There’s no doubt about it, prams can get pretty dirty! Especially if your kids are at an age where they eat while sitting in the pram, you’re going to be faced with plenty of crumbs and other bits and pieces.
Once in a while, you’re going to have to clean your pram. The best way to do this is with a vacuum cleaner and some water. Here’s how it all goes down.
- Remove any cushions, linens or toys from the pram so everything is out of the way. Then take it outside (or into a big room) and start vacuuming, do this all around the pram (the bottom too!) and then move onto your fabric covering if there is one.
- Now get a bucket of warm water mixed with soap or baby shampoo and use either a mop brush or rag to work up bubbles on your washing surface like you were making bubbles in your sink when you wash dishes.
- Now you’re going to wipe the bubbles off with a dry rag or cloth, but be sure not to press down on the fabric too hard as this causes stains.
- Once that’s done, get another clean, dry rag or towel and wipe it over again gently. Finally, leave your pram somewhere safe where it can air-dry out of the way – a nice, sunny spot in the garden should do the trick.
How To Clean Pram Wheels
If it’s the tyres or the treads of the pram wheels that are dirty, simply taking the pram for a nice long walk along a clean, dry footpath will clean the wheels enough to make them OK for wheeling inside again.
But, if the wheels have gone through something particularly nasty, (dog owners who don’t pick up after their pet, we’re looking at you!) then you’ll need to be a bit more thorough in your cleaning style.
If your pram has small wheels, like castors, then make sure they are maintained properly and taken care of. If they have been used hard it might be best to replace them.
An old toothbrush or similar small brush can be really helpful in cleaning in and around crevices found in pram wheels. If you can take them off the pram easily, you might want to consider washing them in a bowl of warm water with some Dettol or other type of disinfectant.
If your pram has big wheels then these can be cleaned easily. Use some warm water and soap (or baby shampoo). Wet the wheel (or wheels) and let them sit there for a few minutes to soften up any grease or grime.
Now scrub with a sponge or rag and take care not to press too hard against the metal parts as this can cause damage. Once done, rinse thoroughly with more warm water then wipe dry with a cloth or towel (or paper towel).
Finally, allow all parts to air dry completely before using (or storing) again.
How To Clean A Pram Handle
The pram handle is what you hold onto when pushing the pram along. As it’s part of a high touch zone, it can get quite dirty (and germy) even if you can’t see the dirt. If it’s dirt you can see (don’t worry, we’ve all spilt coffee before!) a wipe over with a damp cloth, with or without an all purpose cleaner should do the trick.
Something like Koh is a great cleaning solution for this. In this day and age of Covid 19, you might also like to follow this up with a sanitising wipe – this is a practice we should all be doing regularly on anything in a high touch zone like pram handles and shopping trolley handles.
If your pram is starting to look a little ‘well used’ you might also like to try giving the handle a bit of a shine with some baby oil. Apply just a little bit to your hand and then rub it all over the handle.
Make sure you don’t use too much or you’ll just make the handle slippery and hard to hold – if you’ve got too much on there, buff it off with some paper towel or a dry cloth.
How To Clean A Pram Seat
First of all this is going to depend on the material your pram seat is made from. Any hard or firm surfaces like plastic or vinyl can usually be cleaned easily with a spray and wipe type method.
Begin with a vacuum to remove any crumbs or particles and then spray on some cleaning liquid or even just water, and then wipe it off with a damp cloth. Again Koh is a great option for this.
If, however, your pram seat is more of a fabric type material, then you’ll want to begin with a vacuum and then follow the procedure below for ‘How to clean pram fabric.’
How To Clean Pram Fabric
Now this one can be a bit more difficult but it is definitely worth it, especially if you’ve had some bad liquid spills in the pram, like milk, ice cream or vomit.
Begin, as always, with a vacuum over the surface to remove any dust or particles. Then use a damp cloth to wipe over the entire surface. Now that the fabric is damp you can either add some baby shampoo to your cloth or directly to the fabric.
Wet your cloth again so that it is quite wet as we want to wash that baby shampoo and water into the fabric to clean it. Once you’ve lathered up the fabric surface you’ll want to get a clean damp cloth and wipe it over again trying to squeeze out and wash away the baby shampoo and bubbles.
Once you’ve wiped it over a few times and are fairly sure you’ve rinsed away as much baby shampoo as possible, leave it in a warm, sunny spot to dry.
By taking a few minutes each week or so to keep your pram clean you’ll be able to prevent any bad smells and also keep your pram in very nice condition. Make sure you always have a lot of light while cleaning, that way you can see all that needs to be looked at and cleaned properly.
This is how I clean my pram for my baby each week and it’s worked out very well so far without any problems.
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