How to wash baby clothes for newborns: how to properly and with what means

A newborn child, in addition to immeasurable joy, brings great responsibility. One of the daily worries of a young family is washing. Hygiene is very important in the first days of a baby’s life. Therefore, it is important to know what products can be used to clean baby’s clothes from stains and what modes to wash them on. The wrong choice of product leads to the risk of allergies in your child, which develop into health problems. To avoid this, you need to know exactly how to wash baby clothes for newborns in a washing machine.

Choice of product

Every parent who washes children's clothes is confident that the composition they have chosen is correct. However, the product used does not always meet all safety requirements for the baby. How can you wash your child’s clothes effectively without endangering them? To answer this question, it is important to remember the following:

It is highly not recommended to use regular powder. Its composition is replete with many chemicals harmful to newborns. At the same time, today there are some products that have a natural composition. A large number of studies and laboratory tests confirm the safety of such products.The only drawback that often leads to refusal to purchase such products is their cost;
When choosing a product, you must give preference only to those products that do not contain surfactants, chlorine, or phosphates.
Presence of an age mark on the packaging. Only if it is available can you safely use the product when cleaning your child’s clothes.

Laundry soap

Many parents are looking for information about washing children's clothes with laundry soap. This is explained by the prohibition on washing the child himself with the designated product. However, despite the unpleasant smell, housewives who use laundry soap can say with confidence that it is ideal for washing baby clothes. Its main advantages are:

low content of chemicals that cause irritation and allergies, absorbed into the fabric;
beneficial effect on the material from which the product is made. Unlike some powders and gel-like substances, laundry soap softens clothes;
Possibility of frequent use without compromising clothing.

As already noted, soap must meet strictly defined standards. Firstly, a good product has a high content of alkalis (at least 0.15%), which have an antibacterial effect during washing. Secondly, fatty acids. Their level is usually squeezed out on the soap itself and should not be less than 72%. Thirdly, the pH value is 11-12.

Laundry soap does an excellent job even of old stains. By the way, the unpleasant odor is very easy to deal with. After washing, the item must be rinsed thoroughly. It is very important to purchase soap without unnecessary additives.Sometimes manufacturers abuse bleaching agents, fragrances, and caustic dyes. You cannot wash your baby's clothes with this product.

In order not to waste time turning a bar of soap into shavings, you can purchase ready-made soap by simply adding it to the powder compartment. The soap dissolves easily and foams well.

Baby soap

Baby soap is used in the same way as laundry soap, allowing you to achieve even better results. A product washed with this product becomes soft and smells pleasant. In addition, the soap remaining after washing clothes will not harm the baby.

To use the product in an automatic machine, a piece of baby soap is grated and placed inside the powder compartment in the proportion of a third of the piece per five kilograms of laundry.

Baby washing powder

A simple powder with a natural composition can be used to wash a child’s clothes in exceptional cases. So, what powder should you wash with daily? Powders for children's clothing are ideal. They can be used to wash any baby’s clothes. Even budget options will do. In order to choose a product, you need to pay attention to:

experience of use or, if there was none, online reviews;
a store selling goods. It would be better if it was a supermarket or hardware store. Sellers of such outlets will be able to promptly provide the necessary certificates confirming the safety of the washing powder;
validity periods of certificates;
expiration date of the product;
labeling confirming the possibility of using the powder for babies (0+);
marking indicating the hypoallergenicity of the powder.

Attention! Even the most safe laundry detergent can cause allergic reactions in an infant. Baby powder should also be used with caution. If rashes appear on the skin, then use of the product must be stopped immediately and replaced with another one. Allergies in the first months of life indicate the need to use powders designed for washing clothes for newborns up to three years, and in some cases longer.

The condition of the washing powder packaging is important. It is necessary to pay special attention to it. If for some reason there is no date of manufacture, the composition of the product or the container is damaged, it is better to refuse the purchase. If the powder is packaged in a plastic bag, you should feel it for clumping of the powder.

Natural substances

In addition to the products familiar to every housewife, sold in any hardware store and even grocery store, there are natural remedies. Can they be washed?

Definitely yes! The best of them include:

soap nuts. Suitable for both hand washing and machine washing. They have the maximum level of hypoallergenicity. Sapindus fruits contain many natural active substances (saponins). Before use, the dried shell must be placed in a fabric bag and tied;
soda, peroxide, boric acid. They are natural bleaches and are used as a means to remove stubborn stains;
mustard, soap root, potato juice. Despite the naturalness of the products, they are rarely used for washing due to the inconvenience of use.

Machine washing rules

After the product is selected and purchased, you need to understand how to wash it correctly. Many parents wonder how often they should do laundry. The answer to this question is clear:

The newborn's clothes and linen are washed every day.
Bed linen is changed every seven days. However, if the baby soils the diapers, they must be washed immediately.

Thus, all soiled items or those that the child wore during the day must be washed in the evening. Under no circumstances should you hoard dirty laundry or wash it later than every other day.

Advantages of a washing machine and preparatory steps

Can be washed either by hand or by machine. The first method is quite popular among a narrow circle of mothers. They prefer to use only those methods that were practiced in the old days. Unfortunately, washing baby clothes by hand has very serious disadvantages:

the water temperature cannot exceed 40 degrees, which is unacceptable for children's underwear. After washing at this temperature, all laundry will have to be boiled;
It is very difficult to remove stubborn stains by hand. In order to get rid of them, you will first have to wash the particularly dirty areas, and then wash the entire item again.

Automatic washing machines allow you to avoid a lot of problems that arise when washing by hand. The main advantages of this technique are:

the presence of a boiling mode;
high-quality rinsing and spinning;
saving time. You have to wash it by hand continuously, but in the machine you just need to put the laundry in the drum and set the desired mode;
the presence of modes that ensure washing of delicate items and set them at the temperature required for children's laundry.

A newborn needs maximum attention and care from his parents. In the first year of life, a small organism is defenseless against various types of bacteria and infections. A weakened immune system requires a competent attitude towards everything related to the baby. Laundry is no exception. In order to protect your child as much as possible, you need to perform a number of preparatory measures to guarantee the safety of washing:

The toddler's dirty clothes should be placed in a basket separate from the laundry of adult family members.
Before washing, it is necessary to clean the laundry from food and feces. If you do not follow this advice, you may not wash your clothes, causing damage to your machine.
Children's clothing should be washed separately from adult clothes. Moreover, if there is more than one child in the family, then the baby’s clothes should not be cleaned along with the things of older brothers and sisters.

If the baby has pooped himself, then before putting the laundry in the washing machine, it should be pre-washed. The procedure is carried out in a basin filled with warm water. The optimal temperature is approximately 35 degrees. As an active agent, you can use baby soap.

Important! When your baby is born, you should not put excessively dirty items in the washing machine, such as soiled shoes, rugs and rugs.

And, lastly, if the stains on the fabric are not complex, then you should not wash them before placing the product in the machine. Modern technology can remove such stains without leaving a trace.

Washing and modes

Successfully dealing with washing clothes for a newborn is quite simple. The main thing is to follow a number of tips that will help you avoid common problems:

The washing machine must be set to the program designed for baby clothes. If you don’t have one, you can select “delicate wash” as the mode. This will help avoid unnecessary deformation of the linen and maintain its original appearance;
after washing, it is necessary to rinse the laundry additionally using the mode provided in the technique;
It is better to wash more often than rarely and a lot. The fact is that dirty laundry that has been lying around for a long period of time is washed less easily and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, and accumulated mountains of clothes are less easily cleaned and rinsed in the machine.

By looking at the tag attached to the product, you can understand at what temperature children's clothing is washed. Machine wash requires 80 to 90 degrees. It is at these values that the boiling effect is ensured.

Thanks to it, microbes embedded in the tissue die. If the linen is made of delicate fabrics, then the temperature should be set to minimum values, but not lower than 40°C. Cotton clothing, however, requires washing at a temperature of no more than 60°C. Choosing the right temperature for washing children's underwear will not only preserve the appearance of the product, but also remove heavy dirt from it.

There are times when the machine’s list of washing programs does not include children’s mode or delicate fabrics. In this case, it is very difficult to understand in what mode to wash. At the same time, don't be upset. If you find yourself in such a situation, you should set the mode based on the type of fabric from which the baby’s clothes are made. Natural fabrics should be washed at maximum temperatures, ensuring they are boiled and disinfected.

Old stains

With the introduction of the first complementary foods, additional troubles arise with washing clothes. On the one hand, homogenized food is very convenient, because you don’t need to cook anything special, but on the other hand, you have to wash things much more often. You can get rid of severe dirt that has become embedded in a child’s clothes using traditional methods that are highly effective.

Important! Every parent should remember that it is forbidden to use aggressive substances and, in particular, chlorine! Products containing the designated component lead to acute allergic reactions in the baby, and the smell that clothes acquire after washing is almost impossible to remove. In addition, it is not recommended to use baking soda that remains on the fabric.

The best way to remove stains is regular peroxide. The advantages of this tool include:

safety for the skin of a newborn;
quick rinsing from fabric;
effectiveness in removing even old stains;
disinfecting effect.

At what degrees it is necessary to wash an item treated with peroxide depends on the fabric. However, most often experts recommend setting the temperature to 60 degrees. You should not raise the temperature, otherwise the laundry may acquire a grayish tint.

Mom’s forgetfulness is excusable, because the mass of worries with which she is surrounded does not allow her to keep absolutely everything in her head. Yellow stains formed due to lack of proper soaking and washing measures can be removed using a home recipe:

2 tablespoons of non-chlorine bleach are poured into a small container;
a quarter cup of a spoonful of powder is added there;
bulk substances are filled with 20 ml of expensive stain remover and the same amount of vegetable oil;
the components are thoroughly mixed;
Next, the mixture, diluted with water (five liters will be required), is put on fire;
When the product boils, the fire is turned off and the composition is cooled to room temperature.

Diapers with old stains can be soaked in the indicated product for a day. Of course, you should not abuse such methods. It is only suitable for items made of light-colored fabric and is not used for dyed items. Upon completion of processing of dirty laundry, it must be washed with soap and rinsed thoroughly.

Ironing

After washing, it is important to dry your clothes. This is best done either on a glassed-in balcony or in the bathroom. If the balcony is not closed, then street dirt may get on things. Hanging wet items at home is also contraindicated. This increases humidity and increases the risk of mold.

Clean clothes and diapers must be ironed. It's no secret that ironing not only gives the product an attractive appearance, but also disinfects it. This is important, because a newborn should not encounter germs at all in the first month of his life. This is explained by the fact that untreated clothing can cause infection through a navel that has not yet healed.

Important! To make your baby's clothes fuller and softer, just iron them on both sides in the steam mode.

When the child grows up, you can iron it on one side. Unfortunately, little attention is paid to this point by parents, and some consider ironing to be an unnecessary activity, because you can simply fold things neatly, thereby preventing them from creasing.

Conclusion

Thus, washing children's clothes in an automatic machine is very simple. To do this, you just need to choose the right regime and properly prepare the baby’s clothes. Following the recommendations specified in this article reduces the likelihood of problems with the baby’s health and preserves the condition of his clothes.