Tumble drying baby clothes...not done in polite society?

[NineUnlikelyTales]

I have always tumble dried my DS (8m) clothes if the weather is too bad to hang outside. I was having a conversation with friends the other day and mentioned that I don't use fabric softener. This is how the conversation went from there..

Friend 1 - But don't the clothes get hard?
Me - No as I iron them which makes them soft if they've been hanging on the line, and if they've been in the dryer I use dryer balls and that softens them too
Friend 1 - You tumble dry his clothes? Oh I would never tumble dry DD clothes
Friend 2 - No I would never do that either. I have dryer balls too but I would never tumble dry DD clothes.

So have I broke an unwritten rule here? Am I a slattern for occasionally tumble drying DS clothes? And if so, why? I am genuinely confused!

wishes ghosty would come up here to Brissy to break our drought. Sofia - it is raining here today for the first time since I don't remember - our water supply is diminshing rapidly.

as to the other question - I tumbled dry anything that could be tumbledryed when dh and I lived in the UK - dd1's clothes and ours.

Now in Aus - don't really need a tumble dryer - don't have that many wet damp days - well not so far although I still wouldn't mind a dryer for the bedding etc so I could chuck that in whilst the clothes are getting their dose of sunshine.

I buy them a size bigger so they fit when they come out of the dryer

Ok, so this doesn't talk about drying clothes to sterilize them, but it does talk about the importance of temperature!!!

UCM don't get me on dd1 and shrinking things in the tumble dryer 'Tis another story ....

Love these washing/drying threads!

Interesting article SofiaAmes! I can'\t bring myself to wash towels and bedding at less thatn 60 but I do clothes at 30 or 40. Will be sticking to that.

I dry everything outside in summer and inside in winter. All clothes and bedding gets ironed but not by me!

Am in a rented house with a washing machine although we have our own combi washer/dryer but it's not plumbed in here. I do miss having the opportunity to dry stuff if necessary and am contemplating buying a dryer but feel guilty about the environmental impact.

Have friends that tumble dry everything. One friend was amazed that my towels weren't hard but they aren't. Not as soft as out of a dryer but not hard either. Another friend only uses her dryer to finish towels off and dry her baby's (1 month) babygros and vests etc. She says it makes them nice and soft.

I love looking at my washing hanging out - am sad I know!

Earl Grey, I have done so many times I think the worst one is when I am washing one of my new tops for the first time and I forget to retrieve it before dumping it in the dryer... I keep trying to slim into them

nutters!!

Lik emost of you I only tumble dry the kids clothes.

LOLOLOL at your potato peler Ghosty, if you CAT me your address I'll send you a potato peeler.
All the way from england to melbourne...I'll send one.

I tuble dry everything i hate line dryed clothes, they stink and are all hard!

Yuck!

My clothes do NOT stink kittylette! They smell lovely and fresh and are not at all hard. Of course that mybe because I am halfway up a mountain in Budapest in lovely fresh air!

i only dont use fabric softener cos it irritates ds' skin.

Bless you LTH ...
And [swoon] at being sent a potato peeler by MN royalty
Our container will arrive in about 4 weeks so we may be able to cope for that long ...

wtf sofia "Don't your children get all sorts of kid things like snotty noses and tummy bugs and nits and ring worm and impetigo and.... "

And all this is solved by washing clothes at a high temp and tumble drying clothes..???! FFS....Surley things like this are caused by kids being kids and sneezing without covering mouths and picking their noses and rolling in the mud..

You are not david gest in disguise are you..? " I once knew this guy who died from not tumble drying his clothes". rotflmao..

Yes shhh, obviously these things spread more easily amongst children because of their habits of picking noses, etc. The point is to stop the things they get from spreading around the family or the kids getting re-infected. It's sort of like washing your hands after handling raw meat or going to the bathroom.

I agree with the washing hands bit but its a bit ott to steralise clothing..??? Aren't we all told that kids need to be subjected to some germs to allow the immunity system to build up..? Sorry but I think that suggestion is even more bizarre than the topic re: tumble drying kids clothing .!!

BUT WHY NO FABRIC CONDITIONER? Am I being really thick and missing something? So many of you have said 'but I never use conditioner' Why? Is it bad or something?

My tumble dryer will be fixed tomorrow. I am soo excited I feel like i've lost a friend the last few weeks!

I feel vindicated for having a 4 wheel drive when I hear you all talking about tumble driers!

Line-dried washing smells gorgeous!

Laundry threads are always mahoosive on MN. Weirdoes

I think the fabric conditioner thing is because it can leave residues in the fabric which could irritate sensitive (baby) skin.

Shhh....to each his or her own. Having been subjected to a barage of icky illnesses by my stepchildren (who were sent to me on purpose more than once with all of the diseases I listed), I prefer to be safe than sorry. Treating your 6 month old for lice and ring worm because your dh's ex thinks that inflicting it on you and your children is an appropriate form of revenge (not quite sure what for since she left him) is enough to make anyone be overly concerned about getting every last bug out of their laundry.

Hey I have the 4x4 and the dryer in two continents. I do my energy conservation in other places.

I can't quite believe this is still going - but sadly I still want to know what NineUnlikelyTales' friends think is wrong with tumble drying LO's clothes in particular (as opposed to objecting to tumble driers in general, which is different altogether)

piffle do you use fabric conditoner?

Someone had a rant recently about 'smothering babies in petrochemicals' if you use fabric softener.

Doesn't seem to have done mine any harm!

Thank you Sofia!

No tumbler in our house WW!! (Just v big radiators) .