Do you really need Dreft?

monlyn9 · May 2009

DH and I already use a laundry detergent that is "free and clear", without all of the extra stuff because DH has sensitive skin and I don't like strong smells. Can we just use that for the baby's things or do we need to buy special detergent? TIA.

kristeljade · May 2009

That worked fine for DS, so no special detergents for us.

schmoodle · May 2009

My friends with babies all say any dye/perfume free detergent is ok. We got the All Free&Clear.

monlyn9 · May 2009

schmoodle:
My friends with babies all say any dye/perfume free detergent is ok. We got the All Free&Clear.

That is the kind we already use.

MrsPreK · May 2009

I also use All Free and Clear on our laundry as DH has sensitive skin and so does DS.

BugLuv · May 2009

We use tide free at our house. In my opinion Dreft is a huge waste of money. And "free" detergent will work fine! GL!

Smellygirl · May 2009

That should be fine. Baby 411 says the Dreft stuff is all hype and Free and Clear Detergents are fine.

monlyn9 · May 2009

Thanks for the response. I have looked at all of the Dreft products in the store and can't see buying that expensive detergent if I don't need it. Plus, I really don't want to separate baby's things into separate loads of laundry.

*blondie* · May 2009

I washed dd's clothes and sheets in our regular soap. If she has a problem with it then I will purchase Dreft but I'm not worried about it. Just like all the silly eating "rules", our mothers and grandmothers washed baby clothes in regular detergent and we're fine aren't we?

spiffy · May 2009

My doc says that the regular detergent (Purex Free) and dryer sheets (Kroger Brand dye and perfume free) were fine, so I'm not planning on changing them.

ShawnaDanielle · May 2009

We are just using All Free & Clear, it's what we wash our own clothes in anyways.

schmoodle · May 2009

*blondie*:
I washed dd's clothes and sheets in our regular soap. If she has a problem with it then I will purchase Dreft but I'm not worried about it. Just like all the silly eating "rules", our mothers and grandmothers washed baby clothes in regular detergent and we're fine aren't we?

It's not really about being "fine", it's more that infants tend to have very sensitive skin and the dyes and perfumes can irritate it. I don't think a specific brand name is necessary but I'd rather start out minimizing anything in the detergent that may irritate baby's skin, even if it's possible it will be fine.

As a soapbox aside, the "we're fine and our mothers/grandmother did X" argument is extremely flawed logic. Many things that women did during pregnancy in the past were or can be harmful, just because the women on this board are ok doesn't mean there aren't many babies out there that were lost or affected by certain practices that are no longer followed - our mothers didn't know not to smoke when pregnant but you can't really argue that because we're all ok that there aren't adverse effects. That doesn't necessarily apply to all pregnancy "rules" (and certainly not to the detergent question at hand), but there's a reason some doctors tell you not to do certain things.

shari_rngleson · May 2009

i used the target imitation brand for the first 3 months...now i just use Tide and dd has no reaction/sensitive skin issues

buttahbear · May 2009

You don't need it but I like the smell and got a huge thing of it as a shower gift and it lasted me about 6 months. After that I just used the free and clear stuff.

marcandjen · May 2009

schmoodle:
?there's a reason some doctors tell you not to do certain things.?

You're right. It's called "fear of a lawsuit." ?Our litigious society, not necessarily advances in medical knowledge, are responsible for most of the pregnancy "rules." I'm not advocating going back to the days when pg women light up their Marlboro Reds and drink hard alcohol with dinner every night, but I also think that much of a doctor's 'advice' is guided by his/her malpractice insurance carrier.

JCM083009 · May 2009

I think what you have you are better off using than Dreft anyway. I wouldn't use that for baby stuff, it's still got perfumes and some not so great stuff in there that I try to avoid.

scullyhoyy · May 2009

We use all free & clear... I found that dreft really doesn't get the stains out all that great, it just smells good.

Pesky · May 2009

My pedi actually recommended against using dreft because unlike the regular free and clear detergents, it contains perfumes. We use All free and clear and no problems for DD's sensitive skin.

Califragilistic · May 2009

free and clear detergents are good. Ill prob switch to something like that (for all our clothes) once I make it through my current bottle of Dreft.

CanadianBio · May 2009

This is an swesome resource that I used when trying to decide what detergent would be best used when CDing. There are many "free and clear" brands that are higher rated than lots of other so called "natural, organic" (read expensive) stuff.

https://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

Mrs.DeliaMarieP · May 2009

I don't think you need Dreft, free & clears work just as well (All and Tide both have them). I discovered that the Dreft at BJ's is only a couple dollars more than the Tide, and I had a coupon, so I grabbed some the last time I needed it to see how well it worked. So far so good, but we'll probably go back and forth between that and the Free & Clears.

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