How to Clean a Bassinet Properly: A Complete Guide
Maintaining your baby’s health often starts with ensuring their surroundings are clean. One of the most crucial places is the bassinet, their little sanctuary. Understanding how to clean a bassinet effectively and safely is vital for every parent. Dive in to explore a comprehensive guide on cleaning and maintaining a bassinet for your little one’s safety and comfort.
Germs are some of the reasons why a lot of babies get sick, and they can be found everywhere including the things infants use such as clothes and bassinets. Babies, especially newborns, are not able to fight off germs effectively because their immune system is not yet fully developed.
That is why it is important for parents to learn how to clean a bassinet properly. Some of you may just toss your baby’s used bassinet in the washing machine since that is the simplest thing to do. However, you must follow some important steps in order to make sure that the item is cleaned properly, as well as for it to maintain its quality.
How to Clean a Bassinet: The Basics
Bassinets are not easy to clean because not every part is washable. Luckily, most of their parts, such as the mattress and fitted sheet, can now be disassembled.
Also, the other parts can be easily wiped clean. But before you proceed, you need to check the item’s care instructions so you’ll know which part can be washed or not.
Also, you need to prepare several things needed for cleaning and they are the following:
- Mild detergent
- Oxygen bleach
- Washing machine
- Clean towel
- Clean sponge
- Spray bottle
- Warm water
Procedure
Step One: Check the manufacturer’s care instructions to find out which part can be washed. For most bassinets, the mattress and the fitted sheet are the ones that you can. So, if your baby’s bassinet is one of those, get your washing machine ready.
Put mild detergent and fill it with warm water, then, place the fitted sheet and the mattress inside. Make sure that the fitted sheet is not around the mattress before putting it in the washing machine.
If the sheets have any stains, treat it first with some oxygen bleach before putting it in the machine. Once your washing machine is done with its cycle, hang the mattress and the fitted sheet for air drying.
Step Two: Check the other bassinet parts for some dust, if you see any, use a clean towel to remove it. Check the nooks and crannies and make sure you don’t miss any. Commonly, the non-washable other parts are made of waterproof fabric, so they can be wiped clean.
To do this, put some warm water in the spray bottle, add a bit of detergent and then shake it well. Spray a part of the bassinet with your soap solution and scrub it with a sponge. Do the same thing to the other parts of the bassinet. Repeat the process until you have covered everything. At this point, the bassinet is a bit damp with soap.
Remove this using the sponge but first rinse it and ensure that it’s free from soap residue before using it. Once it is rinsed, wipe the entire bassinet with the sponge. Repeat the process until the bassinet is free of any soap residues.
Step Three: At this point, the bassinet is still a little damp. Wipe it dry with the help of a clean towel to prevent molds or mildew from growing.
To make sure that the bassinet is completely dry, you can bring it outdoors for air drying. Also, drying it under the sun can kill bacteria. However, this may lead to color or design fading. Once everything is completely dry, assemble the parts together and your baby can start using the bassinet again.
Important Notes: You can do the bassinet cleaning process mentioned above once a month, but if the manufacturer’s care instruction states otherwise, then you must follow such.
Nonetheless, if you want to ensure the cleanliness of the bassinet, spot cleaning can do the trick. You must also remember that you should never clean your bassinet using products with solvents or harsh chemicals. Organic or all-natural detergents are the best to ensure its safe for your baby.
Other Methods of Cleaning a Bassinet
Steam Cleaning
If a clothes steamer is available to you, steam cleaning is actually an awesome method to maintain the cleanliness of your baby’s bassinet. First of all, this is safe because it only uses water. Secondly, the super-hot steam kills bacteria, dust mites, molds, and mildew. If you don’t have a steam cleaner, there are people who can come to your home to professionally steam clean not only your baby’s bassinet but also your house’s curtains, blankets, carpets, and the like.
Vacuum Cleaning
Vacuum cleaning is also a great way to clean a bassinet because the powerful sucking mechanism of this machine takes away dust and other particles especially if it is one with a HEPA filter. For your information, it is a type of filter that has the highest capability of trapping allergens and dust mites. Although vacuums can suck tiny particulates, they are not capable of removing stains, so you still might need to treat or spot clean them after vacuuming.
When you have an infant, it is important that everything the baby touches and uses are germ-free because, as we have mentioned, their immune system is still weak, so they are prone to getting sick quickly. With that in mind, the steps on how to clean a bassinet that we have listed are very easy to follow and effective.
If you don’t have time to do it yourself because you have work or other things to do, hiring someone to clean the bassinet professionally is also an option. Other than keeping your baby’s bassinet clean, it is also important that your baby’s nursery, or any room that your baby will be sleeping in for that matter, is also clean.
However, it is equally important not to overprotect your baby from germs because these can also help strengthen their immune system. In fact, experts recommend babies play in the dirt or sand because this can be good for them.
In addition, you should not worry about harmful germs as long as you clean your home regularly. Finally, parents should know which is harmful and which isn’t for their baby.
