Tips for Washing Your Baby’s Clothes
Your baby’s clothes should be washed following certain guidelines, due to the delicacy of their skin.
The tips for washing a baby’s clothes are based on three premises: use child-safe detergent, avoid softeners and wash their clothes separately and delicately.
If as parents we follow these three guidelines, we’ll be preventing certain skin disorders that are caused by contact with chemical detergent. So, what do dermatologists recommend?
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, common laundry detergent can be used to wash a baby’s clothes. However, exceptions should be made if the child has suffered from allergies previously.
In this article, we’ll share the details and tips about washing your baby’s clothes.
Tips for washing your baby’s clothes
About the soap
As we previously mentioned, an important tip is to use baby safe detergent while washing your baby’s clothes. This tip is especially important for newborns and children who are less than 6 months old.
It’s also helpful to use organic products in which chemical compounds are found in smaller quantities.
If on the contrary, your regular detergent has a delicate formula, you can test it out on your child’s clothes. It’s recommended for parents to test out detergent on a single garment in order to see how the child’s skin reacts.
What about softener?
The same principle applies to detergent as it does to softener. If you wish to use it, it’s best to test it after the child reaches the age of 6 months. It’s also recommended to test it out on a single garment in order to see how the baby’s skin reacts.
The main issue with softener is that they’re typically applied after the last rinse. Therefore, it’s presumed that large quantities of the product are impregnated in the garments.
This of course is a drawback that doesn’t apply to regular laundry detergent.
In the case that you want to use softener, try to rinse out the clothes completely after applying it. Do this in order to wash out all the unwanted chemical elements.
How should you wash your baby’s clothes?
With regard to the way the baby’s clothes are washed, you can either choose between washing by hand or machine washing.
If you’d like to wash by hand, you have to pay special attention when it comes time to rinse the clothes. Make sure that no traces of soap remain on the garment.
Clothes with delicate fabrics such as lace and embroidery should be washed by hand. If machine washed they could suffer greater wear.
If you decide to machine wash your baby’s clothes, make sure you select the delicate wash cycle and the double soak function. Don’t wash your baby’s clothes with the clothes of the rest of the family.
“Common laundry detergent can be used to wash a baby’s clothes. Exceptions should be made however, if the child has suffered from allergies previously.”
About the frequency of washing their garments
One of the most frequent doubts that parents have, in addition to how to wash their baby’s clothes, is with which frequency should their garments be washed?
We all know that babies get dirty very quickly. In order to avoid staining their clothes or resorting to toxic and abrasive chemicals, it’s ideal to wash their clothes as soon as they’ve been soiled.
Another aspect to consider is their towels, pillows and bedding. These items should also be washed frequently.
In the case of bedding, it should be washed at least every two weeks. In the case of towels, they should be washed after at most three uses.
If you follow these tips to wash your baby’s clothes, you’ll be preventing allergies and skin disorders. There is no such thing as taking too much care of your little one’s health.
