laundry for preemies

happiness4me2

I want to take a few personal items to the NICU for Emma.  Probably some hats, booties and blankets for now and then some clothes later on.  Do you wash in Dreft or a Free and Clear Detergent?  Also, do you wash your shirts in the same detergent so as not to irritate the baby when you hold them?

SBMBride406

We've always used Dreft and I've always washed my clothes in my regular detergent without an issue.

KellyMichelle

I washed DS's clothes in all free & clear when he was a baby.  He did fine with it.  I washed our clothes in regular soap, but we had to wear a smock type thing over our clothes when we held him.

kamcfarlane

we use all free and clear mostly. but we have no skin sensitivity issues in either of our families.

BrainySmurfette

I washed everything in All Free and Clear.

FutureMrsDenman

You might check with your NICU.  Our NICU had a policy and required we use Dreft and that we bag all items in sealed Ziploc bags after they were dry.  We had to bring them in the Ziplocs and show them to the nurse before they could be used for our DD.  This sounds really strict, but that was the way our NICU functioned.

 

jehprb

Our NICU strongly discouraged braining clothes from home unless you were doing your overnight stay before being discharged - they didn't want your clothes getting scooped up with hospital laundry never to be seen again...not to mention they didn't want to keep track of it.

Everything he wore in the NICU was hospital stuff and washed in hospital soap which I'm sure is about as gentle as floor cleanser but once we got him home we used Dreft for his stuff and regular stuff for ours - never had a problem but he's never had skin sensitivities to anything either.

TriciaJoy

I used dreft. I'd wash my kangarooing shirt with Robbie's laundry and just leave it at the hospital and use it several days in a row.

meldoo2002

We wash our clothes and their clothes in All free and clear.  Then they are not irritated by their clothes or rubbing against us.

jennifer griveas

I used Dreft for the first month he was home, and since then I've switched to whatever senstive skin detergent is on sale for his clothes and ours.  We're lucky to not have any sensitive skin issues with baby or adults. 

borc0080

I washed all of LO's clothes in free & clear detergent.  I've used normal detergent for my own clothes and haven't had any skin sensitivity issues.

mek10976

We use a free/clear detergent for DS, but not for us.  We never had an issue when he was in the NICU.

RRHsMom

Ryan was on the vent for 14 of his 17 day nicu stay so we could not dress him until the night before he came home so it wasn't a big issue for us.  However, I wanted to add that Ryan has eczema and VERY sensitive skin so we cannot use dreft bc of the scent.  We wash everything in his cloth diapering detergent that is Allen's Naturally. Just wanted to let you know even dreft can irritate some baby's skin unfortunately.