Washing baby clothes before use? Must I? Is Non-Bio essential?

[Andie20521]

I'm trying to get ready for the arrival of my first babba and have a couple of

Do I really need to pre-wash all the new clothes before my little one wears them?

Also do I have to use non-bio products? What issues are there with normal stuff?

It's not something I have thought about and suddenly have gone into a tizz!

I am on baby 3 and wash everything in non-bio beforehand. With the older children I sometimes put them on from new if from somewhere like M&S say, rather than Primark - the stuff in there is filthy and I wouldn't put it on any of the family without washing first.

I think for the vast majority of babies nothing would happen if you put unwashed clothes or clothes washed in bio on - it's just for peace of mind, but I guess some with particularly sensitive skin might get rashes etc and new babies often get weird skin rashes, spots etc anyway so I would say best to eliminate it as a potential cause just in case.

I also know someone that works as a clothes buyer and she has visited factories where the clothes are made and she washes everything .....

Having been in garment factories - however good WASH THEM!
The clothes are made months before they hit the shelves, and whilst look clean will have spent time in transit (in a container on a boat / plane) then in a warehouse, then in a store, then home, you get the idea....

my dad runs his own business doing security and telephone systems and some of his biggest clients are clothing manufacturers - a lot of which are little more than sweatshops (I used to work for him during the summers when I was a teen). Most of these factories produce clothes for high street stores. The factories are filthy from the toilets and kitchens to the factory floor. And there are rats. lots of them.