Washing Your Baby's Clothes

Caring for a new baby's clothing can seem like a scary task. You know baby's skin is sensitive, so you do not want to use anything that may harm their skin. You also do not want to use anything that will hurt their clothing.

In order to wash your baby's clothes, you will need some form of hypoallergenic clothing detergent. All, Purex, Tide, and Dreft all make hypoallergenic clothing detergents that are suitable for a newborn's skin. Next you will need to decide whether or not you will be using fabric softener. Remember that fabric softener will degrade the fire retardant nature of many fabrics used for baby's blankets and sleepwear, but as long as it is hypoallergenic it is fine to use on other fabrics. One particular fabric softener I am fond of is Purex Sensitive Skin.

If your baby's clothes have stains, soak them overnight in a solution of one fourth a cup of baking soda to one gallon of lukewarm water before putting them in the washer. Don't use bleach or detergent as a presoaker as both will wear down the fabric over time. Wash your baby's clothes on a regular to delicate setting so as not to wear down the fabric through over washing. Wash dark colors in cool water, light colors in warm water, and whites in hot water. If you wash your clothes at the wrong temperature, you may have problems removing stains or with clothing colors bleeding on to other clothing.

After you're done washing your baby's clothes, transfer them to the clothing dryer on a medium setting. Drying them at too high of a setting will help wear them out faster. Drying them at too low of a setting will make them take a long time to dry out.

Once you're through with drying your baby's clothes, fold and hang them in their proper places. You're done! That wasn't too hard, was it? When it comes to washing baby clothing, you only need to know what water additives are safe to use and how to wash clothes properly. Now let's just hope your baby doesn't outgrow them tomorrow!