April 2019 Moms
lyse01
member
Product Spotlight: Cleaning/Laundry Supplies
lyse01
member
Because babies make an incredible amount of mess that challenge even the most resourceful housewife.
Laundry detergeant: Do you use separate detergeant for the baby? Anything that works or doesn’t for sensitive skin? Do you have other relevant info I’m forgetting?
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses?
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter?
Other cleaning: what did you use? How did it help?
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often?
FTMs: when you look at cleaning and laundry, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Laundry detergeant: Do you use separate detergeant for the baby? Anything that works or doesn’t for sensitive skin? Do you have other relevant info I’m forgetting?
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses?
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter?
Other cleaning: what did you use? How did it help?
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often?
FTMs: when you look at cleaning and laundry, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Re: Product Spotlight: Cleaning/Laundry Supplies
Stains: for food stains (when baby is older obviously), I just keep a bottle of shout in the nursery next to the hamper and another down in the laundry room. But the number one stain remover for me, especially for poop but also for food, is SUNSHINE. Nothing beats it.
Germ control: I make sure people use hand sanitizer around a newborn. As DD got older it became less of a concern. I wash her hands and/or use happy baby organic hand sanitizer after doctor’s office visits or church nursery. Honestly I washed toys and teethers fairly regularly when she was really little (never used a paci), but as she’s gotten older it’s not as much of a concern. Builds the immune system.
I’m just glad to be having my second baby due after cold and flu season. It’s nicer when they’re six months or so and heartier before cold and flu season starts.
For blowouts, it’s nice to have a couple of changing pad covers clean and ready. Lots of spare clothes. I mean babies spit up a lot anyway (or a lot of them do; DD was a constant spitter), so I changed her outfit constantly. The worst blowout required plopping her in the empty tub and stripping, followed by a quick bath. Some mamas buy those same plastic coated paper sheets they use at the pediatrician’s office, and put one of those under baby for each diaper change. I didn’t think that was necessary and was kinda wasteful rather.
Stain removal: I keep Shout by the washer too, and keep rewashing until the stain is gone. Exception: cloth diapers, which just get washed repeatedly til stain is gone. I figure poop on poop stain is really not anything to worry about. Sunshine will be tried if I ever sell them. I struggle with getting rid of citrus spills on DD’s clothes...I think I might be letting it sit untreated for too long, but when she has clementines, I end up with orangey necklines.
Germ control: we wash hands frequently with normal hand soap (no anti-bacterial, no hand sanitizer), but nothing special.
Other cleaning: I use Lysol wipes/generic equivalent frequently with small plastic items.
General: DD is not much of a blowout or spit up girl though we have had poop in the tub (Lysol wipes). We have a lot of food smeared into car seats/strollers (no good remedy but also not a lot of effort).
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses? OXYCLEAN. Each week I did an Oxyclean soak of blow out/spit up onesies, did quick rinse cycle, and then washed as usual and it was great for getting stains out.
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter? Not really. We wash hands with Dial but thats about it.
Other cleaning: what did you use? How did it help? Nothing special. If he's sick we make sure we spray everything down with Lysol and wash/dry machine washables in a hot cycle but that's about it.
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often? Just blow-outs really. We just used wipes at the time and Oxyclean. I would recommend keeping a bag with you when out to toss exceptionally messy clothes into in case a blowout/gross spit-up happens out and about.
Stain removal: OXYCLEAN x2. That stuff is amazing.
Germ control: Wash your hands?
Other cleaning: I use a mixture of water/vinegar for daily wipe downs. TBH, we have a housecleaner so I don't do much weekly cleaning. No clue what she uses as we are not home when she is there and by the time we get home, the strong odor is gone. I do have Pledge and the basic cleaners.
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often? Biggest baby mess has been as a toddler when she throws up. When they throw up just formula/BM, it's not that bad. When they throw up legitimate food, it gets gross pretty quick. Most frequent mess as a baby is the general clutter. You're not going to pick up every day and things just pile up. DD didn't really have blow outs. Keep wipes on hand. I probably should've wiped down her toys more often but that just builds up immunity so I won't lie and say I'm going to do it more, because I won't. Because two kids. lol
Stain removal: For bad blow outs and food stains I would put some detergent and baking soda together into a paste and let it soak overnight then wash as usual. Also, you gotta wash clothes that have milk spit up on them pretty quickly because they will mold. I accidentally left a bib and onesie in her diaper bag and it was so gross, I just tossed them.
Germ control: Any adult that is going to be around baby for a long period of time had to get whooping cough (Tdap) and flu vaccine. Wash hands regularly, asked people who were sick to stay away, etc.
General: My little one spit up a lot - we constantly were going through bibs and clothes. It's not really something you can prepare for other than just know you'll do a lot of laundry. Get a changing pad that is machine washable and treated to resist mold, mildew, and bacteria. Blow-outs always seems to happen in the car seat for us. So keeping bags in the diaper bag for dirty clothes is necessary.
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses? Depends on what the stain is and what type of fabric it's on. DD really didn't spit up at all, or blowout much, usually just rinsed out well and throw in wash asap. Use some shout if it's really bad. Honestly if it was really really bad i usually just tossed it. Buy a waterproof mattress pad for your bed and the crib. Actually buy 2. One to put on the mattress when the other needs to be washed. Cleaning a mattress is a pain. Also baking soda will pull liquid out of things like cushions, mattress etc. pour over the area and let it sit and pull the moisture out, vacuum up then clean per directions afterwards.
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter? Hand sanitizer/hand washing/stay away if sick. Lysol wipes if needed.
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often? The biggest thing we had to deal with was occasionally pooping in the tub. I always kept a big thing of bleach on hand to sanitize the tub, and would do toys and things at the same time as needed.
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses? Clorox 2 free and clear if it’s not gone the 1st try re-treat it will come out, also have to echo sunshine! Clorox 2 really does take out sour milk smell but you must pretreat and allow it to saturate the cloth and turn white before washing.
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter? We use diluted bleach solution only if someone in our home is sick (with a stomach virus etc) and bleach bathrooms etc, I also use bleach solution with gloves in a well ventilated area to do door knobs, light switches, faucet handles, when folks are sick. Otherwise we use all purpose chemical free cleaning supplies thru our home like: method, Mrs Myers and home made solutions from vinegar, vodka, non toxic regular dish soap, baking soda and essential oils depending on what I’m cleaning. We wash hands too lol.
Other cleaning: what did you use? How did it help? See above.
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often? Diaper blowouts!!! Extra clothes, wash baby in sink/tub, Clorox 2 free and clear and sunshine.
FTMs: when you look at cleaning and laundry, what’s confusing or unpredictable? Ask away!
I use All Free and Clear for everything. I’m in the minority because I don’t like the smell of dreft(I’m super sensitive to smells and they can trigger migraines). Both my kids and I have sensitive skin and we’ve never had an issue with All. Tide makes me itchy.
Stain removal: any products or tips for getting milk/spit up/food/blood/poop/other out of upholstery/clothing/carpet/mattresses?
#1 rinse immediately and soak in a tub of water/detergent if you’re not washing it right away.
Im always switching and trying new stain removal items. My go to is SHOUT gel spray. Or oxyclean
For carpet, anything labeled for pet stains also works great for baby/kid stains
Germ control: do you use anything specific to try to keep things healthy in the newborn period/winter?
Clorox wipes and Lysol spray. Hand washing and avoiding sick people or germy places (like church nursery). Several moms have recommended Purrell disinfectant spray to me. I haven’t used it yet but it is in my amazon cart. Also wearing your baby in a wrap when out and about keeps people from touching them.
Other cleaning: what did you use? How did it help?
General: what’s the biggest baby mess you’ve had to handle and what worked? What’s the most frequent mess and what worked? What do you wish you cleaned more often?
Diaper blowouts. I usually had a basic white onesie underneath their clothes. So if that got ruined I wouldn’t feel bad about throwing it out
Not baby, but when DD was 1.5 she climbed out of her crib, took off her poopy diaper and smeared it all over her room. A professional steam cleaner (you can rent) cleaned it up and we have white carpet!