to throw baby's clothes away if soiled?

[inftup]

Putting in the washing machine seems gross!! DH says most people wash anything a baby has used but I can’t think this would come out clean?! We have an eco friendly machine that doesn’t go higher than 60 degrees and below 90 just makes me even more nervous about it.

I did this a few times. When the poo had totally bypassed the nappy and gone all up the back. Didn't happen often, but sometimes I just could not be arsed.

Op you do realise that for centuries, cloth nappies were used, handwashed and reused (and probably passed on to other babies too)

I'm laughing so much. I definitely did this at some point. I don't know how anyone manages with reusable nappies. Each to their own though!

The rational answer is no, not most of the time. Very rarely when in a situation where saving the clothes was going to be exceptionally difficult (Poonami whilst out)I might put a baby grow in the bin.
A hot wash in the washing machine is perfectly fine. Especially if used alongside any of the previous suggestions - pre-soaking etc.

Also this is going to be an ongoing problem. My son is 12 and I still have to boil all his clothes because he's a filthy little bugger. I bleach his school shirts once a week. He's always covered in mud and food and God only knows what else. You can't just throw things away. Stain removal, a hot wash and line hanging are the way forward.

Well I don’t shit myself so no, I don’t only wear my underwear once.
If a baby item is absolutely covered in poo it goes in the bin. I have no desire to spend my time rinsing shit until it’s in a reasonable enough state to go in the washing machine. Nor am I going to wash a single baby vest on its own in the machine.

A stain is just dyed clothes, what damage could that possibly do? Even some bacteria on there will be no worse than any one of us would find on the floor/high chair/playground.

wash at 40° when you can, use laundry cleanser on things that can only go in at 30° and perhaps consider getting some help for the germ based anxiety you seem to have.

I do if I've rinsed it first and washed on 90c and it's still stained

It also depends on age of child and how much poo. Edges of vests of a 12 month old is totally different to poo encrusted pants of a 3 year old.

So what do you do with your knickers? They probably have residual wee, poo and menstrual blood on them. Babies have pooed on their clothes since babies and clothes were invented and people,ie mothers , have dealt with it for millennia without the benefit of washing machines, hot water and good washing detergents .

Aldi’s own brand stain remover, DiSan, gets rid of the stains. 🙄

If they're clothes that can be hidden and still new, treat the stains and keep them for 'dirty' moments or wear inside.

If outer clothes where the stains show and they'll probably make baby look unkempt, you can throw them away if treating the stains don't work. But unless you can afford to keep throwing clothes away, you'll have to find an affordable alternative for baby to stain and soil.

For poo leeks I always rinsed immediately with cold water, rubbed some fairy antibacterial washing up liquid into the stain then rinse again with cold water and then washed in washing machine at 40 degrees. I’ve only had very faint staining occasionally with this method and that has usually gone in the next 1-2 washes.

I still use this method for food/mud stains now that he is a toddler. Works really well.

You realise disposable nappies only became mainstream in the last 40 years or so? Before that a millennia of baby used some sort of washed and reused fabric to poo in. Lots of people still choose to use cloth and after removing the lumps pop them straight in the washing machine.

The other thing I would add is try not to get too hung up on germs or bacteria. Obviously maintain a good level of cleanliness but don't get yourself into a twist about this. Once baby is crawling, sticking everything in their mouth they need to build a strong immune system. I have a friend who was obsessed with cleanliness and her kids were never allowed to do anything that came into contact with "dirt". Never known two kids more poorly and who picked up everything going. They looked super clean though! I agree with all of the above that if something is horrifically dirty and cheap to replace such as a bodysuit or babygro, then by all means throw it but otherwise you just need to get into a good washing routine with the right products.

Wash it. It’ll be fine. I pride myself on never throwing away clothes that got poonami’d and have managed some absolutely amazing rescues! Here’s a before and after I’m particularly proud of.

Give the soiled clothes a good rinse off, then chuck in a bucket of cold water and laundry powder. Leave them overnight, or until there's enough to bother washing. Wash at 60 then hang to dry in the sunlight.

Sunlight gets out stains like nothing else! Wash on 40c and then put the wet clean item of clothing in the sun - even a sunny windowsill will do the trick.

You think baby poo stains are bad, wait until you're trying to train a child to wipe their bum properly on their own. You will be washing pants with skid marks for quite a while...and from what some people say about their DH, some people never learn to wipe properly!!!

Another reusable nappy user here with a nearly 2 year old who's never had more than a cold (so clearly she's not being poisoned by toxic stains lol)

You are being ridiculous and wasteful and your baby will be fine if you soak then wash a pooey vest

I used to stick them in the washing machine on their own for one wash (only at 30, they shrink very easily), then use a Vanish gel stick which literally gets anything out, it's incredible. Liberally apply Vanish, leave for 20 mins, then wash again with a load. If there's a still a stain hang in direct sunshine for 24-48 hours.

Only if there is still a stain then will I give up and throw away (and only if it's obviously poo... pen/paint stains can stay as nursery clothes). The only stains I can't get out are suncream on white clothes, they go yellow and nothing fixes it.

You'll have washed the bacteria out. I tried reusable nappies for a while so had a load of the powder you use in that so would chuck that in for a really vom/poo load so perhaps that's an option?

Sunlight will get most stains out.

And whilst you wouldn't wear stained clothes yourself, if it's a baby vest etc that no one sees, it's honestly fine if it's a small stain. Wait till they're toddlers...

The odd one got chucked but not routinely, particularly when we were out, but most got scraped off and stuck in the machine.

Sometimes things stain and just aren’t suitable to be put back in regular rotation. My son was terrible for poonami’s and staining clothes.

Just use them for emergencies.

Same as @ACynicalDad - if it was a DISATER, I threw it out.

If it's scrapable and washable, I scraped and washed.

No, it's ridiculous and wasteful to throw them away and keep buying new.

Yes, if an adult soiled their clothes in this way, you might consider throwing them out, but that would be because an adult in that situation would likely have some kind of contagious virus.

Babies routinely poo through their clothes, because they're babies on a liquid diet! It doesn't mean they're ill or infectious and there's no need to throw away their clothes.