Usually, when something appears worn out, broken in any way, or otherwise undesirable, I will toss it and get a new one as opposed to trying to fix it. So I’m very happy to say that I have washed the cover and nylon strap, scrubbed the plastic structure, iron-patched the fabric, and re-foamed my baby car seat.
I’m pretty proud of myself.
It probably sounds like I should have pitched it, but really, it was in good shape. The fabric along the back of the top of the cover had worn through because in our Volkswagon, with our first two kids, the back seat was so small that the infant car seat rubbed against the back of the two front seats, causing excessive wear on the fabric.
The foam padding in the bottom of the seat had some old formula or something on it, and it was thin anyway, so I replaced it with some good, thick, squishy stuff.
Unfortunately, I’ve packed my glue gun, so I’ll need to borrow someone else’s to glue it in, but that’s the only thing left to do to get the car seat ready.
It’s a huge load off my mind to have that done.
Olivia stayed home yesterday with a stomach bug. It looks like she got off with a mild case. I’m still struggling with my health in getting over this cold/sinus infection yuckiness. So I’m planning on spending a quiet, hopefully uneventful day knitting on the baby’s blanket.
My only other objective, besides basic survival and trying to ingest fluids, is to find and then use the specific allen wrench required to disassemble the crib for the move.
March 9th, 2006 at 3:12 am
a friend of mine is a carseat safety technician & she says that using anything not provided by the manufacturer voids the warranty & if the seat is in a crash (heaven forbid) you could be held liable for any injuries the baby sustains 🙁
March 9th, 2006 at 3:15 am
oh, AND they’re supposed to be replaced every 6 years. don’t know how old yours is, but that’s CPSC guidelines, not manufacturer “try to get you to buy stuff you don’t need” guidelines
March 9th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
So now that the car seat is cleaned up and ready, are you going to install it and have it ready to go, just in case? 🙂 I have no idea how soon I need to start hauling around a car seat in my car… probably a month before due date or something, eh?
Get better!
March 9th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Hi Laura,
if you remember, we were mailing some month ago because of beeing pregnant. My due day is 3 after yours. And just this morning I thought I should clean the car sear today. In my instructions is written you can use a car seat without crash for 5 years. Luckily mine is only 2,5 years old.
🙂