Will you wash all of LO's new clothes/linens before using?

Joie80 · November 2011

I've gotten some mixed reviews about this. So, I thought I'd get some input here. I'm thinking I did this poll thing right.

[Poll]

kmberman · November 2011

I will wash everything before he uses them, but I will wait until he is here to wash most of his bigger clothes. I will make sure that I have all the newborn gowns and onsies and blankets washed that I will need for atleast a week. That way I dont have to worry about doing too much laundry the first week home.

angelaggie · November 2011

I wash my own clothes and bedding before using, so yes. I'm not doing the Dreft, I'll just stick with my All free and clear.

pink100 · November 2011

I have a considerable amount of clothes for these boys already. I'm going to keep the 6-12 month stuff in a bin in the closet and keep the tags on (no washing) until I find that I need them. Its hard to plan with twins; I dont know if I will deliver early where they will be in NICU and not even come home for weeks (praying this doesn't happen!!)

I'm thinking of just washing 0-3 months stuff and linens to have that ready and when I deliver, I'll have my sister come to my house and wash the newborn stuff if needed and whatever else I'll need, while I'm recovering from my c-section.

GuppyAmy · November 2011

I'm not washing all of it, I'm thinking like 10 things until we see what she/he likes/how big this little bugger is, in case I have to return something.

lisaNDmike08 · November 2011

I would never wear clothes or use linens myself without washing them (eew, hello tv news stories!), so I'd definitely not put clothes or linens on LO without washing them first. That said, I don't see myself doing a mass washing of every single item we have at once just for the heck of it. Instead it makes more sense to me to wash things as LO is ready to start using them.

jkjohnsonwedding · November 2011

I'm going to wash all 0-6 month clothing over my December/January winter break (I'm a teacher). I'm debating washing the 6-12 month clothes too, but anything I have over 12 months I've left the tags on and put away in a storage bin. Some people say leave the tags on because who knows what size you'll really need and then you cannot return them, but don't most stores have a 60-90 day return policy? My thoughts are that if I wait to wash them, it'll be too late to return the clothes anyways. Any thoughts on that?

lulling · November 2011

I voted "no" only because I plan on washing the things that I know will get used. The onesies, gowns, swaddles, sheets, sleep sacks, socks, jammies, etc. The cutesy little outfits that people buy...I will wait until he is ready to wear them. That way if they don't get worn I can still take them back and at least get store credit. I have noticed that people buy a lot of cutesy little outfits for babies 0-6 months. I think most of that time my baby will be in jammies and such and a lot of that stuff won't get worn. I couldn't imagine trying to change a diaper while my four month old is wearing jeans and a sweater.

Irisheyes1247 · November 2011

I washed everything with DD but "everything" consisted of onesies and sheets, blankets and maybe 5-6 pairs of jammies and sleepers. We were team green so I really did not have a lot of clothes before DD was born. Now I will wash the blankets ad sheets again and pull out my NB size onesies and outfits and get those set once we get closer.

Fergie+1 · November 2011

When I first saw the title of the post I thought "EW- who wouldn't wash something before using it?" but after reading some responses I realized that a lot of clothes given to you probably still have the tags/packaging. I was given most of the clothes I have as hand-me-downs, so of course I washed them- some twice because they'd been in storage with mothballs. :[ As far as things with the tags still on them... if you really think you'll return them, then keep those aside. I'm horrible about returns/exchanges, so I'd just wash it and whatever I don't use would get passed along to someone else later on.

krispy83 · November 2011

kmberman:
I will wash everything before he uses them, but I will wait until he is here to wash most of his bigger clothes. I will make sure that I have all the newborn gowns and onsies and blankets washed that I will need for atleast a week. That way I dont have to worry about doing too much laundry the first week home.

This, exactly. I grew up in the garment industry and would never in a million years wear something myself that hadn't been washed, never mind putting it on a baby! But I will wait on a lot of clothes until we see how big he is and how quickly he grows. I'd hate to wash something only to discover that he was too big and couldn't wear it.

sunnyday016 · November 2011

Yes I'll wash it all, but not all before he arrives. I'll only wash what we'll use at a time.

MotherMonster · November 2011

I'm a Jew so I'm waiting to do a fully load of laundry, but I have already washed the car seat cloth materials...I took it apart to get the chemical smell off of it for her...even the little hooded part! I'm awful...I know!

Mrs_MBed · November 2011

Yes - everything the boys have right now are hand-me-downs from friends which are currently in our attic/storage space.

I did it was a majority of DD1's stuff, not so much with DD2 since she used the hand-me-downs from DD1, so it was already cleaned.

nah82 · November 2011

jkjohnsonwedding:
I'm going to wash all 0-6 month clothing over my December/January winter break (I'm a teacher). I'm debating washing the 6-12 month clothes too, but anything I have over 12 months I've left the tags on and put away in a storage bin. Some people say leave the tags on because who knows what size you'll really need and then you cannot return them, but don't most stores have a 60-90 day return policy? My thoughts are that if I wait to wash them, it'll be too late to return the clothes anyways. Any thoughts on that?

I figured the same thing with the return policies, you aren't going to know that outfit isn't going to fit in 6 months and by then it will be too late to return anyway. There were very few things that he wasn't able to wear at least once. I washed everything before it went into the closet or drawers. I didn't want the washed clothes hanging with the unwashed ones, maybe a little OCD...and I didn't want any MORE laundry to do when I came home from the hospital, there was enough with the spitting up and peeing on outfits and poop explosions. When I was preparing for my son's arrival it was also the time of the big bed bug outbreaks, and I didn't want any of those little buggers smuggling into my house, so I pretty much took everything straight to the washer as it came into the house.

bigv44 · November 2011

I will DEFINITELY wash some of the clothes; probably only a few 0-3mon. outfits. Also, I was told that when you buy the bedding for the crib that you should IMMEDIATELY wash them 2-3 times. This is to check for crappy bedding; so if they start to unravel you can return them for exchange or refund.

L0L0 · November 2011

I have been warned so many times about babies outgrowing clothes before they wear them even once. I'm going to keep the tags on everything so if that happens I can give the clothes as gifts to friends with new babies, or try to exchange for store credit or something. I will definitely wash the clothes and bedding right before their first use.

lifeisgood27 · November 2011

I pressed No, but I will wash the bedding, before our little one comes. And I will wash her clothes once I know what will fit her. I don't want to be stuck with newborn clothes that she's never worn, or will never wear. I don't want to take all the tags off her clothes if she can't wear them. If she's too big for them, I'll take them back and get similar, if not the same, outfits. I guess my answer should have been yes, but I don't want to do it all before she comes, just in case I have to return items.

salt78 · November 2011

Hell I wash everything I buy before I use it (sheets, towels, clothes, etc). Of course I will do the same for her.

LilyPotter218 · November 2011

Ill wash enough to get us through a few days, but won't take all the tags off things in case she never fits in it, or grows out of it before she can wear it.

That being said, the nurse at the hospital said they don't even wash everything before they put newborns in it... I don't think an unwashed outfit or two will be the end of the world.

MelBell829 · November 2011

I voted no, but really I would have voted Special Snowflake if I had the option. I am only going to wash a few outfits and the onesies, and the sheets. I don't want to wash everything because if Norah is too big for newborn, I want to be able to exchange some things for a larger size. The last thing I want is to be stuck with a bunch of clothes that I can never use.

But yes, anything that will actually be worn will be washed ahead of time.

Charlyne · November 2011

I've already washed everything we've received, even the 6-9 month stuff. To be fair, most of it was already washed and was purchased consignment by my MIL (she washed it after she bought it). I'll likely end up washing the stuff again before he wears it for the bigger clothes but they are hung up and put away for when he gets here already. I don't think I'll wash the sheets until right before he gets here only because I plan to set up the crib and make everything look cute and it's likely to gather dust out in the open room so washing it early is kinda pointless.

Clothes I get from the shower that include tags and whatnot will likely get stored away in case of needing returns. My family knows that we have a ton of clothes already though and we may not get much for the shower. We'll likely get more once he's here and people know what fits him. As it is, he needs to stay in 0-3 months at least 3 months to wear all his stuff! :P

SCSmithbride · November 2011

I've truly only washed stuff if it's been sitting or if it was donated.

Joie80 · November 2011

Thanks for all the responses!

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