That New Puke Smell
When you step foot into a vehicle, you can tell a lot about it from the smell. Some cars smell like three week old cheesy poofs, while others may smell like hot sauce. This weekend, our car acquired an unmistakable scent known only as the 'new puke smell.'
We were traveling home from a weekend of camping when something went terribly wrong, but what it was I may never know. Our trip was wrapping up nicely, both kids were asleep in the back seat, and we were a mere ten minutes from our driveway. Then it happened. Those unmistakable gurgling noises started reverberating from the back seat.
What came next was some Princess P puke, and a ton of it. This wasn't so much the projectile vomit kind of puke, but the steady stream of about a gallon of puke. The full horror of the situation could not be seen until we made it home.
After pulling into the driveway and slamming the car into park, my wife and I quickly, but reluctantly turned around as the dome light came on. It looked like the entire front of Princess P had been sprayed with a texture sprayer (think popcorn ceiling) full of chili and fruit punch. I felt so bad for the kid... she looked completely mortified. So, I grabbed her, rushed her into the house, and put her into the bathtub as quickly as possible.
My wife was kind enough to finish up bath time so that I could go clean copious amounts of puke out of the car. The following are a few things I learned while cleaning up puke:
- Baby wipes are pretty good at wiping up puke, but not very absorbent.
- After wiping up puke with scented baby wipes, that scent will cause you to immediately gag.
- Having leather seats pays off big time in puke situations. I can't imagine how deep the puke would have seeped into cloth seats.
- The vomit can go where you can't, and no matter what, the smell will linger.
I've been told that baking soda can help remove funky car smells... what has worked for you?
photo courtesy of kongharald
An entire bottle of Resolve.. :\
Ten minutes is an eternity when it comes to babies throwing up and sitting in it.. Poor Princess P.
I would have driven home as well, but the wife would have made me stop somewhere. We were on an overnight trip earlier this year. Our daughter got sick and threw up. We stopped cleaned her changed her clothes. 15 mins later more puke another change of clothes. No more clothes. We had to stop at Wal Mart to get her more clothes for the next day..
Hope she's feeling better.
She seems to be doing better, or at least she's as feisty as ever. I contemplated stopping, but our car was so packed it would have been a pain to try and get her changed. Plus, I think my wife was in a half sleep state otherwise we may have stopped.
my daughter did that in the car once. she puked when my wife was taking her to school - ALL over the place - and my wife called my cell while i was on the way to work to tell me to turn around and help. like you, i had to clean the car while my wife bathed the baby. i can't remember what i used to soak it up but it wasn't the sawdust stuff the janitors used in grade school, that's for sure. but baking soda does work to clear up the puke smell and other smells from car science experiments gone wrong.
For some reason I've always been fascinated with that sawdust stuff.
Dads are the unsung heroes of puke clean-up.
Leather seats are definitely key, you may have had to throw out the seats otherwise, or at least list in on your CarFax report whenever you decide to sell the car. I've heard that about baking soda too, I hope that helps.
The baking soda has helped a bit. I may try some Nature's Miracle from Petsmart. It comes highly recommended by my sister.
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