A recent study has revealed a range of shocking bacteria that could be lurking in your child's car seat!
Any parent busy with a child under 10 years old knows that keeping the germs at bay can be a full time job.
Yup, kids just seem to want to spend their time getting grubby!
However, it would appear that concerned parents might have been taking their anti-germ action in entirely the wrong places - as new research has shown that this might be the dirtiest spot in your child's life...
In fact, every time you buckle your little one into their car seat, you might be introducing them to a range of bacteria dirtier than the average household toilet seat!
An investigation conducted by Which? took sample swabs of the 'buckles, harnesses and headrests of a range of baby and child car seats' and then compared the results to data collected from toilet seat swabs.
Shockingly, the results revealed a range of pretty damning data - revealing parents might want to consider an emergency spring clean.
Most shockingly, the study revealed the car seat had 30 different types of bacteria - which is 14 more germs than the results of the toilet seat, which averaged at only 16 different types of bacteria.
Interestingly, both the car seats and the toilet seats contained a sufficient amount of gut and fecal matter.
This indicated that an unclean car seat can contain the same amount of fecal bacteria as a toilet - which is, of course, a health issue as much as it is a stomach turner.
How often you should clean your everyday items – REVEALED!
The study found a high level of Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococci on the car seats - two forms of gut bacteria which can cause a range of health issues.
The bacteria can form into harmful illnesses such as sepsis in younger individuals with less robust immune systems, which is a serious complication of an infection.
But fear not! Whilst the microbiological results of the test are less than savory, a good scrub of your child's car seat will help reduce the levels of bacteria.
Experts suggest focusing on the most touched areas of the seat, such as the harness and headrest, but getting a good general clean is also important.
Cleaning kit at the ready!
Words by Alice-Rose Perry
