[Happy2Bhere]

HI! I am curious- how long does (did) everyone use baby detergent? When we adopted our daughter at 7 1/2 weeks old, her birthmom brought Dreft samples, that lasted quite awhile. Then, when it was time to buy more- we saw baby All, which can be used for the entire family, as well. With the family All, its not that big of an issue, but just curius how long others use baby detergent.
Thanks in advance!
Melissa

[BrandyHagz]

Melissa,

I think it depends on the child. If she has allergies or something, then you may need to do it for the first year or so...

I never used it...after all, he was laying his face/arms/legs all over my regularly laundered clothes anyway...so what was the point?

You might try to wash a tshirt or something in regular detergent and see if she can wear it without a rash or something…I don’t know how you would tell.


I did a quick search and found this site:

Caring For Your Baby

It says

All new clothes, blankets and linens should be washed before they are used for the first time. You should use mild detergent for the first year. Clothes, and especially diapers, should be double rinsed so that your baby's delicate skin will not be irritated.

So there we go!

[denise marie]

I used Dreft till my babies were 1 yr old.Then i just used husband and is laundry soap.I brought my daughter home at age 7 yrs from India and she broke out to every detergent we tried!Finally i tried ivory snow and it worked she did not break out.We did this for about 4 months and now i wash her clothes in same detergent as us.It really depends on the baby and how they take to detergents.

[Happy2Bhere]

Thanks!
I was a little embarrased even to put the post.
I agree- our daughter lays on us, with our clothes in our detergent, on our bed with our detergent, etc.
I did find some family baby all- so now it isn't as big of an issue, but I guess I don't see the importance of it- unless its for the longevity of the baby clothes or something.
Thanks- what an awesome forum! :-)
Melissa

[pingaa3]

I never believed that Dreft was special or even necessary.. . until the morning after I brought my new baby home and took her out of her jammies to change her and noticed tons of little flea-like spots all over her body. Imagine my first time mom horror, bring the baby home and boom she has problems the first day.

To make matters worse the blankety-blank nurse immediately asked of if we had pets and declared that our child was covered in flea bites from our outside dogs.

Fortunately the doctor took one look and said textile rash, from detergent. Recommended Dreft and all was well. Sometimes she breaks into a rash if someone holds her who has washed clothes in a particular detergent. We use Tide-Free and she seems ok, but my sisters All-Free-Clear rashed her up lickety split.

I guess it just depends on the baby. We just decided to finish out our Tide-Free bottle and now use Dreft on all our clothes. My parents are still using the bottle I left at their house because they love having their clothes smell like their granddaughter.

We're going to wait until 1 year and try tide-free on her. But I'm too scared from the flea bite rash to try sooner.

I

[dkbw]

I washed our soon to be babies clothes in Dreft and I can't stand the smell.... to me it doesn't smell clean. I've stood in the grocery isle smelling baby detergents and they all have that smell.

I've been debating on what to do. We are traveling in 2 weeks baby is due on Aug 20th and I wanted to again re-wash all his clothes but I'm not sure if I should just use Tide or buy Dreft again.

What about fabric softners? I use bounce if I wash them in Dreft and use the bounce maybe they will smell better. But is that defeating the purpose of Dreft. Oh, what wonderful new mommy dilemmas I have

Any other suggestions. Thanks

[ljs]

Don't use dryer sheets on sleepers! Sleepers are flame resistant and the dryer sheets can interact with the flame resistants and take it away. Not sure how it works but I heard it after I washed all my baby's clothes (and used dryer sheets). I pulled out the box of sheets and sure enough, it says it on the box. Now I have to go buy new sleepers. Also be careful of sleepers bought at second hand stores, you don't know that dryer sheets weren't used on them. It may be a minimal risk but not one I am willing to take. I figure they make them flame resistant for a reason.

[LisaCA]

hi!

we did not use baby detergent on dd's clothing. we have one of those fancy High Efficiency washers and so we do a second rinse on her clothes. we are also careful to make sure we don't add too much detergent (often a problem for folks). We use tide HE and woolite. That said, it depends on the baby.

my mom used baby detergent on us and double rinses because we were all highly allergic. To this day we need to be careful about which soaps we use to wash with, shampoos and detergents. If you're concerned, you can just to a test patch. Dilute some detergent in water and then dab a small area on her skin. If she reacts then you know not to use that detergent. This is what I do with new products and I do this with my daughter. so far, so good:-). while dd has allergies and eczema in her family, we've only encountered a milk allergy.

take care,

LisaCA