Laundry with a Baby

Among so many other things, laundry is something you find yourself doing differently after you have a baby. Between the many baby clothes and cloth diapers that you have to wash in separate loads with baby laundry detergent, your weekly laundry amount does increase.

If you have a laundry room that is far away from where you have your baby, such as a basement or outer building, then you may find doing laundry a little trickier. If you use a laundromat then this will create quite a different experience than before you had a baby.

You'll be doing baby laundry before you even have your baby. Getting all of their clothes, blankets and cloth diapers washed before they arrive will be the beginning to the numerous loads of laundry you will do. There are a few things you can do to help your laundry.

First things first, keep in mind that you may be doing more laundry than before you had your baby, and just as often, but you can't seem to get ahead. It may feel like there is always a load to wash. Don't despair. As long as there is a clean diaper on your baby and something warm on everyone in the house you are doing good. When your baby is first born it is common for you to take some time to adjust and find a new pattern of how you do things.

Now it may feel like you can't keep clean clothes on your baby. Between spit up, drool and the occasional leaky diaper, you may have to change their clothes quite often. It can be hard to remember all of the articles of clothing that you need to check for stains. Whether you use a baby stain spray or check before you dry something to see if the stain came out, you will want something to help you remember what to check. An option is to write down on a piece of paper a quick note of the garment that is dirty. Keep the paper near the baby's hamper or a place where you know you will put your baby's dirty clothes. Use descriptions like light green onesie w/ duck left of collar, dark denim overalls right leg etc. That way the clothes that don't have stains can just go in the wash and you don't have to sort and see what you need to spray with stain spray. This will eliminate some of the time you are in the laundry area. Then when the load is done you can look at the list again and check to make sure the stains came out before you put that particular item into the dryer.

Remember the more clothes you have on hand for your baby the less you will have to be washing their little socks instead be playing with your little bundle of joy.