Detergent for Baby Clothes

I would pre-wash everything using a free/clear detergent. I found the baby detergents were poor for getting out the baby stains.

However, do wait until the baby is born to take all the tags off & wash. My neighbor, ever so efficient, got everything ready ahead of time and guess what? It was a boy, not a girl! Another friend of mine learned the hard way when she gave birth to a 10 pounder that didn't fit into the small sizes. Wash a few sleepers so you aren't stressed the first 2 days home, but leave the rest with tags on!

I discovered after I bought a bottle and washed a bunch of clothes that I hate the smell of Dreft. I think it's too strong. I used the free and clear with my first son. I just washed my second sons with everyone elses clothes.

I use normal detergent and sometimes use fabric softener.

I did find that my granddaughter is allergic to Gain fabric softener but anything else she can do just fine.

I don't think it would hurt for the whole family to do free and clear stuff although I wouldn't do it unless there was a reaction that showed on her skin.

My rule of thumb is they have skin and it's just like ours, just less of it.

If I am in shorts, the baby needs to be in cooler clothes. If I am wrapped up in a blanket then it's too cool for the baby so the heat needs to come up. I do however use baby bath and baby shampoo on the kids until they are around a year old.

I asked this same question when I was about to bring my preemie home from the hospital! :)
I didn't read all of these answers, but the concensus when I asked was to use a Free and Clear detergent on ALL your clothes, yours, babies, everything. The reason for this is that babies can have very sensitive skin, and they need detergent free of chemicals and perfumes. But you hold your little one close to your chest, right? So even if you wash the babies clothes in free detergent, but her cute little face is up against your shirt washed in perfumed detergent, you are defeating the purpose. Also, dreft is nice, but it is highly perfumed. We got some but didn't use it much because it was pretty strong.
Congrats on the new baby!

I used special baby stuff with my first. After that, I just washed everything together!

Well also remember that when we were kids, it was unlikely that companies were putting so much chemical treatment on the clothes during shipping, so even though I sometimes wear stuff before washing it, I wouldn't do that for my kids, it kinda grosses me out!

I agree that you don't necessarily need baby detergent but I would use free and clear for sure! Baby skin is so sensitive and you just never know how sensitive it might be. My son has the worst skin sensitivity and no one else in our family does.

I basically just did the baby's laundry all by itself for about the first year. That way I could put it all together and not worry about it. After that I started mixing it in with the general population, but it just made me feel better to keep it separated at first, even though I use free and clear for everyone, which I know sounds kinda weird, but that's what i did! ;) You should also consider not using fabric softener and on anyone's clothes but certainly not the baby stuff. It can irritate skin too. In fact, as a baby my daughter was just rubbing against our clothes that had softener in it and broke out in a rash so I haven't used the stuff in 5 years!

my sons lived on Dreft & Free/Clear for years. My older son was about 2 when I switched him to regular detergent. My younger son had very sensitive skin, & I used the baby products until almost school-age. Even their bedding & towels had to be washed separate from ours. :)

As a rule of thumb, I wash all new clothes. My SIL ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction to unwashed new clothes. $200 copay taught all of us to wash 1st! Oh, & she does not have allergies nor sensitive skin. She ended up with hives all over her body...which lasted a long time!

We bought a bottle of babiesrus brand baby detergent and washed all his new gear and bedding for the first few months. You might want to hold off on pre-washing everything as yet, because you don't know how big baby will be born, or if your kid will put up with swaddling. You might have a lot of stuff go unused. Most stores don't allow you to return stuff without tags or that has been laundered.

Thankfully, DS doesn't have sensitive skin, and once that first bottle was done, we threw his stuff in with our own.

good luck to you and yours,

Draft is your best bet for the first year. Other than being good for the baby's skin, it's great at getting out all those bodily fluids that stain and smell. I put my nursing bra in with the baby's clothes since it came in contact with his skin, too.

Congrats in advance on the baby!

Dawn

I used baby detergent and washed LO's stuff separate with it until a year or so old. Still wash LO's stuff separate from ours, 'cause I use a different water cycle, but now I just use Tide for all of us. I do believe separate detergents are best for a period of time until you know how baby's skin will react. We used Dreft.

I don't remember washing anything, and I never bought special detergant. I never even used that free sample of Dreft.

There are some babies that have sensitive skin, so Dreft (and some others) are perfect for them. However, it's pretty rare!

If you are the type to wash all clothes you buy before you wear them, you will probably want to wash the clothes and beding. I just didn't find that to be necessary.

Yes, you should launder all new clothing, blankets, sheets, etc.

You don't necessarily have to use Dreft, but a free & clear version of detergent isn't a bad idea.

And I wouldn't buy a lot of anything until you see if your baby has any reactions to a certain detergent. Then IF a detergent works OK for baby you can use it for all household laundry OR keep separate baby loads.

I buy All Free and Clear for the entire family to use. Then I don't have to do anyone's cloths separately.

I like the smell of the baby detergents, baby soaps and shampoos so I used Dreft for the first year. For me it was part of the baby experience. Silly but it was how I felt. Before our son was born, I washed EVERYTHING - clothes, bibs, socks, bedding, swaddlers, blankets, etc. etc. It took a couple days since I had a year's worth of clothing but you know what? My husband and I had so much fun. We would sit there and fold those tiny little pieces, getting so excited about our soon to arrive baby. Those are great memories for me. For the clothing which was too big, I packed them away for later. When later arrived, it was nice to open the bin and be able to use everything right away. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here so go with how you feel. Wash if you want to and use the detergent you want to. Just remember babies can have sensitive skin so a free and clear detergent with a first washing would the safe way to start. Newborns are tough enough without fighting skin rashes/reactions due to detergents and/or unwashed items. Good luck.

So I looked through ALL of the responses and agree that everything SHOULD be washed before you put it on baby. However, I also agree to only wash a few gender neutral things B4 baby is born to make sure the sex is correct and also for size (I've also heard stories about the baby coming out the opposite of the ultrasound prediction).

I also want to say WOW! No one has even bothered to mention the ALL NATURAL alternative to all the chemical detergents! Ecos, Boulder, or Seventh Generation (the most expensive of the 3). There are many kids who end up with eczema because of the harshness of regular detergents.

Do a little research, because I guarantee you that once baby comes into the world....you will do anything and everything you can to protect her/him. And I would recommend doing the household laundry in any of those. I think you will be happy.

Good luck and all the best to you and your family!!!

Nic

I used Shaklee's laundry products and still do for all my things. Most of the products like Dreft really are not what they are advertised to be. You can check products out at ewg.org

Some clothing says to wash before you wear it even these days, and I always wash everything first and did when our kids were babies. I used the baby detergent first but after a bit just put them in with our clothes, lighter colors and not extremely soiled such as I would do it with some kind of work clothes. They baby detergent of my day was gentler and smelled nice but you don't have to use that for them to be okay. IF there was an allergy to your detergent or something that would be different. I used Tide with my baby things for the last kids and it was fine. I did do them on a shorter wash cycle, in cooler water, etc.

I wash everything new for my dd and dh because they have allergies and new clothes have dust on them.

My pediatrician recommended Dreft since it is gentle and it is good for sensitive skin.

There's no need to buy baby detergent, but since a baby's skin IS extra sensitive (it's thinner than child or adult skin) I personally think it's worth getting the Free and Clear detergent. That way if your baby does end up having an sensitivities, her clothes won't aggravate it. And if she's as totally thick skinned as we all were as kids, you haven't lost anything because the detergent works just as well for her clothes and everyone else in the family.

I used Dreft and washed my daughters clothes separate. I washed everything that touched her. I still do and she's 5. I guess I'm very anal but oh well. White clothes i washed in bleach and rinsed twice. I can't stand dingy clothes. I used Unscented Downy for the rinse cycle. Congrats on your little one!!

I have two kids, one of which developed eczema at 3months old. ALWAYS Pre-wash their clothes, sheets, blankets, etc. I still do even now for my 4yr old. All the dyes, etc and you never know where the clothes have been (boxes, dropped on floor, tried on and returned, taken home to a house with pets/smoke and returned to store, etc). So yes, definitely pre-wash everything before it touches your baby's skin. I used DREFT and still do for my 1.5yr old. I don't like to take chances with allergies, and irritants. To me, it is worth the extra money. Dreft also does well on the diaper leaks too. For the first 3-6 months, I also washed all of my clothes in DREFT as well, since I was nursing and always had a baby close to me.
Congrats and Good Luck!

Wash separately with free n clear Walmart has Purex baby it is cheap and works well.Babies skin is much more delicate that ours it dries out with reg.detergents and can cause irratation to their skin.But if you do choose to wash with your reg. detergent rinse a second time and don't use fabric softner