Monday, March 10, 2014

How Clean is YOUR Pack-N-Play?

A friend on Facebook posted this pin with the following caption. 
(I can't find the original source)

"How to clean your pack n play.. i saw this on Facebook and decided to make it a pin :-) You fill your bath tub up with the hottest water possible. Mix in a cap of baby laundry detergent (I used Dreft) a splash of vinegar and about a quarter cup of baking soda. Mix and submerge your Pack N Play and the mat. After about 30 minutes, flip them. My water was disgusting at this point! I could not believe how dirty it was! But honestly, how often do you think to deep clean your Pack N Play? After about an hour, I took it outside and hosed it down to remove any of the extra nasty water from the soak. Then left it outside to dry! My Pack N Play seriously looks brand new and any stain that was on it before is gone! I highly recommend this soak! I removed the mat before taking the picture but this is my water! I know, it's absolutely disgusting! But like I said, this soak is the bomb and took care of anything my "daily wipe down" routine was missing."

 

 

I saw that and was disgusted. The pack-n-play we own is a hand-me-down from my Mother-In-Law. She only used it with 1 child, 4 years ago, so I thought, "no way mine could be that bad." But the thought of all that disgusting filth laying in the bed with my baby was enough for me to try my hand at washing it.



 Hard to tell in the photo but there was some browning around the rails, where apparently my Bother-In-Law chewed on the edges of the Pack-N-Play. Also the mat had a few stains.



 The top photo is the water before I put in the Pack-N-Play. I added a cup full of Tide Free and Clear (the detergent I use for Little Man), about 1-2 oz of vinegar, and 1/4 cup of baking soda. Turned on the water the hottest it would go and filled it up. 

The photo below is the water after I left the Pack-N-Play soaking for an hour, turning it over half way. The water was NASTY!!!! After I drained as much as I could of the dirty water out, we took it outside and hosed it off and left it to air dry. The frame dried quickly but the mat I left out for 24 hours just to be safe. 

Also these photos are proof of how much better the Samsung Galaxy phone's cameras are, that is why they look like different tubs. I promise they are not. The top was taken by my iPhone 4s and the bottom by Hubby's Galaxy S III and his phone picked up all the yucky stuff that I need to scrub off of my tub. (I edited that out so you could be spared from seeing it)

I highly suggest you trying this out with your Pack-N-Play. I feel so much better letting my baby sleep in a freshly cleaned bed. I think this will have to be done again before we have any other babies. 

**Update: I have said this in the comment section many times, but please check the materials your mat is made with. Mine was made with plastic and I had no issues with mold or soggy cardboard after cleaning. Some apparently are made with thick cardboard and will not work once soaked in the tub. If yours is made of cardboard I suggest hand scrubbing with the solution without getting the mat too wet.



87 comments:

  1. I have to try this. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. Doing this as we speak on sone hand me down items. Pack n' play, car seat (cover/ cushion) swing cover/ cushion. Bouncer seat cushion, and walker seat. I'll let you know how it goes but so far looks promising!

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    Replies
    1. Was your water as nasty as mine was? I couldn't believe how much it got out!

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    2. You can put car seat covers & swing covers in the washer. That's what I do. 😉

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  3. I'm doing this with my double striker right now! We live in a new apartment complex that is still under construction and i hear the stronger sitting outside so it was filthy! Only ten minutes soaking and my water is already disgusting!

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    1. I hope it goes well! Make sure you spray it down really good afterwards to get all that nasty water out. If you don't have access to a hose then maybe draining and doing it all over again. Good luck!

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  4. Is this how you wash the mat part too? Worried it will ruin whatever harder material is in that part.

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  5. I laid the mat down first in the water and then the frame on top of it. Half way through I flipped the frame over since the water didn't cover all of it. Once it was done sitting I took it outside and sprayed it down to remove all of dirty water. Then let it air dry.
    None of my metal seemed affected since they are painted and coated. Hope that was helpful.

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    Replies
    1. Yes it was. Do you know if it happened to affect whatever was in the mat part? Not sure if that part is a hard card board, or particle board or what... just afraid it will mildew or something.

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    2. Mine was plastic so not a problem, but you might check the makers website just to make sure.

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    3. Okay thank you!

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  6. Can you fill the tub up to where the whole pack n play is under water?

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  7. Do not submerge the mat if it feels like cardboard. I did mine and now it is tearing apart. It works well for the pen part but causes the mat to tear. Hand wash the mat if it feels like cardboard.

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  8. My mat was plastic so I didn't have any issues with it. But if yours is card board definitely don't submerge and just spot clean.

    I only filled the tub halfway because I don't have a very deep one. You probably could fill it all the way to cover the pack and play but would need to add extra soap and stuff.

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  9. I have the Graco pack & play. Do Yall know if it's plastic or cardboard? I would live to clean it but don't want to ruin it.

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  10. I purchased a used Graco Pack n Play from a thrift store in BR this week for $4.95. It was missing the bassinet & changing table parts but it's a spare so not necessary. Also, I checked to be sure it wasn't a recall item and it wasn't. It's in great shape, no rips/tears, otherwise needed cleaning. It had some stains and smelled terrible. After searching online I came across your page. I am an admin on a baby resale page on FB so I shared the info and the link to your page. Here's the link to my note on FB & photos of my Pack N Play.. just terrible!

    https://www.facebook.com/notes/wendy-o-noble/cleaning-used-pack-n-play/10152795597212843

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for passing along the info to others. I'm glad that it was so helpful for you and saved you tons of money!

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  11. Thank you so much for this post!! Our pack n play has been stored and i got it out and its covered in mildew! I hope this will work on ours! I really dont want to throw it out! Its been passed on thru all my kids, my oldest is 9 and i plan to use it for our future babies as well! (We have 3 kids so far) :)

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    2. Mildew? If I were you, I would consider spending $50.- $60. and buying a new Pack N Play for your next child. Seriously. It takes strong chemicals to remove mildew, and this, (the mildew and/or the cleaners required), will be harmful to the health of a child.

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    3. Vinegar and sunlight will remove mildew then clean as suggested

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  12. I did this last night and wow did my bath tub look nasty. I am so excited to do this to the rest of my play pens as a daycare provider this is wonderful as I have just been wiping down and a couple times have had to use a hand carpet shampooer to clean them. Mine looks brand new again.

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  13. I have a 3 day old and we just cleaned ours are the products safe for the baby to be around? I like that vinegar plays a part due to the remedy for fleas

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    Replies
    1. I used baby safe detergent, and as long as you rinse well, the other products are fine for baby.

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  14. My concern is the mat has wood in it how does it not get ruined???

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    Replies
    1. Mine is completely plastic on the inside. If you are concerned then I would suggest spot cleaning the mat.

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  15. oooh, this is a pretty good post. Shame about the terrible font though. You'd likely get more re-pins etc, if you were to change that.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the suggestion.

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    2. Yeah, because the first thing I thought was, what horrible font, definitely not going to "Pin" that one, I'll look another hour for a better font. LOL

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  16. Thank you so much sharing this information!! I'm gonna do this this weekend.
    I wonder how you check if the mat plastic or wood. My mat's tag is said only "ALL NEW MATERIAL Consisting of 100% POLYURETHANE FOAM" and Reg. No. is PA-24833(CN)
    Do you think "POLYURETHANE" is for cushion part and the hard part?

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    Replies
    1. Did you ever find out? I have this same one and am hesitant to put the mat in the water....

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    2. Did you ever find out? I have this same one and am hesitant to put the mat in the water....

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    3. I thought that is kind of plastic. So i soaked and washed. Fortunately I had no problems.

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  17. Make sure you use a good green cleaning disinfectant on your pack-n-play, and all areas that kids play.

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  19. Awesome post but definitely strange that the before and after tubs are a different color...

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    Replies
    1. The first photo doesn't have flash on, you can tell from looking at the lighting

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    2. She explains in the post that the shots were taken by 2 different phones, plus, as Athena said, one is with flash, the other isn't.

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  20. This worked great ^_^ I was so happy to get some of those stains out of the pack and play!

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  21. Thanks for the info. I want to try it but my Pack 'n Play has metal parts. Will they not rust?

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  22. Thanks for the info. I want to try it but my Pack 'n Play has metal parts. Will they not rust?

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  23. Do you think I could use regular laundry detergent? I would hate to go out and buy a big thing if deft just for my pack n play.
    Thanks! Excited to try this!

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  24. Some added information about the pack n play. You can order a new mat for free from the manufacturer company.
    On the bittom of pack and play there's a tag with 1-800 number.. And a manufacturer date and modle number.
    Call the number follow the promos and have the model and manufacturing date ready.
    You can tell them it's warped or something along that line. It's a safety issue really if damaged . 2-4 weeks you'll have a new bottom mat free .

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    Replies
    1. thank you, I need to do this, mine really is warped!

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    2. I called the company they said it would cost 21 dollars to get a new one even though mine is warped

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  25. This worked great for everything but the mattress part of mine. It's now warped and ruined. Called Graco and they said they don't have any replacement mattress right now, check back in 4-6 weeks.

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  26. So I did this with mine last night and once it dried it looked worse than before I did it. The actual pin looks cleaner and bassinet/changer part, but the mat now has dirty splotches all over it... now what?!

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  28. Mine is turning brown on the sides while it's drying. Anything I can do?

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  29. This post is misleading I tried this and while the "shell " of the pack and play was clean and the base part completely dry after being in the hot sun all day. After about 3-4 days of being dried out I noticed an order coming from the pack and play and thought it was from the baking soda ... Well I lifted the mattress base to realize my baby was sleeping on a moldy mattress. I threw the entire thing away. Nothing is worth my child sleeping on mold... Please update your post to be very specific that you have a completely plastic mattress bc most others have some other type of material inside that does cause mold. I followed the instructions to a tee and ended up tossing a nearly $200 pack and play.

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    Replies
    1. Nooooooo! I wish I would have read this sooner mine is in the tub now and I have no idea what the bottom is made of.

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  30. I'm pretty damn pissed off about this post. Against my better judgement I decided to go for it because my baby has spit up a lot on the mat and so I followed these instructions and now my mat won't dry! It's been 48 hrs! ��

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  31. Hey!!

    Nice Share!!

    I completely agree with you that a baby pack and play or play yard as its often called is a unit that provides your baby with a secure and lightweight space for him/her to play and nap. The unit comes in different colors, designs and sizes.

    But It was a big question for me that how to clean your pack n play. Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing article with easy cleaning tips.

    I will surely consider them :)

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  32. The mat on my Ingenuity pack n play has zippers, so you can pull out the plywood board before washing. I had no idea until I read this and went to wash it.

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  33. OK so what if its winter and I can't take it outside to rinse it off and dry it?

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  34. Do you think maybe the water is changing color from just the dye in the materials? Ours is blue....the water turned blue. It wasn't too gross other than that, but the pack n play isn't that old either.

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    Replies
    1. This is always what I think too when I see these posts with before and after water, and most Graco brand ones are either brown or grey for the main color. I'm sure some of it is dirt and grime but I bet a lot of it is just dyes or whatnot.

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  35. I don't think Gracopack-n-play yards does this with water color. I've washed my own many times. The most important thing is water temperature and wash powder.

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  39. It's very amazing post. You have done great job.

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  40. Almost all if not all Graco have cardboard inside. Do not do this. They will mold.

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  41. Gonna do this with my pack and play but just curious if maybe it would work good to wash like plastic toys for kids also and such like the walkers and/or play mats etc

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  47. I think the water changes color due to the polyboard material the mat is made of. Your kids aren’t as gross as you think ☺️

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  48. i live in washington so it stays pretty cold here can i just dry it with my hair dryer?

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  49. Man that is absolutely disguisting. I wonder if a dirty humidifier that never gets cleaned could cause that problem.

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  50. This ruined my mat. All I had was some water marks so I tried to scrub it as suggested above. Now there are full stains all the way around the mat!

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  57. After deep cleaning my graco pack n play, the mattress after drying, turned brown. Now should I resoak it, or is it ruined?

    ReplyDelete