The
Basics of Baby Laundry
Ah,
the sweet smell of a clean baby!
You may be tempted
to enhance that clean, fresh smell
by running baby diapers and onesies
through a final rinse with fabric
softener - but don’t! The perfumes
in fabric softener can irritate a
baby’s sensitive skin, or spark
allergies that cause uncomfortable
rashes. With all those adorable babies
and teddy bears on fabric softener
packages, who would have guessed?
Here’s another handful of
tips for taking care of baby’s
clothes during the first year, focusing
on laundering and stain removal.
Choose
a detergent that’s
free of dyes and perfumes. There
are a number of brands of laundry
detergent that are specially formulated
for baby’s clothing, including
Ivory Snow and Dreft. It’s
really not necessary to resort to
those, though. You can wash baby’s
clothes with yours, as long as you
use an allergen free, no-dye, no-fragrance
detergent.
Baby’s sleepwear especially
should be washed in a mild detergent
made without animal fats or other
water conditioners. Flame retardant
sleepwear is specially treated to
keep children’s pajamas from
flaring into flame if ignited by
a spark. The flame retardant chemicals
can be affected by fabric softeners
and conditioners. Don’t use
them on baby’s sleeping gowns
and stretchies.
Getting Rid of Baby Stains Formula,
baby food and - well - baby poop,
are among the worst challenge for
laundry detergents, thanks to their
high protein content. To keep spills
from becoming tough stains:
— Scrape off as much as you
can, being careful not to scrub it
in instead.
— Get the stained
item into cold water as soon as possible.
If you can get it into the washer
right away, let it agitate in cold
water through a cycle - without soap.
If you catch the stain before it
dries, it may be enough to keep the
stain from setting at all.
— Do NOT use hot water on
formula stains, baby food stains
or baby diaper stains. The heat can
set the stain permanently by ‘cooking’ it
into the fibers of the fabric.
— If the cold water cycle
doesn’t do the trick, add another
tub full of cold water and detergent,
and let it soak for half an hour.
Run it through, wash in warm water,
rinse and repeat. If it’s really
stubborn and still there after a
soak and two washes, try it one more
time - soak in detergent and cold
water for at least half an hour,
then wash in warm water, rinse and
repeat.
— If you use bleach to help
get the stain out, make sure that
you rinse well to get out all traces
of bleach that can irritate baby’s
sensitive skin.
Cloth
diapers call for special treatment.
If you don’t have a diaper
service, make sure that you have
what you need to deal with the laundering.
The basics are a covered diaper pail,
Borax, baking soda, bleach and vinegar.
First: Fill the diaper pail with
warm water and half a cup of Borax.
Rinse diapers out before placing
them in the Borax solution to soak.
Second:
When you’re ready
to wash, use laundry detergent, hot
water and bleach.
Third: Wash a second time, using
just water to remove bleach and detergent
residue. Add vinegar to the final
rinse to help loosen detergent residue
and whiten diapers. You can also
add baking soda baking soda to the
final rinse to help soften fabric.
