Baby laundry detergent?

Knottie59802221 · February 2016

so I just heard that there is special laundry detergent for babies that I should buy. Does anyone have any experience with this or feel it's really necessary? I already use a hypoallergenic detergent for my
own clothes and was planning on using the same. I'm just about to wash all the baby clothes we have gathered and decided to wait until I do more research. What do the rest of you use on baby clothes?

CCLow87 · February 2016

Probably Dreft is what you heard about. It smells like "baby", but I use free and clear detergent for all our clothes, including baby's. There's no reason to use the baby specific detergent.

skruhmin · February 2016

I've never used Dreft on my two other babies. I use Free and Clear already because I have sensitive skin. No need to buy anything special unless you want "the smell".

Parker16772 · February 2016

I used dreft for a few months with DS1 and then just start washing his clothes in regular detergent. I already use free and clear so it wasn't a big deal. I bought one bottle of dreft this time too. Once it is gone I will just put everything in together.

cmerribury · February 2016

We'll use Dreft for the first few months then transition to Free & Clear. I'm super cautious because my son has eczema and has dealt with rashes his whole life...whenever we tried to transition him away from Dreft he would break out. It finally wasn't an issue at about 2 years. However, I'd avoid it if you can, it's like a separate mortgage to cover the cost of it. (Does smell nice, though.)

CecilB93 · February 2016

Agree with PP, you probably heard about Dreft. I plan to use this on baby's clothes because DH and I already use it on our underwear because I have super sensitive skin, however I'm debating trying some sort of "free and clear/gentle" detergent to see if I can find something cheaper that I won't react to. The concern for baby clothes is typically sensitive skin issues, so the hypoallergenic detergent you already use should be perfectly fine (and quite possibly cheaper! Dreft is hella expensive)

jenniferamcooper · February 2016

We got a giant bottle of target brand liquid baby detergent at our shower and we used it forever. From there we switched to regular tide because that's what we use on our regular clothes/diapers.

We don't have any skin sensitives, so we're not picky.

katy0990 · February 2016

We are going to use draft for the first few months and then transition to our regular detergent.

FutureMrsCaesar · February 2016

I bought one bottle of Dreft this time around because it smells good, but when that's gone her stuff will get washed in tide with the rest of our laundry. I would love to use an all natural, free and clear detergent but the ones I've tried just don't get our stains out.

2-Step · February 2016

FutureMrsCaesar said:

I bought one bottle of Dreft this time around because it smells good, but when that's gone her stuff will get washed in tide with the rest of our laundry. I would love to use an all natural, free and clear detergent but the ones I've tried just don't get our stains out.

@FutureMrsCaesarI see you have boys too! I really tried to use biodegradable free and clear for a couple years. . . until my boys got a little older. Now the only thing I can use is Tide Sport! Between my husband who plays soccer 3x a week and my two super active boys that free and clear stuff just doesn't cut it for these stains or the smells. I was completely amazed at the difference in how clean things were once I bit the bullet and bought the hard core stuff. I did use free and clear on the baby stuff this time around, but I'm not sure how long that will last because I'm sure everything will get washed together soon with three kids in the house.

OP - Dreft is way overpriced and totally unnecessary unless you really want the baby smell as ppers mentioned.

FutureMrsCaesar · February 2016

@2-Step I know it's such a bummer, but I don't have time to pretreat every single stain and rewash stuff, I need it clean the first time. I do enough laundry as it is! I've been pretty lucky because my oldest has extremely sensitive skin but detergents don't seem to irritate it. I do always set the washer for an extra rinse cycle do there should be very little detergent left in the clothes.

ceds07 · February 2016

From what I've heard/read Dreft used to be gentler but like everything else, chemicals have been added and now people really just use it for the baby smell. If you're using it for that, great. If you're looking for something gentler/chemical free you're better off using a dye free/free and clear type detergent.

tJaffe · February 2016

FTM, but, we never washed out foster babies clothes in different detergents... We washed my little guys clothes in whatever detergent we had at the time! If there's an issue, we can always re-wash with sensitive skin detergent.

We are, however, switching detergents to one that works well with cloth diapers as soon as our current jug is empty. Then I'll just wash everything in that.

amaniupendo · February 2016

I bought one big bottle of target version dreft then switched to tide free and clear when it was apparent we didn't have to deal with sensitive skin. No issues luckily.

Melodyags · February 2016

I always just washed my kids clothes when babies along with ours in Tide free and clear. I washed my new little ones in it to. I also always use extra rinse to make sure no soap residue left.

estrellabrillante · February 2016

I was just going to buy the purex free and clear (purex is the only brand I've found that says septic safe on it), but they've just come out with a baby detergent so I tried that. It's like 1/4 the price of baby Ivory when on sale and smells amaaaaaaazing. I'm in Canada.

crcosmetics · February 2016

I just switched to one brand to use on all our clothes.. We use Zum, which was highly recommended on a lot of lists as far as staying with natural products

msciann · February 2016

We just washed all of baby's clothes, and used Babyganics brand. It's unscented, which I prefer since I have such sensitive skin.

schweitz · February 2016

I bought Dreft... Babies have very sensitive skin so they need their clothes and bedding washed in special detergent. I wouldn't go using Gain or these detergents with perfumes, maybe Free and Clear is a good brand too, I just prefer to be safe than sorry.

elledriver88 · February 2016

I'm in Canada as well and I've also bought purex free and clear. The price for all of the comparables was outrageous and after reading reviews I have to assume the price is so much higher because there is a picture of a baby on the bottle. We also got unscented and skin-sensitive dryer sheets so we will see when LO arrives if there is a need for anything baby specific.

ceds07 · February 2016

@schweitz Dreft actually gets an "F" from the Environmental Working Group in terms of toxicity. It's really just Zmarketing that makes you think it's natural. It has all of the same chemicals, just tailored to smell like baby instead of detergent. If you're looking for a chemical free option do your research on those sites and look got something that is truly clear of chemicals, not just packages as such.

flowerpower5838 · February 2016

ceds07 said:

@schweitz Dreft actually gets an "F" from the Environmental Working Group in terms of toxicity. It's really just Zmarketing that makes you think it's natural. It has all of the same chemicals, just tailored to smell like baby instead of detergent. If you're looking for a chemical free option do your research on those sites and look got something that is truly clear of chemicals, not just packages as such.

Yup, just took a big ass bottle of Dreft back to Target from our shower last weekend. We already switched to a free and clear and would rather put that 20 bucks towards a box of diapers in the future. Marketing overpriced, baby-centric things to new moms is big money maker 101.

CecilB93 · February 2016

ceds07 said:

@schweitz Dreft actually gets an "F" from the Environmental Working Group in terms of toxicity. It's really just Zmarketing that makes you think it's natural. It has all of the same chemicals, just tailored to smell like baby instead of detergent. If you're looking for a chemical free option do your research on those sites and look got something that is truly clear of chemicals, not just packages as such.

I feel like Dreft is a little more tailored to sensitive skin than regular detergents though. I have sensitive skin myself and have always used Dreft on my underwear and never had any issues with it irritating me. I use Gain on regular clothes, Tide makes me itch and break out like crazy!!! I do want to try Tide Free and Gentle though because we plan to cloth diaper and it ranks pretty high on detergents for that. If not we'll probably just stick to Dreft since I know it works for me.

pgradert · February 2016

I have just bought some all detergent designed for baby we have very hard water here so will be using the all detergent designed for baby for awhile. It seems to be very similar to dreft but much cheaper and you get more as well.

schweitz · February 2016

I've read elsewhere that Dreft was actually very good for babies so I guess it's what you read...

At least it's hypoallergenic and smells AMAZING! Like babies.

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