Mixing soiled baby clothes with other laundry?

[Peregrin]

First baby not yet arrived, but I am trying to sort out routines in advance. We won't have enough babygros/vests to fill a whole laundry drum at a time and I would be loath to run the washing machine for the sake of a handful of small pieces of cloth.

What do you wash together with badly soiled baby clothes - I imagine there will be plenty of poonamis and sick accidents? Do you chuck them in with cloth nappies if you use those, do you just add them to the adult laundry?

[jenny77]

Yes, but perhaps I have poor standards? Obviously not whole poos though.

[stargirl1701]

Yes. If soiled, I wash at 60 degrees with a cold prewash. I also do a maintenance wash once a month at 95 degrees (empty machine).

[Loupee]

I soak any soiled clothes soiled with food/sick/poo in napisan then put in whatever else I am washing.

[hettienne]

I always threw everything in together. If it was badly soiled then I'd rinse first.

Breastfed baby poo/sick isn't really like proper poo sick anyway.

[5madthings]

I just rinsed them under the tap and then washed them with whatever else needed washing :)

[Mammabear31]

As others have said a quick rinse if lots of poo but otherwise just gets put in together on a 30 or 40 degree wash with fairy gel and a scoop of sensitive vanish powder. It's the only thing that gets the poo stains out!

[RobotHamster]

You'll likely have cot sheets, muslins or towels that could also go in with it. Lack of laundry won't be a problem,don't worry.

Really pooey stuff just needs a quick soak first.

[sonlypuppyfat]

The washing powder gets things clean. The only sorting I do is hot whites altogether and then cool coloureds etc. If I put baby things in with every thing else I used to take them out at the end and give them a good rinse in clear water to make sure I'd got all the soap out. But please don't make yourself extra work just putting a few things in the machine

[VikingVagine]

Definitely pre wash in a bowl (I'm feeling a little queasy at all of you who just bung it in as is!).

[VikingVagine]

Forgot to add I have pretty low standards

[Cloudkitten]

There's not loads of accidents :) and you will go through more washing than you think :) blankets, sheets, toys etc all need more washing than you would think.

I handwash poo/sick clothes (usually wash away loose debris under tap then soak for a short while). Then bung it in the wash with all else.

Having said that I wash at 60 degrees as I honestly don't believe you can get anything clean at 40 :)

[Peregrin]

Thank you! Opinions seem somewhat divided which means I'll feel supported whether or not I'll have the energy to pre-wash :)

The next project will have to be to identify the equivalent of Vanish sensitive here in Belgium. My local supermarkets stock about 10 varieties of Vanish but none of them is for sensitive skin/clothes.

[growltigersontheloose]

We use cloth nappies, which I wash on alternate days, so I chuck anything particularly unpleasant in with those. If it's just a little bit, it goes in with my regular clothes wash.
Pre-weaning, I used to chuck regular clothes in with the nappies. I stopped after I started finding very sparkly bits of undigested fruit turning up in the clean washing ;-)

[Mintyy]

I would soak in a bucket of napisan first, then machine rinse, then wash in non bio with a bit of vanish rubbed on to the stains. But I am fussy.

[valiumredhead]

Same as 5 mad.

[rachyconks]

Definite soak or rinse first - dependant on level of accident. Complete poonamis (like when DD had her first tummy bug), saw me just binning a few. Not very environmentally friendly, but they were saturated. I'm shuddering now at the thought. Luckily she's 9mo now and we have only had one bad incident in the last couple if months and that was a messy teething poo. Soaked clothes with Ariel stain remover and then a hot wash.

[rachyconks]

Also, something I learned on here, stubborn stains can be removed by leaving the items to dry on get line in the sun. Worked wonders for vests covered in tomatoey stuff when nothing else would shift it!

[ILoveAFullFridge]

There's no need to separate baby clothes or bodily fluids from other dirt. Just rinse off the worst stuff, then chuck in the wash with the other laundry. If you don't have a suitable load ready, leave the soiled item in a bucket of cold water until you can wash it, because stains set worse if they dry out.

[ILoveAFullFridge]

It doesn't need to be Vanish (they're just the biggest make) any oxygen-based bleach will do.

[MonstersDontCry]

I just chuck it all in with the other washing. But I am pretty lazy.

[StuckOnARollercoaster]

Anything with poo on gets rinsed to get rid of the bits then left to soak until I have enough for a full load (of baby/adult/anything)
Had some soda crystals for the soaking but when they ran out just replaced with non bio powder until I can get some more. Seems to work same as the stain removers.
Try to wait for a sunny day so sun can bleach any stains (learnt that from MN) but so far a lot of them seem to be gone in the time they are soaking.
Mum advised to rinse and soak as soon as possible and that may be why the stains don't set. I've been known to leave DD nappy free on the mat once she's cleaned up to go soak her clothes before doing anything else...

[happyyonisleepyyoni]

I have added Napisan to the wash ever since I read that faecal bacteria are present on used underwear (and obv pooey baby clothrs) and are not killed at 40C.

[Seff]

If in doubt, I do a rinse cycle first before adding "normal" laundry.

[MadMonkeys]

I rinse any lumps off and soak in napisan until there is a load ready to be washed. Then add napisan to the wash. I did separate loads of baby washing every day or two, lack of washing was certainly not a problem! Once you include babygrows, muslins, crib sheets, baby sleeping bags, bibs etc you'll make up a load every couple of days without any difficulty!

[Helliecopter]

Another lazy one here.
I just rinse the worst of the poo off and soak until I've got a load ready. Sometimes I put a bit of Vanish on it. Tends to work fine and we don't have loads of stained stuff so it must be doing the job. We're never ill so I think it gets clean!