As an expecting mother, you have probably bought about half the baby clothes available at the store. And who can blame you? Who can even resist the adorable onesies and little baby outfits? However, you should be well aware of the fact that your newborn baby’s virgin and extremely delicate skin will be having contact with any kind of clothes for the first time.
Soon-to-be parents have a lot of questions to ask and, one of the most common ones is always wanting to know whether it is important to wash their baby’s clothes, before the delivery? Well, dermatologists, experts, homemakers and doctors strongly suggest that is quite vital for you to pre-wash the clothes you are planning on putting on your baby.
But how do you do that? Of course, considering the fact that these clothes are for a newborn, there are some specific dos and don’ts. For this article, I will try to help you with some ideas and guidelines, on how you can prepare clothes for your baby and have them ready before your little angel is born.
Is it Important to Pre-Wash my Baby’s Clothes?
The answer: is yes. Before you learn about how you can pre-wash them, you need to understand why need to pre-wash them.
The most obvious reason is that every product that you buy has gone through a series of exchanges between, locations and packaging. This is also true for the clothes you buy for your baby as well. The fabric may have encountered different chemicals to keep looking fresh, bugs and rodents while the clothes were stored in a warehouse and countless hands. They may have collected dust or possibly moulds, depending on how long they have been in storage.
The bottom line is you never know what the clothes have passed or where they have been before you purchased them and, because you need to protect your little one’s brand-new skin, this should be enough of a reason to pre-wash them.
You may be wondering how long before the delivery should you start pre-washing the clothes. There really isn’t one particular point in time for you to start pre-washing. It mostly depends on how many baby clothes you have.
One rule of thumb is that you should start soon enough so that all of the baby clothes will be pre-washed and ready by the time your baby arrives.
Now you need to know if pre-washing just the clothes for your babies is enough, or do you have to prepare other items in the same way. The short answer to this is anything that might be in contact with your precious one’s virgin skin, you pre-wash it.
To help you understand easily, here is a list of possible items which you should pre-wash before your baby’s arrival.
- Onesies
- Socks
- Burp cloths
- Bibs
- Hats
- Dresses
- Night clothes
- Baby outfits
- Blankets
- Swaddle blankets
- Stuffed animals
How to Pre-Wash Clothes for your Baby
Here is a simple and easy-to-follow guideline for a nervous and hesitant soon-to-be parent
- Start by assortment. Sort out all of the items that will go in the wash by color. Next, secure all of the zippers and buttons and any other kinds of openings. Then turn all of the clothes inside out.
It is a good idea to place all the smaller items in a mesh bag, for instance, pairs of baby socks and bibs.
- Now, this is the most crucial part of this entire process. Choosing the right detergent you will wash your baby’s clothes in. Your baby’s skin is new, untouched, soft and sensitive. It can easily get irritating if not handled with the utmost care.
I suggest that you do proper research to find the right detergent. A lot of companies and brands have been designing products specifically for newborns. Some factors that you absolutely must consider when buying a detergent are that it should not be scented, it most definitely should not have any harsh chemicals in it and, it should not be bleach-based.
Another way to be sure of the detergent you choose is to buy one which is recommended by pediatricians.
In addition, you should also avoid purchasing those detergents which claim to be “biological”. Since a newborn’s skin is highly sensitive, it can get easily get irritated if gets in contact with the “stain-removing enzymes” present in such detergents.
- Usually, there are clear instructions provided on the product care labels of the baby garments. However, it is a good idea to wash the diapers in hot water and use cold water for the rest of the items. Moreover, when selecting the cycle for the wash, it is better if you choose a gentle cycle.
Gentle cycles with cold water are especially great for washing swaddle blankets.
- If you need to wash stains off of reusable nappies made from cloths, first wash them in water at a low temperature, because that will lift the stains. Then repeat the wash, using high temperature to ensure that they are safe and ready for putting on your baby again.
Additional Tips for Taking Care of Baby Clothes
It might seem like your job ends when you have pre-washed all of your baby’s clothes, but the difficult part will begin only after your little one has arrived. The stains, the endless spills and food and dirt soiling the clothes.
That is why along with pre-washing your baby’s clothes, here are some additional tips you can use to properly take care of your baby’s clothes.
Fabric Softener on Baby Clothes
It is a good idea to keep his or her clothes feeling soft and cozy and fabric softeners are a great way to do that. Before using fabric softeners on the clothes, you need to remember to be sure of these things though:
Do the baby clothes have a coating on them that is flame-resistant? If so, then it may not be a good idea because the coating has a chance of being destroyed by the fabric conditioner.
Does the product care label on the garments have any warnings against the application of fabric softeners? If yes then, using it is a definite no-no.
It is smart to make sure that the fabric softener is hypoallergenic.
Also, ensuring that the product is of a soft kind of softener.
Washing Baby Clothes with Stains
Because spills, puking, potties and stains are inevitable with a newborn, here are tips for when you wash stained baby clothes:
- Remember to thoroughly wash your hands after you have dealt with clothes that were soiled with pee, poop or puke.
- Soaking soiled clothes in soapy, hot water before washing is a smart way to kill the germs that are present in the stains. However, make sure not to put your hands directly in the water.
- Try to immediately soak the stain and, if that’s not possible then at least ensure that the stain does not dry off. As that will set the stain further into the fabric. Try to keep the fabric dampened until you can properly soak it.
- There are chances that the stains also have bits and pieces of solids sticking to them. So before you start to wash the clothes, take care to remove all of the solids from the fabric.
Closing Thoughts
Taking care of baby clothes does not need to be that tricky and different from washing all of your other regular clothes. You just need to be careful about the type of detergent you use and ensure that any item your little angel will play with has been thoroughly washed.
More Garment Care Articles:
White Marks On Clothes After Washing
How To Get Eyelash Glue Out Of Clothes
