Pre-washing newborn clothes

[expectingourmiracle]

Hi all,
I know the recommendation is to pre-wash all of baby's clothes to get rid of any factory chemicals etc, but I'm really struggling with the smell of detergent at the minute!
I've found one that I've used through pregnancy but it isn't non-bio, so I'm not sure it's suitable for baby clothes? Would it be enough to just put them on a warm wash without any detergent? Thanks

Must admit it never crossed my mind to do this. 20 years on DS has survived!

But just shoving them through a wash and ideally line drying should do the trick

I only did this because my son was in the neonatal unit and every thin had to go through a hot wash. I wouldn't have done it otherwise.

I never bothered and both my daughters survived.

I didn't bother with this either

I didn't.

The only reason to do it is if:

1. You are told to by the medical staff, or,


2. If you or the father has serious allergies to random things.


3. The stuff is hand-me downs/second hands and you don't trust the source.

Smol do unfragranced non-bio pods. smolproducts.com/

You can use bio, most of the rest of the world doesn't have non-bio and their babies survive!

Gosh, I have never heard of this recommendation. Is that really the case? I certainly didn’t pre-wash anything.

I prewash anything which my skin is going to touch directly so I am surprised people don't do it for newborns.

Would you wear pair of knickers without washing them first?

Yes. I have never in my life prewashed anything.

I wash all my own clothes before wearing them. So I did the same for my ds.

I never pre wash clothes for me! I did prewash newborn stuff for my first, but not for my second and he was fine.

Never prewashed anything so won’t be doing so for DC. Have the midwives asked you to do it? Or is it your choice?

Baby 1 everything was lovingly washed in non-bio.
Baby 2 - I probably washed the vests.
Baby 3 - does it smell, is there actual food on it left-over from Baby 1 and 2, is it dirty. If none of the above - stick it on him.

I never did if it was new stuff from the shop. Only if it was second hand stuff that I’d been given!

I pre-wash all clothing before use as garments sometimes have residue from chemicals such as formaldehyde or dye which can cause skin irritation.

I just used fairy non bio. I really enjoyed washing it all lol

I washed everything first as well. Don't use detergent just a plain softener? Or nothing at all

Should work just as well

I remember pre washing and lovingly ironing my newborns clothes. I wouldnt bother! They're in it for 5 minutes and it is such a waste of time! Plenty of time for washing when little one is here!

Didn't pre wash anything either and no issues. Things were not on for very long between poo explosions!

I didn't bother. Both my children are fine

I did pre wash clothes but only on a rinse cycle so that only adds Softener. I guess I was nesting at the time.

I didn't bother washing my newborns clothes and he's absolutely fine.

I pre washed all of my baby's clothes before she was born as I had heard it was the done thing. Then she was born too small to wear any of it, so my husband was sent to the supermarket while I was on postnatal ward to quickly pick up some smaller clothes, so it just came straight out of the packet and onto baby. No ill effects and made me wonder why I had bothered with all of that faff in the first place.
Life's too short.

Thanks everyone, a mixed bag of opinions! My consultant recommended it, not sure if it's something she said to me specifically or if it's the general advice for everyone. I'm guessing the latter.
I'll probably put the clothes on a rinse with warm water but no detergent. The smell of almost all detergent makes me gag/throw up. Obviously if the consultant/midwife said I must wash everything in detergent then I would do it, but it seemed like more of a passing comment.