Conference moira::parenting

Try rubbing some detergent into them and then soaking for a day in COLD water
before washing.  Most animal stains come out better when soaked in cold water.

If you were over here I would recommend something called "Baby Blanche" :-)

ccb

    If you are in the US, try using Stain Stick.  I keep it in the upstairs
    bathroom where it is convenient.
    
    To keep down the amount of labor, I prioritize clothing.  "Nice"
    dresses and outfits first, my favorite play clothes second, the
    funny-looking play clothes third, and finally spit-up cloths and bibs.
    
    After awhile the stains do tend to take over.  But I don't feel too bad
    if I bought the clothes on the cheap at a second hand store.
    
    L
    

    
    I never really used a color bleach before (clorox II or Vivid)
    but found a pre-soak with them helps to get the worst...
    those yellow veggies are rough...
    
    

    I have had the same problem, but I find the worst is the diaper
    wraps. When Charlotte has a "blow-out" the diaper wrap is the worst
    to suffer. The diapers them selves get mildly stained, but since they
    get washed so often, the stain does fade. Even the sleepers seem to
    do okay, but our Nikki diaper wraps are getting more and more yellow.
    I suppose that at this stage the older stains would not be removable?
    I will try colour bleach on them perhaps.
    
    Laundry:
     - sleepers, burp cloths, baby wash cloths (used to clean baby's bottom
       at each change) bath towels, and those changing pads that have not
       been soiled:
     
       medium wash, cold rinse, regular cycle, phosphate free powder
       detergent, regular dry with 1/4 sheet "bounce".
    
     - diapers (we use the plain rectangular kind), diaper covers, soiled
       sleepers, etc (everything that went into the diaper pail as a result
       of having been pooped upon)
    
       hot rinse, hot wash, hot rinse, liquid detergent ("Wisk"), regular
       dry for 10-15 minutes, then hung on our wonderful wooden drying
       rack (so useful!)
    
    haven't had anything really fancy on her, but sometimes I even do her
    regular laundry with our light laundry, so I would probably treat the 
    special stuff like I would my clothes.
    
    So far no problems on her skin at all! On several people's advice I
    stayed away from the diaper-wipes and just used a bowl of warm water
    and a wash cloth, followed by vaseline, and she does wonderfully.
    (so far....)
    
    Monica

    Try Biz or Axion.  My SIL called her formula company when she got tired
    of looking at the formula stains on Zac's clothes.  They suggested Biz
    or Axion, and Biz worked wonders for her.  I have used it on clothes
    that I never thought would be clean again and have also had good luck. 
    It does not work on everything, but the clothes I thought would be
    "dirty" forever look like new!
    
    Mary
    

    My kids are always playing out on the playground and getting ground in
    dirt that washing just won't get clean.
    
    My mother suggested something called "Fels Napta".  It comes in a bar
    like your ordinary bath soap.  I take the clothes with stains on them
    and rinse the spot in warm water.  Take the bar of soap, wet, and rub
    over the stain, rinse, throw into laundry.
    
    All of my kids clothes are wonderfully clean now.  It even got rid of
    those kool-aid and popcycle stains.  I think you can find this soap in
    any grocery store with the laundry detergents.
    
    Gail
    

    Another type of question around washing clothes.  Should a special
    detergent be used to wash baby clothes?  I am due in nine weeks and
    have been buying unisex clothes at second hand stores and yard sales.
    I've been washing them before I put them away with whatever I have in 
    the house which is usually surf.  Does laundry detergent make a 
    difference or should I wait and see once the baby is born. 
    
    Lisa Cozzens
    

    
    	Generally, you want to use a very mild detergent like Dreft or one
    of those environmentally safe detergents that do not have whiteners or
    perfumes or etc....
    
    	I've heard of quite a few babies who have had reactions to clothing
    that has been washed in one of the more harsher detergents (of which I
    would classify Surf). If your baby does show signs of a rash or
    reaction, one of the first questions you will be asked is "what kind of
    detergent are you using?" and if it is not a mild one, you'll be asked
    to change it.
    
    	We used Dreft for the first 7 months and then changed to our family
    detergent (which is pretty safe for both us and the environment).
    
    			Wendy
                 

    I have many friends who insisted that the baby clothes be washed in a
    "baby" detergent and only washed with other baby clothes....
    personally, the only things I washed separate were the diapers and
    plastic pants.... everything else was put in with our laundry and
    washed with regular detergent.  Part of the reason for this was, I had
    to lug everything to the laundry room, as I did not have a washer and
    dryer..... but even if I did, I probably would have washed the kids
    clothes the same way.

    M-L

    (BTW- I also did not sterilize anything, from day one..... there are
    enough germs floating around in the air that to me sterilizing was a
    waste of time.... neither of my kids had any adverse reactions to this)

    I have always done my laundry with name brand and my children's clothes
    have always been included in our wash.  Your mileage will vary - my
    kids never got diaper rash either so I know they don't have sensitive
    skin.  (FWIW-I always used disposables and generic baby wipes - guess
    we were one of the lucky ones!)
    
    -sandy
    

    We use an unscented detergent anyway, but we always just washed
    all the kids' clothes with everybody else's clothes.  Kat and
    Steven both have sensitive skin, and we had to make sure we
    didn't use anything like fabric softener in the rinse, but the
    name brand detergent (unscented Tide) has never been a problem.  
    
    --bonnie

    I have always used the same detergent on my kids' laundry.  Never
    had any problems.  I do wash their clothes seperately.  But both 
    my kids don't have sensitive skins.
    
    Wendy

    Regarding the note on types of detergents to use...
    
    I have seen on baby garment labels and elsewhere that whatever you
    choose, make sure it's a detergent (like Dreft, Tide, or whatever). 
    Ivory is a *soap* and takes away from the flame retardancy.  
    
    Mary
    

    
    You can usually tell if your children will have sensitive skin by your
    and your spouse's skin.  I have ezcema (sp?) and very sensitive skin,
    so I used Dreft or Ivory Snow on my babies clothes.  It turns out they
    also have very sensitive skin, one even has allergic reactions to the
    metal snaps on her pajamas.  I thought it was ring worm when I first
    noticed it! :}
    
    Now I wash their clothes in Cheer Free(?) or Unscented Tide and use
    Bounce Free in the dryer.

    
    Ivory also makes a detergent to make it even more confusing...
    
    Ivory didn't do well on any stains in my house..
    

re: Flame retardant clothes... (.14?)

	I've always wondered about this.  Does flame retarding mean that if
my kid's in a house fire he won't burn, or just that the garment will
survive even if the baby doesn't?

    If the parents don't smoke, and the baby doesn't cook or play with
matches, s/he should be all set, right? Or am I missing something?

  I think it's a crock that garment manufacturers lead us to believe that
wearing a specially-treated garment is going to somehow help a kid in a
fire.  And if the treatment merely means that if a spark or cinder hits the
garment it won't burst into flames, what's the kid doing near sparks and
cinders anyway?!?

  Perhaps a better answer is to put our kids in cotton clothes that don't
melt on contact with anything hotter than human skin and to keep them from
playing with gasoline and matches.  It's worked ok for me so far.

  I don't mean to "flame" (no pun intended), but just what is the point of
flame retarding clothes?

  As for detergents, my little guy broke out in a rash using unscented
Tide, although he did ok with Arm and Hammer through the winter.  He seems
prone to prickly heat or some other kind of unspecified rash below his
neck so I switched to Dreft just in case and he seems to be better now.

 ~Caryn

    Hear! Hear!
    
    We figured out pretty quickly that if Michael isn't exposed to fire,
    then he isn't likely to burn.
    
    And once we figured that out, we put him in cotton clothes for
    nighttime and daytime.
    
    It's just one more thing the gov't is trying to pull over on us. 
    Children who live in homes where they are near fire, or are
    unsupervised, need fire-retardant clothing, so therefore all of us must
    use it whether we want to or not.
    
    Steve

I agree with all this flame retardant stuff.  But it only holds so long as
you stick with natural fabrics which I have noticed get harder and harder to
find in the US.  The problem with synthetics is that when they do get near
flame they not only burn or melt very easily, they also stick to the skin 
(much like napalm) and cause even more serious burns than just a flame would.
And try as we will to keep kids away from things which are dangerous, accidents
do happen.

Flame retardants for such materials are very useful in certain situations.  
Draperies, theater curtains, rugs, etc., all the large area textiles are 
treated with flame retardants to make fires in a building spread slower.  
Why anybody would want to dress a baby in such stuff, I can't imagine except
for things like outdoor clothing which often has synthetic materials for
warmth without bulk.

Baby clothes here are mostly cotton or wool.  I've never seen anything marked
"flame retardent" :-)

In fact I couldn't find a T-shirt that had any synthetic fiber at all in it
when I wanted to use fabric paints on it which stick better when there is a 
bit of synthetic.

ccb

    I also was wondering about the flame retardant stuff.  In fact, in my
    birthing class, they _told_ us to use Dreft, not Ivory Snow.  So, I
    bought Dreft, and washed all the babies clothes.  It did fine in the
    beginning, when I was nursing.  When I switched to formula, I ran out
    of my box of Dreft around the same time.  My Mother-in-law had left
    me a box of Ivory Snow, so I used that till I could get to the store
    and buy the Dreft.  I sprayed the stains with Spray and Wash, then
    washed in warm, with Ivory Snow.  All stains came out.  When I switched
    back to Dreft, with the same procedure, the stains did not come out.
    Back to the Ivory Snow.  I don't have any problems with yellow veggie
    stains, either.
    
    My sitter used to wash his sheets with her regular detergent, and we
    noticed he had a rash on his cheeks that got worse thru the week, and
    better over the weekend, so now she washes all his sheets in Ivory
    Snow.  My mom uses regular detergent on his stuff at her house, no
    problem.
    
    I use cloth diapers as wipe/burp cloths, they get washed in Ivory Snow,
    with a little Clorox, rinsed twice.  Really white!
    
    Angie

    
    Re: a couple of replies back
    
    Just because you don't smoke or allow your children to play with
    matches doesn't mean you can't have a fire in your house!
    
    I think you'll find that a big percentage of house fires are caused by
    electrical problems.  When I was in high school, we lost a section of
    our house to a fire caused by an appliance shorting out.  Luckily we
    were in the basement at the time, smelled smoke, and were able to call
    the fire department before the whole house burned.
    
    Everyone runs the chance of their house burning, regardless of whether
    they are smokers.  Thus everyone should take precautions, i.e. fire escape
    plans, etc.
               

    Re: Flame Retardency and washing...
    
    Someone mentioned that you shouldn't use a 'soap' (like Ivory Snow Soap
    Powder) with flame retardant clothing. I had also heard that you
    shouldn't use fabric softeners with flame retardant clothes. Do both
    negate the flame retardancy after the clothes are washed?

    I have several times been the one responsible for washing my husband's
    fire gear, following a major fire.  He has told me to wash it in soap,
    I use Arm and Hammer brand.  NOT to use fabric softener, bleach or
    ammonia, as these do something to the fabric (material is called Nomex)
    which will make it no longer fire resistant. I'm being vague here, I do
    apologize but I can't remember the full details and will ask hubby
    tonight.
    
    As for washing and getting stains out, and boy when the baby has a
    colostomy you get stains bigtime!  I have always used Arm and Hammer
    brand with Clorox II powder.  My mother inlaw insists on fabric
    softener, sometimes I do, most times I don't.  I usually just add a
    dryer sheet. 
    
    If it looks like a potential stain, such as a "poopie" diaper, I fill
    up the washer to the low water level, and add a full load equivalent of
    soap and powder bleach, and let it soak for 24 hours.  I find even now
    that if I can get a spot soaking while it is still fresh, it comes out
    usually completely.  I suppose soaking in a basin overnight would do
    the same thing.  I find stain sticks only so so.
    
    Lyn

Arm and Hammer is detergent, not soap.  The only soap powder that I know of
is Ivory.  BTW, washing machine manufacturers often recommend not using soap,
since the soap scum can gum up the machine.

    My wife said there was a very noticable increase in softness when she
    switched from Dreft to Ivory Snow.
    
    Steve

    I believe everything I've read about how important it is to wash
    the baby's clothes.  I figure anything that is in direct contact with
    sensitive baby skin should be laundered first.
    
    But how important is it to wash the comforter and bumper pads before the
    baby uses them?  I don't much like the "new" smell (reminds me of
    organic chem lab :-) so I'll probably wash them anyway.  But do I need
    to use Dreft or Ivory Snow or can I use our regular stuff?

    When AJ was born, we were living with my inlaws in their home.  My
    mother inlaw went out and bought Ivory flakes especially for this
    purpose.  Personally, I never cared one way or another if I used it or
    not.  She was just insistant, period.  I just sort of felt it wasn't
    going to be effective enough on the real bad stains, like when his
    colostomy bag exploded over everything, so whenever I did the laundry I
    used my favorite Arm and Hammer brand.
    
    Someone mentioned the Fels Naptha soap bar, boy did that bring back
    memories.  My aunt used the Fels Naptha soap flakes religiously when my
    cousin was born 30something years ago.  I'm not sure it is still sold,
    and it would be a real pain to try and grate a bar up for use in
    laundry.  My guess is that if anyone has it, it's probably going to be
    a Stop and Shop they seem to carry virtually anything.  I do, however
    buy a bar about two times a year, cut it in half, and keep half on the
    kitchen sink, and one on the sink downstairs near the washer.  It's
    great for hand washing-especially things with stains, and getting
    filthy hands from outside clean.  FWIW, this is the old "yellow soap"
    we all were told about in girl scout camp.  The one to use if your
    though you had walked through poison ivy.  Boy does that bring back
    memories!
    
    Lyn

    Deb,
    
    I used dreft for the first year, on *all* of Gina's stuff.  My family
    has a history of several skin ailments, so the pediatrician told me to
    continue with dreft for the full year.
    
    I did the bumper pads too because Gina seemed to scrunch herself
    right into the side of the crib and her face was against the pad a lot.
    After reading this file, I think that is quite common!
    
    judy

    The fire-retardancy chemical prevents the fabric from flaring up
    when it's touched by fire -- a lighted cigarette, a spark from the
    fireplace, or I suppose the flames from a burning house.  It's
    primarily needed for synthetic fabrics that tend to melt or flare
    up at very low temperatures.  It's not much use against an
    electrical fire, but if you use a fireplace or a gas stove it
    might be worth thinking about.  
    
    Natural fibers generally have a much higher melting point and
    don't flare up the way synthetics do -- though I don't think
    that's universally true. 
    
    In the U.S., a treated garment will have directions on it with
    regard to detergents, fabric softeners, etc.  
    
    The sensitivity of "baby's sensitive skin" varies widely from baby
    to baby, too.  I think we could have bathed David's bottom ammonia
    water and not bothered him, while spelling "ammonia" in front of
    Steven would cause him to break out :)  You have to find what
    works for your family and your baby.  
    
    --bonnie

    When David gets really nasty stains on his clothes, I pour a little
    bleach into a small cup, and use a cotton swap to dab it on the stain.
    Yup, full strength.  I figure, with a really bad stain, the shirt is
    ruined anyway, so I'm willing to sacrifice it with the bleach.  Once
    the stain fades (usually a couple of seconds), I rinse it right away
    and wash as usual.  That way I'm not using a whole cup full of bleach,
    and I'm not prematurely fading something that isn't stained.  

    My daycare provider has suddenly started to complain that 
    Charlotte's diapers are always soaked.
    At first I credited this due to the fact that Charlotte seems to 
    be drinking more (especially during her bad cold) but after discussing
    this with my husband, he has an alternate theory:
    
    We are using the regular plain rectangular diapers (slightly padded
    with 2 seams running down the length) and Nikky diaper covers. We 
    wash her bottom with a little water and then put a generous amount
    of vaseline on her bottom before wrapping her up again.
    
    Could it be that we are slowing waterproofing our diapers by
    having them absorb the vaseline? We normally wash them by hot water
    using liquid Wisk as a detergent.
    
    Comment, suggestions?
    
    Monica 

    re. 30
    
    I used cloth diapers and diaper covers successfully with my daughter
    until she was 3 months old.  After that I just couldn't keep her or her
    clothes or her bed dry.  I talked to the diaper service and they had me
    try their extra-thick diapers but they didn't solve the problem either.
    I ended up switching to disposables.

    re: 31
    
    We had the exact same situation with cloth diapers.  We switched to
    disposables when she was 3.5 months old.  No matter what we tried, the
    cloth just couldn't contain all the mess and she'd end up blowing out
    the diaper wrap 8^P.  I was ALWAYS washing clothes.
    
    Susan 

    well, I was hoping that folks had other suggestions - 
    she does "blowout" on occasion, but mostly she just seems to
    wet them faster......
    
    Monica

    Monica,
    
    My only solution was to change the diapers more often and go to rubber
    pants, instead of tdiaper wraps.
    
    have your care provider look at the bright side, children in cloth
    diapers don't like being wet (because when they are, they are) and in
    our experience potty train faster.
    
    Meg

The plastic pants are the only thing that work for us.  The baby wraps
just don't keep it in or fit right or something (and we have tried several
styles and sizes).

    Carol

    Well, it looks like we're in the minority, but our now 14 month old boy
    has been in cloth diapers with Diaperaps since day 1.  Soaking through
    is a rare occasion, and "blowing out" the diaper wrap is also rare. 
    (The latter wasn't so rare, when he was a newborn.)  We do end up
    having to wash the diaper wraps (the edges get dirty, since the diaper
    doesn't go all the way to the edge), but that just takes a few minutes
    each day (we just hand-wash them).
    
    After all of the "you won't last with cloth diapers" stories, we were
    pleasantly surprised with how well they have worked for us.
    
    Leslie

    We had our first son in diaper wraps until 1 year, and never really
    had any problems. Granted you have to change them more, because they
    don't hold as much as disposables, but I expected that anyways.
    
    -Sheila
    

    Looks like it will be more of a case of changing her more
    frequently - thanks all for giving opinions and experiences
    (you too, Danielle). I think we just have been getting to the 
    "increased output" stage. I really really like the diapers I
    am using (the disposibles seem less confortable on her, although
    some of her tighter clothes fit better!!) .
    
    Monica

    How about using two diapers at once? We've been doing that for our son
    for so long I can't remember when we didn't. He's still in cloth and
    will be two in March.

    We've used cloth and the wraps for 3.5 years with our son and 1.5 with
    our daughter--but the day-care insists on disposables and we've used
    them on trips, so I have some experience with disposables.
    
    In my experience, the disposables don't "blow out" (what a phrase!)
    anywhere near as often as the cloth ones--not that blow-outs are very
    common even with cloth (once a week?).  This may be because we pin
    the cloth diaper as well as use the wraps.
    
    		-John Bishop

    We used cloth and wraps for John until just recently.  Now we use
    disposables as cleaning diapers is too much a problem and the diaper
    service charges alot for only 30 diapers a week.  When he started
    increasing his output (especially at night) we used a diaper doubler. 
    These can be either cloth (found in many catalogs) or disposable (found
    in drug stores).  We also had one set of diaper wraps larger and folded
    a cloth diaper into thirds, then put this on the regular diaper to
    absorb more.  It was bulky but worked.
    
    I find it also depends on how your daycare views cloth.  The lady who
    runs our is pro cloth so she accommodates by changing more often etc. 
    However when she is not there and her daughter takes over, she is not
    as accommodating and we find more wet clothes than usual and poops
    wrapped up in the diaper (not rinsed) so we use more disposables with
    her.
    
    Michelle