Sure we want to invest our hard earned money into our new bundle of joy, but I think taking great care of our investment is a bigger deal than most people think.
Picking the perfect baby stroller is already a task on its own now forgetting about maintenance can throw everything down the drain.
A lot of the stuff in this post might be common sense, so maybe this will be some sort of a reminder on what needs to be done to protect your investment.
There are many things that we need to know as new parents and there are some things that we can learn as we go.
This is a very simple chore, but if you follow these simple tips, I’m sure you will have a stroller that will last for many years to come.
Table of Contents
So How do You Care for Your Baby’s Stroller?
With a little tender loving care.
Yeah that is definitely not going to be enough, but that tip alone will help you minimize the cleaning.
Treat Your Stroller Like it Was a Car
That might be a bit much, but it will give you an edge.
So we’ve spent over $800 on our stroller and I used to treat it like it was handed down, simply because I was really disgusted with the money my other half spent.
It took me a while to get over it and our stroller took quite the beating.
It was a bit on the heavy side so I would throw it in the car like it was worthless and I found every negative thing to say about it when it really wasn’t that bad.
After a few scratches later, I finally realized that throwing this thing around wasn’t going to help us.
It would actually hurt our investment and ultimately decrease the value of something that could still be resold at a very high rate.
Whether you plan on spending $800 or not, you still need to treat it like a really big investment.
Do Simple Maintenance
If you have a small spill or a little dirt, grab yourself a nice little baby wipe as we all know that you can use them for a lot of things.
While you’re at it, you can just wipe the cupholder and the little plastic pieces that can be cleaned in a couple of seconds.
Doing this on the spot cleaning will save you from doing heavier maintenance a lot less over time.
Full on Cleaning
Depending on where you’ve taken your stroller will really decide on when you need to take off the pieces and throw it in the washer.
If it’s an umbrella stroller, I’m sure you will be fine if you give it a quick flush and leave it out to dry.
For other not so convenient strollers, you might want to follow these tips.
Cloth
For me, I usually clean all baby stuff together as far as anything cloth related is concerned
If I’m going to strip down the stroller, I’ll take off the carseat cover and other baby stuff that could use a quick wash and do them all at once.
Give the a wash, dry them off, and slap them back on
The Main Body
If your stroller can take a flush, get some laundry detergent and start scrubbing.
There are probably crackers and some other snacks caught in between the cracks, so make sure you get rid of them too.
Tires
Get the tires cleaned by using a scrubber to get rid of all the dirt.
If you have those styrofoam type of wheels, you might want to be a little cautions when cleaning them as they might actually fall apart.
If you have inflatable rubber tires, you’ll have an easier time cleaning, but maybe you can add some air if need be.
Cleaning Solutions
Bleach is not for everything so those of you parents that are so used to using bleach to clean everything, you might want to think about things before you apply it to your stroller as this may cause more harm.
Bright colors usually require some good old detergent and you don’t need to get anything fancy to get the job done.
Now using some Clorox wipes to disinfect parts of your stroller will actually be a great idea, so do consider using those instead.
Over Cleaning
Some of you clean freaks will probably clean your stroller a lot more than most of us and that can actually be a problem.
Just like anything that gets exposed to the elements, it will eventually get worn down and the same thing goes for scrubbing something too much.
Yes you want it to be clean for that nice look as well as for maintenance but you just don’t want to overdo things.
Do What Your Stroller Can Handle
You can be the judge on what your stroller can manage.
If you have one of them styrofoam wheeled strollers you know it can’t handle the rough terrain that one of those fancy strollers can handle.
Take a chance and you risk losing a wheel which can mean the end of your stroller.
Then it’s time to fork out more money for a new one and that’s something we want to avoid.
Conclusion
Take great care of everything you invest in as there are other uses for them after baby moves on to being a dirty kid.
Not only can you resell it to make back some of the money you invested, but you can always give it to someone who actually needs it.
Taking good care of your stroller will result in a better functioning product and you will look better around other parents too.
Don’t be that parent that rolls up in the mall with a stroller that looks like it went to war.
If that’s you, I’m sorry to say, but you need to apply these tips ASAP.
Thanks for reading my tips on maintaining your new baby stroller and although I’m sure you already knew most of them, I do hope this helped a little.
What are your “secrets” to maintaining a stroller?
– John
AskDads
This might just be a nightmare for fathers, maybe mothers are better about this, but to all the dads – when you take your child out of the stroller, take a wet wipe or something similar and clean wipe out that seat. Wipe out especially the residue food out.
Because most often times, us dads just fold those things up in a hurry, then the next day we come back and wish we had double checked.
Once my kid dropped his cookie in his seat down beside him when he fell asleep. I just folded that stroller up and threw it in the back of the SUV.
Next day –
Ants
ants – Ants – ANTS.
It’s not fun. So, wipe it out! LOL
Definitely ants! lol.