mama, to explain how to avoid letting our car seats turn into oversized petri dishes. "Car seats are really only cleaned when necessary -- usually a spill or getting sick in the car -- so trying to figure out how to get it apart and cleaned properly can be confusing," she said. "With all the holes, loops and attachments, it's next to impossible to get the cover removed, let alone figure out how to put it back together." Rapinchuk said that she often gets asked about how to clean a car seat, so she knows the drill.

Her first tip is to read the manufacturer's recommendations before cleaning and make sure that you don't need to use your car seat for 12 to 24 hours (so it has time to fully dry). Then, follow the rest of Rapinchuk's instructions: 1. Remove the car seat from the car. 2. Take a picture of it with your phone, so that you can see where all of the straps and accessories go. This will make it easier to put back together once it's clean. 3. Vacuum the car seat's crevices. 4. Remove the car seat's cover from the form. 5. Place the cover in the washing machine on "cold" and "gentle" with a mild detergent -- no fabric softener. 6. Once it's washed, place the cover over a chair or your dryer to allow it to air dry completely before putting back on the car seat form. 7. Refer to your picture to help put everything back together.Got anymore tips for cleaning car seats? Share them in the comments. *It's worth noting that researchers have found that some exposure to germs is actually good for kids, a theory known as "hygiene hypothesis."