Shopping cart covers

[BabyBearsMom]

In light of this article, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41838546/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/, it made me wonder if I should start using my shopping cart cover with DD. I don't use it now unless the cart is outside and metal and too cold. I will probably use it in the summer since the carts will be hot and I don't want DD to get a burn. Do you use a cover? Why or Why not?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

hm, i wasn't sure how to vote. i have a shopping cart cover, but i maybe only use it half the time i go out with DS. i use it mostly when it's super cold (or super hot), or when it's raining and all the carts have been left outside and are wet etc. or sometimes the carts are super grimy from food, trash or whatever people leave in them (hello Costco) so i use it then. but other than that, i don't use it everytime bc it's just another thing to have to bring.

[lhafer]

Yes, I use mine all the time! In high chairs in restaurants as well. And I wash it pretty frequently too. I have the floppy seat cart cover. Love it.

[boltfam]

When DS (now 3) was a baby, I always used my shopping cart cover. Now that he's old enough to know not to suck on the handle, I don't use it, but I make sure to wipe the handle and the seat and any other part of the cart he might touch with a disinfecting wipe.

DD is still in in her infant carrier or in the Ergo, but once she sits in the shopping cart seat, I will probably pull my shopping cart cover out again.

What really grosses me out is Costco's set up with no disinfecting wipes (at least at mine) and food samples all around the store. I'm a nazi with my hand sanitizer there.

[Binkandabee]

We have the floppy seat and I use it every time we go to a restaurant or shopping. I actually have two...one for each car so we are never without it.

[Nooknookmom]

I try to...we have a Buggy Bagg and love it. DD calls it her "couch".

Sometimes I can't locate it in the trunk :bag

[HonoluluMom]

I use about 3-4 disinfecting wipes and wipe down every possible surface DD could touch.

[Fairy]

Every single solitary time. My guy's aged out of those, but we used ours every time. Shopping carts, and also restaurant high chairs. I don't trust the germy carts to have been wiped down with disinfectant. Or the high chairs to be cleaned in between kids who are drooling on them and spilling their food (and I guarantee they're not). Let's put it this way. DS's diaper had leaked all ove the place while he was in a high chair, and I had no idea until I was out the restaurant to my car and realized something is wet here, and it was him. That means pee all over the high chair, and I felt bad that it happened cuz I always clean up after myself, but this is an instance that I couldn't catch it and so the next baby gets to sit in my son's pee. Even if it's dried. Yay for them.

Use the cart cover. Every time.

[Fairy]

I use about 3-4 disinfecting wipes and wipe down every possible surface DD could touch.

We did this, too. Even before the cover went on. Took me 4 years to stop wiping stuff down.

[ellies mom]

When my oldest was an infant, I had one I used a handful of times when the carts were wet but it was too big of a bother. I tossed it eventually and never worried about it with the youngest. I don't clean the seats or wipe the handles, nothing.

[wellyes]

Never. As the article says, those germs are everywhere, shopping carts are hardly the dirtiest places. But it does gross me out that (1) people put raw chicken in shopping carts [I am a vegetarian] and (2) apparently people don't know how to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. That is gross.

[infocrazy]

Where is the option for used it all the time for DS1, sporadically for DS2, and rarely for DD... I do wipe it down really good with a clorox wipe though...

[golightly1118]

I always use mine. Years ago I saw a kid have a diaper blowout in one of those seats without a cover while I was grocery shopping. I guess you can say it scarred me for life, because now I'm a bit OCD about using my Floppy Seat.

[mommylamb]

I had a shopping cart cover. I used it maybe once or twice. Fortunately, it was a hand me down, so I didn't waste money on it. I'm not germophobic at all, and DS is one of the healthiest kids I've ever seen. I think we're going on our second full year of no sick visits at his ped, and he's only 3.

[YouAreTheFocus]

I'm a no, never. We got a cart cover as a gift, and it was such a PITB--used it once & threw it out! If the wipes are available we will use them.

However, our kid very rarely sits in a cart. Most of the time he's in his stroller.

[AnnieW625]

This was the one thing when I was pregnant with DD1 that I thought WTH, am I ever going to use that for, just one more thing to keep in the car, and I am not a germaphobe at all, but do appreciate the wipes for the carts (this is DD1's job now to wipe the handle). Then my DCP gave me her old Floppy Seat and I became addicted. I used with DD1 all the time, and now use it with DD2 all of the time. It even works on Costco shopping carts (although it's not super snug).

We only have used it occaisionally with the high chair at the restaurant though.

[BabbyO]

I had one....thought I'd use it. Gave it away, still in the bag and never used when DS was 18 mo. Shopping cart handles are gross...that's why we wash our hands after shopping. Besides...there are plenty of places that are just as gross. Check your mouse lately...even better...one at the library where anyone and everyone uses it?

We just try to be good about washing our hands frequently.

I do appreciate the wipes...but rarely manage to use them. But I'm definitely from the "A little dirt never hurt anyone" camp.

[daisymommy]

I am pretty diligent during flu season, but slack off during warm weather months.

[ABO Mama]

DS is either in the cart with a cover or he is on me in a baby carrier.

[LoveBeingMrs]

After reading all these responses, I tried to put DS in a shopping cart WITHOUT a cover... it was a disaster! DS is one year old, and a teething maniac. He kept trying to bite the cart everywhere. Gross! I eventually had to carry him while pushing the cart at the same time. Never again! :shake:

[Uno-Mom]

when not baby-wearing, we use this:

http://www.leapsandbounds.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=536659&cmSource=Search

I'd never mess with a cover but this really small. It keeps Sprog sitting straight up and she can't reach the edge to chew. She was about 10 months when we got it.

[kijip]

Put me in the never category. Not one single time in 7.5 years of parenting. If my child was immune compromised I would bring a pack of disinfecting wipes with me. Those are shown to be more effective than the covers. Also, do you wash the cover between use? The covers are touching the seats that we don't want our kids to touch so I always wondered. We just wash our hands a lot and call it good. If a store provides wipes, we use them. I have two very healthy kids though and have never had any serious illnesses, knock on wood, so my approach is likely guided by that. If I had kids that were frequently getting sick, I might be pro-cover.

[BayGirl2]

I have one and brought it to the store a few times early on but haven't bothered since. It takes so long to gather all the other stuff I need (and we are very organized) that hauling another item just isn't a priority. When he was tiny the extra padding kept him a bit more stable. He sits in the cart seat every time now, sometimes I grab a wipe if they are handy.

FWIW he's rarely been sick and if he is its usually traceable to another kid. We wash hands a lot but I'm not very germaphobic. Of course this morning at Target he was walking his little bunny crackers along the cart handle - yuck. But that Target's only been open a week and the carts were out in the rain, so probably still less germy than many other surfaces we deal with every day.

[Melanie]

With my first I bought a cheesy one from BRU (remember...this was over 8 years ago) when he outgrew the infant car seat - and that rarely fit in any baskets anyhow. It didn't fit well, didn't fit many carts and didn't cover much. I pretty much gave up and did most shopping with a stroller, on my own or threw caution to the wind and used it without. LOL. Plus he was not a mouthy-baby. Then the great flu outbreak...I think he was nearly 3 years old, but that winter HEALTHY older children and adults were dying from the flu. It scared the heck out of me, so I found a woman who made and sold the big puffy style (that is more common now) on eBay (thanks to BBBers!). I used that one until I had a baby girl warranting a cutey baby girl one. LOL. I bought another from her. This girly put EVERYTHING in her mouth...she would even pull the cart cover from the sides to try to mouth the sides of the carts. Shudder. So it lived in my car and was used often.

I still have it but she's 5 now and all carts but Target and Costco are too small for her. I haven't parted with the cover, but probably soon. It sits in my garage next to my beloved Mac stoller - taunting me.

[pantrygirl]

We used a shopping cart cover until my kid was probably 1.5 years old.
She never was a person to lick or slobber over the carts and at 1.5, she knew not to put anything into her mouth. We do wipe hands and wipe the area before we put her in the cart though.

[tmahanes]

I use it partly because carts are dirty and mostly because it looks way more comfy and I know I will always have a buckle that is not broken.

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[MoJo]

I use it partly because carts are dirty and mostly because it looks way more comfy and I know I will always have a buckle that is not broken.


:yeahthat:

Jelly Bean stayed always wanted to stand if I didn't use the cover, even after I found a cart with a working buckle. With the cover, she didn't try standing.

Ha is the baby who mouths EVERYTHING.

Count me in the "I use it so often I bought one for each car" camp. We've been happy with the Eddie Bauer version sold at Target.

[LoveBeingMrs]

Ha is the baby who mouths EVERYTHING.


You mean, there are babies who DON'T do this?!! I can't even imagine... :p

[AnnieW625]

I use it partly because carts are dirty and mostly because it looks way more comfy and I know I will always have a buckle that is not broken.


:yeahthat:

DD2 is going through a stage where anything round goes in her mouth including shopping cart handles so until this stops I'll be using it for most grocery shopping trips, unless she is asleep and then she goes in the Beco.

I do think a lot like Katie though (lots and lots of hand washing, and DD1 loves to clean the cart with wipes) so that's why this was orginally one of those "what the hell I am going to use this for" items prior to getting mine for free.

[lizzywednesday]

No, we don't use a shopping cart cover.

No, we don't own one.

No, we didn't register for one.

I did see one that has wrap-around "arms" that I'd be interested in because sometimes the safety belts don't work, but, honestly, I don't always have the time or patience to put anything but DD in the cart.

I think I may just start carrying wipes for the germs and an extra beach towel for the seat in the summertime.

(Of course, Little Miss is grinning at me while she picks up & eats Cheerios from the floor, so maybe I don't have to worry so much about germs.)

[Kaylee31]

I use a cover everytime I put DS in a cart. I have a Buggy Bag that I keep in my trunk, and it takes about 3 seconds to put it on w/one hand, while holding him in the other. I'm not a germaphobe, but I figure it can't hurt, plus it makes the seat much more comfortable for him.

[firemama]

Yes, I voted every time. But Target's new carts are very slippery and the waist strap won't go through the cart seat. The design is a grid instead of up and down slats, if that makes any sense. :( So I will have to be extra careful when she gets into the climbing out stage...

Everywhere else I use it, but I'm also a germaphobe. Just can't help it:shrug:

[Uno-Mom]

Yes, I voted every time. But Target's new carts are very slippery and the waist strap won't go through the cart seat. The design is a grid instead of up and down slats, if that makes any sense. :( So I will have to be extra careful when she gets into the climbing out stage...

:

OT but I had to vent - Target's carts are the WORST!!! Like I said, we never use a cover but we have that wide soft strap thingy. Of course it won't fit becuase of the grid. But the worst thing is - they keep the kid in this uncomfortably slightly reclined position. It's the ONLY cart where Sprog constantly fights to get out, whines and complains the entire time.

It's babywearing or nothing for us at Target now. Not that we go there that often anyway.

[AngelaS]

Nope, never.

[TwinFoxes]

Maybe I should have voted other, they don't make them (at least not that I've seen!) for the double carts at Wegmans, and I don't think I could get two covers and two kids into one cart.

[mackmama]

Do you wash a shopping cart cover after every use?

[Melanie]

No. I always wrapped it germy-side in and threw it in the car.

[Melanie]

Maybe I should have voted other, they don't make them (at least not that I've seen!) for the double carts at Wegmans, and I don't think I could get two covers and two kids into one cart.

Yes! I've seen them...if they're like Costcos' carts.

[wcheng]

Anyone know if these will fit a Costco cart?

[tmahanes]

Anyone know if these will fit a Costco cart?

used my floppy seat yesterday for the first time at costco..... it fit. :)

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