Washing newborn clothes

penquin524 · May 2014

FTM here. I'm starting to sort through clothes and want to wash them before LO arrives. Can regular detergent be used or should I get a baby detergent? What did you do? Baby boy EDD June 9, 2014

diagonalley · May 2014

I used baby detergent in the event LO has sensitive skin. Plus I love the smell

It's really up to you what you want to use. You don't have to do one or the other.

MrsBHM · May 2014

I've been buying any brand of "Free & Clear" with no dyes, scents, etc. and plan to just use that for all of our laundry so that I don't have to do seperate baby loads.

katiebartton · May 2014

We use free and clear

jshrop · May 2014

We used the All free and clear. Typically hubs and I used Tide pods, but the free and clear was on sale at Walmart and we wanted to use it in case her skin was sensitive. I don't think you need to buy baby detergent, but FTM here so, ya know, no experience.

Kinipela7 · May 2014

I used one for sensitive skin. I asked the doc if it was necessary to use a baby detergent and she said absolutely not. You will know if your baby needs something different when they are here.

babyglo350 · May 2014

We used regular detergent on a double rinse cycle. We won't be switching unless babe has an issue. Gotta toughen up that skin! Lol.

SecondTimeinMSU · May 2014

I use Arm and Hammer free which is for sensitive skin and free of dyes and perfumes. I use it on everyone's wash which is easier and I find scented products irritating anyways.

JmeJoLee83 · May 2014

We are using tide free and clear

MamaTree17 · May 2014

Anything Free and Clear should be fine. The baby detergent - like a Dreft - is actually full of fragrances which can be irritating and it's pretty expensive. After DD I just switched and use Free and Clear for everything now with no fabric softeners.

kimmyberly26 · May 2014

We just use a free and clear for the first couple of months and then switch to whatever we are using.

kbellizio3 · May 2014

We picked up a bottle of Purex baby detergent. It's really cheap (3.99 for the bottle which gives you the same amount of loads as Dreft) and it has no fragrances like I noticed with Dreft. I'm a FTM so idk how it works on baby yet.

k2k2tog · May 2014

I seem to be in the minority... we just use Tide original - or whatever laundry detergent is on sale on the day we need to buy some - and don't plan to make a change unless the baby has sensitive skin.

MarciP83 · May 2014

I just use our normal detergent- some type of Arm & Hammer. I figure, that's what I wash all of the rest of the family's stuff with, and we will be holding the baby and such, so I just went for it. I used Dreft or Free & Clear with both DDs...guess I just got lazy the 3rd time around

Poor DS doesn't know what he's in for! Lol...

Mizoo · May 2014

I use Tide Free & Clear for all of the baby things, and also for our bedding and then cheaper scented stuff for mine and SO's clothing. If necessary we will switch when LO arrives to washing everything in Free & Clear.

lynnblack · May 2014

We use all free and clear for all of our laundry including our cloth diapers. Most baby detergent is full of allergens.

snowpants · May 2014

Free and Clear is a good way to go. Anything without the extra chemicals and scents is a good place to start. (And beware, even though Dreft is sold as a baby friendly detergent it actually has a lot of extra chemicals and crap in it. And it's way expensive.)

I started making my own laundry soap when I was pregnant with our first LO. It takes a little time but overall it's quite easy, cheap, and you control exactly what goes in it. And it works really well on all those poop blowouts, spit up messes, and such that babies bring along.

(And by cheap I mean I've spent under $15 on ingredients in about 3 years.)

fsumom · May 2014

We've always used free and clear detergent.

kks4471 · May 2014

Another vote for Tide Free and Clear, which I use for all of our clothes. I like using scented Tide for our linen, might stop using it if baby has any reaction to our bed sheets or towels though.

meritsamomma · May 2014

We were using the Tide pods (only way I can get DH to do a load) but when I ran through the last of them I switched to The Honest Company pods and fabric softeners. There's no fragrance and the clothes come out super soft. I figure we'll stick with them since DH has really bad allergies anyway.

deedee830 · May 2014

I've just used regular detergent and run an extra rinse cycle. I think with DS1 we used Ecos laundry detergent, but I'll wait and see how this little one reacts before I change to something else.

ChristineBaker23 · May 2014

Normal detergent should be fine. If baby has a reaction you can make a switch. Think about this though, if you feel the need to wash baby's clothes in a special detergent you should probably wash yours the same way because baby is going to be all over your clothes too. People who say you absolutely must wash baby clothes in dreft drive me up the wall. My daughter has sensitive eczema prone skin but we have always used normal tide and it's never been a problem. If you're looking for a good one for sensitive skin I'm a fan of the arm and hammer dye free unscented, it's the cheapest out there.
While we are on the subject of baby laundry I would like to share a tip for puke smell and poo stains. Puke/pee/poo smell: add 1-2 tsp of white vinegar to fabric softener compartment. Poo/food stains: I saved these up for a couple days and put them all in the bathtub with oxyclean overnight then washed them like normal (double duty! It also whitened my tub!)

FutureMrsW9 · May 2014

The general rule is just for it to be free & clear in case baby is sensitive, but no special baby detergent necessary - despite what some crazies say (i.e. my SIL lol - have fun spending money just because they slap 'baby' on the bottle). We us A.ll free & clear because DH has sensitivities to things with scents and that's what his mom used on his stuff through the years, so I just adopted it because it didn't really matter to me. So that's what we've been using on any baby stuff we've washed so far.

Though, the instructor in our baby care class did say that if the clothing says "sleep clothing" or something specific to "sleep" on it, that means there's some kind of fire retardant something-or-other on it, and it should be washed in special detergent if you want it to maintain the fire retardant stuff. That said, I haven't even looked at any of our stuff for such a thing and just washed it all together.

ncbelle · May 2014

Wash everything. We use regular detergent - something free and clear. Many baby detergents actually have more "bad stuff" in them than regular free and clears.

Jennys9 · May 2014

I ended up buying different detergents. All of mine flunked the scoring on the EWG (environmental working group) ranking website. I thought I was doing really well by only buying free & clear or sensitive kinds- apparently not. One of the main differences I noticed with rankings is that powders usually scored better at being non toxic than liquids.

I bought the Honest laundry pods from BBB with a coupon. So far all the clothes have washed up very well so I'm pleased! I'm very particular about laundry too - I was in delicate & hang most things up to dry. An added bonus is my husband who has no laundry confidence can just pop one in & not worry about if he measured properly.

Martha Stewart brand was listed as being very safe, and if anyone has tried it I'd love to hear about it!

penquin524 · May 2014

Thank you all for your input! Free and clear it is!

mercy0606 · May 2014

We purchased Honest and im in the beginning stages of washing!

dragonfly711 · May 2014

I just got Dreft. Will try one bottle then go to free and clear to see how that is. I might be getting diapers from honest company so might try their detergent.

chloephoebecali · May 2014

Tide free and clear. My kids have sensitive skin and eczema and have found that they do better with free and clear. I love tide because I feel it keeps my clothing look better for longer versus some cheaper brands.

chloephoebecali · May 2014

Btw, I'm not a fan of clothing with flame retardant (aka chemicals). Cotton pajamas typically do not have flame retardant so I try to stick with that. They need to be tight fitting, but I usually size up because of the tight fit. I prefer cotton, anyway, because it is more breathable and natural. Pjs with flame retardant cannot be dried with fabric sheets if you want to keep them flame resistant. Not sure about the washing, though.

MissBHaven1024 · May 2014

I use Dreft on baby clothes mostly because I love the smell!

MrsCase1 · May 2014

I use Purex Baby. It is free of dyes and hypoallergenic but there is a light scent which I love. Smells like heaven!

coffee89 · May 2014

I just bought All free and clear. It was majorly on sale and I needed to switch to HE detergent so I probably would have bought it for the price even without baby on the way. I'll go back to using scented stuff in a few months when we run out of the free and clear and baby is a bit older.

temursgirl · May 2014

@emilyh107‌ @CAMag‌ @KrystaJ‌ and anyone else, what kind of dryer balls did you get? I've seen some cloth ones and some rubber or plastic ones. My instinct is cloth because it would be like using tennis balls (my mom used to do that).

kittenslove · May 2014

I use Charlies Soup Laundry Powder and wool dryer balls (@Temurlang1). Both are safe for cloth diapering. I have had good results so far. I do add a little vinegar into the sheet loads, but I did that before I switched to Charlies anyway (I think it gets rid of the body smell better).

temursgirl · May 2014

@StrawberryDreams219‌ it's funny... if you met me IRL, you would probably never think crunchy, but I do apparently have such tendencies underneath

@KrystaJ‌ the tennis ball method is a bit noisy. Plus you also have to make sure that you keep some clean tennis balls separate and no one uses them for, well, tennis.

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