Washing hand me down baby clothes

[SpecialStains]

Hello,

I've been given masses of really lovely baby clothes from friends and damily, and want to give them a wash before they're used. Is normal non bio and fabric softener ok to use at 40 degrees? Or do I need to do anything different when washing baby clothes?

Thanks. 😃

I washed all baby clothes at 60, I always thought that 40 was too low a temp to kill off any nasties.

A good few things that DD had explosively pooped all over got boil washed at 90!

Ok, thanks boss. Will do a 60degree wash.

I've always just chucked them into the normal wash at 30 with everything else, unless the care label says not to (although baby clothes that need gentler treatment than that are not very useful...).

I would do a stain check and anything that does have stains leave to soak in hot water and bio washing powder (overnight) then just wash at 40 with non bio & fabric softener X

Thanks for the advice. First day of mat leave so I've got lots of jobs I want to get done. Baby clothes washing first (I can't get over how generous people have been), then batch cooking for the freezer. Any other things I should do before baby arrives?

Sleep! And rest. Go and see people while you still can without needing a mountain of stuff - getting out with a baby can be like a military operation :)

40 degrees will be fine IMO.

Sleep! Have long baths. Read books. Visit friends to eat cake. And the batch cooking is a very good idea too. Things are about the get crazy. Congratulations and good luck OP!

Enjoy your house being the cleanest it's ever going to be! My home was immaculate on pre-baby maternity leave, then with very tiny baby I was too knackered to clean, slightly bigger baby I no longer really cared that much, and I am reliably assured that toddlers mean mysterious caches of bread, socks, and stones from the garden all over the place. Invite people round and enjoy making them cups of tea with both hands :)

I wouldn't do a 60 degree wash on baby clothes; the labels usually say 40. It's not just the heat that kills bugs; the detergent does that too!

All my baby washes go in at 30 or 40. If we've had a poonami then things get soaked overnight first in cold water. Babies will pick up far more germs from anything they put in their mouths than from their clothes, won't they? But then I'm from the school of thinking that says eliminating all bugs and germs isn't good.

In terms of things to do before baby arrives, I suggest looking forward in your calendar and getting organised with gifts and cards for the next 2-3 months, writing and wrapping everything as much as possible then putting post its on them if they need to be distributed/posted. This really helped me!

I use normal non-bio but no fabric softener.

I do 30 with some napsian or detail laundry cleanser (kills all the nasties on a cool wash!)

Any stains get chucked in a bucket of water with napisan and stain remover for 12hours!

Use normal liquid and softener

Right, thanks for all the posts. Seems as there's such a range of what people do, I'm unlikely to mess this up! The clothes I've been given are all clean, but just smell like they've been stored for a while and of other peoples detergent. Thanks for the general advice on how to clean clothes ones baby is here. It's worrying how little I know about caring for a baby!

Lily That is an amazing idea, I'm terrible for only remembering the day before anyway, so I shall add that suggestion to my to do list.

Outsider I'm very much planning to do lots of things on your list also!

My advice is to make lots of plans...it'll either mean you have to cancel because baby arrives, or you're occupied when you are overdue and 100% sure you're the most pregnant person there's ever been. Good luck! Such a lovely, exciting time.

60 is likely to shrink a lot of the clothes,40 is fine.

Most people don't really know much about caring for a newborn before one arrives. You'll both be just fine.

If there are stains, hot water will only fix them - use cold water if you soak or pre-treat anything.

It's really nice sorting through tiny baby clothes!