What to do about ruined baby clothes?

[User36258]

I’m currently pregnant with my first baby. My mum (who has been so amazing and generous about this pregnancy) offered to take the baby clothes we have bought and wash them for us so they’re ready for the arrival of the baby. We gratefully accepted this offer of help.

Unfortunately, due to an unnoticed pen which was in the pocket of some of my dad’s trousers when they were washed, the majority of the clothes have been ruined by the pen exploding and ink leaking everywhere. They are still technically usable, but covered in huge, ugly, black ink stains.

My mum is beside herself and has said she will replace everything. The trouble is, we are talking a couple of hundred pounds at least, and it’s money she doesn’t easily have to hand as she is now retired. She has also already paid for so much - she bought all our nursery furniture for instance and has spend days helping us paint and decorate.

We can’t really afford to replace the clothes either. But I feel guilty accepting her offer of replacements when it was a total accident, and it’s not easy for her to replace them. So I’m thinking I could just buy some inexpensive basics to replace what has been ruined, knowing that people will likely gift us nice things when the baby is born anyway.

My mum is really pressing us to let her replace the clothes, and I think she might feel less guilty if she did. But I don’t want her to feel guilty, she was doing a nice thing and accidents happen. So should I just insist that it’s fine and she doesn’t need to replace them, or should I accept her offer?

Only thing I have ever found to get biro off is hairspray. Spray it on the biro and wipe it off...! Good like OP and bless your mum x

I recently bought 5 plain white sleepsuits for £8 online from ASDA if that's any help for replacing some of the basics. Their vests are good value too.

I feel like no one's questioned why you spent hundreds of pounds on newborn clothes?? What on earth have you bought!? Just go to the local supermarket and get a couple of packs of babygros and that'll be enough to start.

@WindFlower92

I feel like no one's questioned why you spent hundreds of pounds on newborn clothes?? What on earth have you bought!? Just go to the local supermarket and get a couple of packs of babygros and that'll be enough to start.

I was thinking it tbh. I'm also hoping that OP has an "average" sized baby. DD was unexpectedly small (despite being full term) and we had to rush out and buy "tiny baby" as newborn drowned her. And by the time she was big enough for newborn, we'd moved from winter into a warm spring so the newborn clothes (vests excepted) were unsuitable for the weather and had to be taken back. Fortunately I'd not washed them ...

Why throw away perfectly functional baby clothes because of a few superficial stains?
As your mum to buy 1 or 2 lovely baby outfits so you can take beautiful keepsake photos, suck it in and use the rest. Please don't waste them! Most baby stuff gets mangey anyway!

The baby is currently measuring in the 97th percentile so I don’t think they will be in newborn sizes for long I’ve explained upthread where the clothes came from / the prices. Lots of it isn’t that expensive but it only takes a few of the more special pieces for costs to rack up. we’ve been buying over a period of several months which has been fine, but replacing it all in one go is a different matter.

@CokeEnStock I never suggested it was a massive favour. It was just a nice thing for her to offer when we have a lot going on and we were grateful to accept.

You may not need newborn size at all if your baby is big. My >9lb DD only fitted newborn for a matter of days.

my best tip for stain removal is to soak in a biotex solution for a week or more - obviously wash again at the end but the Biotex disolves the ink very slowly. To encourage the process occasionally drain the solution and warm in microwave and return to the soak. My Dads wedding suit had a pen accident at the dry cleaners and this worked....

@Dr273 I do completely understand where you’re coming from - I’m usually really environmentally conscious and hate waste. We’ve bought lots second hand, are doing cloth nappies and wipes, etc. But the stains are so ugly - big black blotches, they look awful. And I appreciate I am being very PFB about things, but I think it would upset me (and my mum!) to see the baby always wearing clothes which are stained in such an ugly way.

But I am going to make every effort to salvage them by trying to get the stains out and dyeing what can be dyed before I resort to throwing anything away.

@UnbeatenMum I think you’re right. We only had a handful of newborn things anyway. I can get a second hand newborn bundle on eBay and that will probably do us.

Replace with supermarket stuff. The baby won't care what it pukes or shits on and will barely be in them anyway.

I wouldn’t let her replace them either. At most tell her she can buy one or two items because grandmas tend to do that anyway when they are something adorable.

Most of they Time you will just be at home and stains really won’t matter.

House insurance?
I wouldn’t let her replace It all if she can’t afford it and has already helped.
Maybe let her buy a packet of vests and baby grows. People will give you nice outfits.
I feel for you, but the clothes really only last a few weeks.

@olderthanyouthink not just you. My 1 yo still wears some of her 3-6 mo (fitted) dresses! Both mine are small so I have mountains of stuff for them to grow into!

Just throw baby' s clothes in with yours
(no pen obviously)
Ayway anywsy that 30£ outfit would be the one with explosive yellow poo stain during the first wear.
Babies poo and vomit. Toddlers and children get covered in paint mud and spaghetti.buy cheap.

@JanewaysBun cost per wear on some of her stuff is so low now I shouldn't have worried about splashing out and then I've got stuff she "should" fit in that isn't suitable anymore because she potty trained 🤦‍♀️ then trying to find clothes that fit a potty trained child that is the size of a 12 month old is a whole 'nother problem

Dylon do a really good navy blue. That will cover the absolute worst of it, I think that apart from plain white, navy is my favourite colour for newborns.

I have to say though, that having a spent a couple of hundred quid, you bought WAAAAAY too much!

The baby is currently measuring in the 97th percentile so I don’t think they will be in newborn sizes for long

My first was 97th centile but (with weight loss after birth) somehow managed to be in 'tiny newborn' until 1 month, 'newborn' until 3 months, and only went into 0-3 clothes from 3 months. She caught up eventually and now wears a couple of years older than her actual age (and is still in the 95th-97th centile for both height and weight). But it taught me to not buy too much in advance. Because she was measuring big, I'd not bought any tiny newborn, and all the 0-3 month stuff I'd bought turned out to be for the wrong season so some of it never got worn. If I were you, I would try my best to get the stains out and, if not, dye the clothes, but I wouldn't buy any more. You have no idea what size you'll need for what time of year!

I don’t usually wash clothes before wearing but was told you should when it’s baby clothes. I don’t suppose it makes much difference but that’s what I was taught!

Just curious, who taught you that?
I can understand it coming up in conversation, but just wondering?

My PFB came into the world with 2 packs of Next vests, upto 1mth and 0-3 and the same in baby grows. He had a pram suit too which I hardly used too bulky for the car seat. Not long afterwards I did and Asda shop and picked up more.

But yes I get the pain of short children who are generally a size behind in clothes, taken me years to get the Granny's to buy a size down or go by height.
And yes at the baby stage I ended up with stuff hardly or not used as the seasons changed.

Are they not covered by house insurance?

Tesco do their own version of Stain Devil and it works brilliantly.
My daughter spilled pasta sauce all down a school blouse recently- I’d already put it through the wash and the stain remained so I thought it was beyond hope. I tried the Tesco tomato stain remover and it came straight out! I can’t find it on their website but this one (mentioned up thread) is also good
www.dr-beckmann.co.uk/product/stain-devils-ink-stain-remover/

Surgical spirit (aka Rubbing alcohol) will remove ink stains - maybe why the earlier suggestion of hand sanitiser was made as it contains a lot of alcohol but I still think using pure alcohol is best as no need to worry about what else is in the sanitiser gel.

It works on biro and whiteboard markers. Places like savers or Superdrug sell bottles of it for cheap, about £1.30 a bottle. It’s usually with the first aid stuff. If you have a full load to clean up the it might take a couple of bottles depending on how much ink you need to remove.

Best way to get rid of the stains is to soak in the alcohol and use a couple of old towels/ rags to dab the stain. The ink should transfer onto the old towel. Might take a few goes depending on how much ink is in the fabric and how set in the stain is. Just keep soaking and dabbing (one towel on top and one underneath). Moving the towel to a fresh bit as needed. Once you get the stain to fade as much as possible wash the clothes again and it should be gone. You might need to do it twice but I’ve never had it fail me yet - even on very old and set in (washed and tumble dried many times) whiteboard marker pen stains.

This woman explains how to remove biro stains from clothing with hand sanitizer, hairspray & water. The answers to most questions like this can be found on YouTube these days. Your poor mum must feel terrible. (I suggest trying on one of the cheaper items first.)