What to wash before baby arrives?

[heatherb82]

I'm starting mat leave on 22nd Oct when I'll be 37+3, so I'm hoping that'll be enough time to finish all the jobs I need to do before baby arrives. When it comes to washing the baby's stuff though, what is necessary and what isn't? I'm going to wash ALL his clothes (including socks, hats and mitts), as well as towels and bedding, but what about things like bibs and muslins? Do they need washing too? And gro-bags/sleeping bags? Bit confused!

I started off washing everything before baby was born; now he's here I've been chucking new clothes on him straight from the shelf (including in the nappy change room at Asda following an impressive poonami and I'd not brought a change of clothes so grabbed a multipack of babygros and shoved him in one).

It's a nice thing to do prior to the birth; makes the house smell nicely of 'baby', but you don't need to be completely neurotic about washing every little thing. My boy hasn't broken out in hives yet...!

I've washed all baby grows, sleepsuits, bedding and muslin cloths that will but used in the first few weeks. 3-6 months (yes, MIL has bought clothes left, right and centre for all ages!) i haven't washed.
But i haven't done special 'baby washes', but bunged them in with my normal white or coloured washes.
I also haven't bothered washing the hand-knitted items from the grandmas.

I washed everything for my baby.. I might even have ironed them but he was 2 weeks late. I carried on doing that for about 6 months too. My husband has really sensitive skin so I was just a bit concerned for our little chap. Sensitive so that we can only use one brand of powder, and the liquid of the same brand brings him out in spots... So I'm probably over cautious!

How would you go about washing gifted toys that weren't new? Like what would you use?

I washed the bibs. I would also like to know about the muslin clothes tho!
And what about the cutesy stuff like the tiny comfort hankie things?

I've started washing my baby clothes and putting them out to dry in the garden since the weather is still okay-ish and we don't have a dryer.
Problem is, the clothes came out a little rough... My husband has very sensitive skin so i'm worried the clothes will be too harsh on the baby.. its not like 'scratch your skin off' kind of rough, but not as soft as I would've liked.

Does anyone have any tips for washing baby clothes? We just used non-bio washing powder and no fabric conditioner. Would conditioner help or worsen the situation? I'm going to wash towels, gro-bags, swaddle blankets etc next, so would HATE for these to be all gnarly too!

I've bought the Tesco Loves Baby non bio stuff to put in the washing machine but I was just going to use normal fabric conditioner - hope that's OK. I might take fleecy blankets, woolly things etc to the dry cleaners to avoid them becoming less soft, but don't want to do that with everything as it's expensive. I imagine everything will need ironing afterwards too - that'll be fun (not!)

I woudnt use any fabric conditioner. It's more likely to be perfumed and it's the perfume most people with sensitive skin react to.

Also dry cleaning uses pretty strong chemicals so id avoid it for anything which might touch skin directly.

I didn't wash anything. Baby fine.

What is the logic behind it? Do you wash adult clothes etc before wearing?

Thanks for the heads-up, PosterEh....any tips on how to wash really soft fleecy things then without losing the softness?

Micah, from what I've heard/read, the logic is that baby's skin is super sensitive so they're more likely to get irritated skin from clothing etc than adults would. They might not, but I'm not going to risk it, as life with a newborn will be hard enough (I imagine) without dealing with a rash too!

The logic being that clothes have likely been lying on factory floors and possibly treated with chemicals, and that a baby's skin is way thinner and more delicate than an adult's (I don't test the water with a thermometer before I get in, but I do for a baby).
If you have sensitive skin, a non-bio laundry powder/liquid and no softener would be recommended - I can't tolerate softener myself so wouldn't occur to me to use for the babies.

Wash your fanny.

I wash all clothes, bedsheets etc and I also wash all clothes and bedsheets for myself before using.

The starches etc on stuff to make it look nice on the hanger or in packaging aren't great for delicate skin, I have eczema

Also the conditions in storage etc where stuff could have been kept for ages in shop storage etc are not always great.

I just use non bio washing detergent with no softener.

Am expecting baby 6, will get lots second hand and a few bits new I may have some stuff in yhe loft, I will chuck it all through a quick k wash.

Probably obvious but if you wash stuff you can't take it back / exchange. So with the smaller sizes I'd wash enough for the first week or so in case you need to exchange anything.

Does anyone have first hand experience of a baby's skin reacting to new unwashed clothes???? I washed nothing for my 2 dc (apart from my fanny...)

gin I've had rashes from unwashed new clothes before but my dc seem to have not inherited my shit skin.

heather I use dryer balls (from wilcos) which bash things about in the dryer to reduce drying time and seem to make things softer. They make good sensory toys for babies too , much cheaper than the proper version.

It didn't occur to me to wash any new baby clothes or baby bedding. It all came out of the packaging and went straight onto the baby. I washed everything in Fairy Non-Bio after they were worn, with no fabric conditioner because I don't use it anyway. No skin problems to report.

I had my babies years ago, but maybe the advice has changed in the meantime.

Lots of the stuff sold here is made in factories in the country I come from, and I've seen these places...... And even if they are locally made here, they are tiny and can be crammed into one big wash,

So, yep, i have washed all bedding, linen, cloths, 0-3 in one big washer and dryer load, took less than half a day if that. No fabric conditioner. Just ordinary non bio.

And also washed all preloved reusable nappies with a nappy sanitiser for obvious hygiene reasons :-)

What's with the fanny obsession? It's not dirty you know, and I doubt you've washed your cervix too.

I didn't wash anything before DS wore it for the first time. Only ever wash in non-bio powder though, and never use fabric conditioner - I'm allergic to it, so thought he might be too.

This time round, I'm washing the stuff of DSs that has been festering in a damp loft for three years, so I can reuse it, but not washing new stuff.

Really wouldn't ever use fabric conditioner on baby clothes, it's highly perfumed stuff.

I didn't even think about washing the towels, blankets and little wash clothes. I guess there will be a lot more laundry in my future.

I didn't wash anything. I did have vague plans to do it before DS came but he was 2.5 weeks early and I hadn't gotten around to it by then. Nothing bad happened so I have never washed anything new of his since.

Back again... Keen washer woman!!! Toys etc I would have sterLised first time round, either in the steam steriliser or in a bucket of Milton. This time I'll probably put everything though the dishwasher. Our toys have been in the loft for 3 years so a bit grubby.
As got clothes being scratchy, of you leave then for a bit they soften up. Straight off the line is a bit harsh esp towels etc but ironed (!!) and folded they will be fine.

My husb does sometimes wash new clothes because of his crackers skin. So it's not that odd for me to do it for our baby!!

K

I didn't wash anything, 3 kids they're all grand .