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Ah, the sweet smell of a clean baby! You may be tempted to
enhance that clean, fresh smell by running baby diapers and
onesies through a final rinse with fabric softener - but don't!
The perfumes in fabric softener can irritate a baby's sensitive
skin, or spark allergies that cause uncomfortable rashes. With
all those adorable babies and teddy bears on fabric softener
packages, who would have guessed?
Here's another handful of tips for taking care of baby's clothes
during the first year, focusing on laundering and stain removal.
Choose a detergent that's free of dyes and perfumes. There are a
number of brands of laundry detergent that are specially
formulated for baby's clothing, including Ivory Snow and Dreft.
It's really not necessary to resort to those, though. You can
wash baby's clothes with yours, as long as you use an allergen
free, no-dye, no-fragrance detergent.
Baby's sleepwear especially should be washed in a mild detergent
made without animal fats or other water conditioners. Flame
retardant sleepwear is specially treated to keep children's
pajamas from flaring into flame if ignited by a spark. The flame
retardant chemicals can be affected by fabric softeners and
conditioners. Don't use them on baby's sleeping gowns and
stretchies.
Getting Rid of Baby Stains Formula, baby food and - well - baby
poop, are among the worst challenge for laundry detergents,
thanks to their high protein content. To keep spills from
becoming tough stains:
-- Scrape off as much as you can, being careful not to scrub it
in instead. -- Get the stained item into cold water as soon as
possible. If you can get it into the washer right away, let it
agitate in cold water through a cycle - without soap. If you
catch the stain before it dries, it may be enough to keep the
stain from setting at all.
-- Do NOT use hot water on formula stains, baby food stains or
baby diaper stains. The heat can set the stain permanently by
'cooking' it into the fibers of the fabric.
-- If the cold water cycle doesn't do the trick, add another tub
full of cold water and detergent, and let it soak for half an
hour. Run it through, wash in warm water, rinse and repeat. If
it's really stubborn and still there after a soak and two
washes, try it one more time - soak in detergent and cold water
for at least half an hour, then wash in warm water, rinse and
repeat.
-- If you use bleach to help get the stain out, make sure that
you rinse well to get out all traces of bleach that can irritate
baby's sensitive skin.
Cloth diapers call for special treatment. If you don't have a
diaper service, make sure that you have what you need to deal
with the laundering. The basics are a covered diaper pail,
Borax, baking soda, bleach and vinegar.
First: Fill the diaper pail with warm water and half a cup of
Borax. Rinse diapers out before placing them in the Borax
solution to soak.
Second: When you're ready to wash, use laundry detergent, hot
water and bleach.
Third: Wash a second time, using just water to remove bleach and
detergent residue. Add vinegar to the final rinse to help loosen
detergent residue and whiten diapers. You can also add baking
soda baking soda to the final rinse to help soften fabric.
About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is a baby and parenting expert specializing new
mothers and single parent issues. Visit http://www.babyhelp411.com/
for more information on how to raising healthy, happy children.
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