Washing baby clothes??

[Babybeann]

So I'm on my maternity leave (36weeks) so nows the time to try and get everything organised. so do you really need to wash baby clothes? I havent been given any second hand clothes so everything still has tags on. and if I do need to wash is it everything? Sheets and all?

Thank you x

I would for new born, you don't know where clothes have been made or stored plus whether they have chemicals sprayed on them. As ds has got older I seem to need clothes quicker so am buying taking labels off and dressing him in them. But at the end if day it's your decision!

Congratulations! Really you should wash everything you're going to use immediately. Clothes from large manufacturers are treated with chemicals and dyes, especially when being shipped and warehoused. The nastiest stuff is rat poison in shipping containers, apparently. It sounds a little alarmist to me but it certainly can't hurt to wash things in non-bio.

I have eczema and I'll be washing everything for DD (who is 6 days old ). I ended up in hospital after her birth and still haven't been discharged, and DH spends most of his time here, so I'm glad I got all the newborn stuff sorted, and DD isn't particularly sicky/messy so we haven't got through many changes.

Oh i'm nearly 29 weeks and i definetley am!

I'm sure they would be fine either way but it's just the thought of people touching them in the shop or an outfit could have been in someones house then returned, no thank you i want it all pristine for my baba!!

My mum and a few others think it's silly but she's my baby so i'm doing what i think is best, everyone has got 100 pieces of advice for my so i'm gonna do what I think is right

• and the relevance of my eczema is that I don't want to aggravate her skin of she has it too!

Yes, wash them all, sheets, clothes everything, especially if new. If imported/stored then it's not guaranteed that they haven't been sprayed to keep away rats/parasites/beasties, or that there won't be residues from the making process on the clothes etc.
Newborn's skin is that much more sensitive, it's just not worth the worrying rash at 4am. You can at least rule that out as a cause.

Oh dear, I didn't bother.
My 5mth DS was fine thou.

yes, you should.
as posters before said, clothes that are produced in warm climates are treated for mould and insects with chemicals (or they would reach us black, smelly and full of holes) so better wash them first.
no need to wash separately, just bung them in with your normal laundry.

Oh, due to a family history of allergies/eczma and I think generally it's 'advised' to use non-bio on all baby things initially and not to use fabric conditioner. It's something both MWs and HVs have mentioned to me, without knowing the family history.
I mainly use non-bio on anything intimate, towels, sheets anyway, so no real addition to my laundry bills.

I've not bothered this time. I've packed the babygros and vests in my hospital bag still in the Tesco packets.

I washed it all last time, but within a week was just getting clothes given as gifts out of the gift bags and sticking them on DD, rather than washing and ironing them and adding to the pile of housework.

Not getting non-bio this time either, unless DC2 shows signs of sensitive skin.

no way. trust me your going to have enough washing in the next few years! my 5mo ds is fine!

i washed everything for each of my 5 before they were born and when they were little i washed all new clothes before they wore them, the chemicals and starch on the clothes arent very good for delicate skinn. also history of eczema in my family so i wanted to be careful, thankfully none of mine have it :)

My DS once (as a toddler) had a reaction to new clothes that I had been too -bloody disorganised busy to wash and then grabbed in an emergency!

There was a thread about this not long ogo. You certainly should clean them all because they are treated with chemicals at every stage of manufacture, and are fumigated to be shipped over. Don't take any risks with your baby.

My DS is 7 weeks old. I didn't bother and he's still in one piece... :)

Why dont I know about this! Wouldn't have even considered washing new clothes first - guess that's another thing I should be adding to my to do list before bubba arrives