Once you realize you are pregnant along with the pregnancy blues you try to imagine various things about your child be it how he/she would look, how things would change, etc. If you happen to step into a shop where there is a baby’s section then trust me, we end up spending a lot of time there. I am sure there would be a smile while reading this by all moms because I have done this too.
However, while going through the initial euphoria I did not know maintaining the clothes for these little ones sometimes can become a task. Over the last two and half years, I have made mistakes and have had my share of learnings that I thought to share.
Let’s go step by step –
For Expecting Moms and New Moms: The first task is to deal with all the questions in mind whether we need to pre-wash our baby’s clothes or we can directly use them?
- We start preparing our hospital bags with the clothes around the 7th or 8th month of our pregnancy as a prepared measure. These clothes can be new fabrics or hand me downs from family. In any case, the fabric needs to be washed before usage. Your baby’s skin is sensitive, to top it all the baby’s immune system isn’t fully developed so we need to be extra cautious. The new fabrics could have chemical coatings to give a fresh feel. If you are using hand me downs still since the cloth would be kept for some time it’s ideal, we wash to get rid of any dust, dirt or moulds if any. As whatever touches our little one delicate skin needs to be perfect.
- Few tips from personal experience: keep your clothes ready and wash them as close to your due date or if possible, ask your mom/mother-in-law to keep them ready while you are in hospital. For newborns use cotton and muslin suits the best.
For all the moms: There are few questions that encompass our mind – should we wash baby’s clothes separately, what kind of laundry products we would need and which work best?
- Let’s address these questions stepwise to ease all our doubts. Sort of the clothes as per the type. Read any instructions given on the clothes, something we need to keep in mind. For all the bibs, socks and caps you can keep them in a mesh bag and wash separately especially for newborns as the size would be small and the chances you losing is easy.
- If you want all the prints intact then turn the clothes inside out. Wash the pastels and the bright clothes separately.
- Depending on the method of washing if you are going to hand wash the clothes a strong recommendation of warm water with a mild detergent to remove stains and protect from germs. If you are using the washing machine then adjust to the best possible temperature as per the clothes instructions and again use a mild detergent. Warm water is a good choice as it helps in removing stains and disinfects the cloth which is important for reuse.
- The next big question is the selection of products. Mild Detergents work the best sharing from personal experience. Initially, we washed the clothes using our regular washing powder we saw that the prints almost disappeared from the clothes. We never faced the issue of residual detergent powder, however; I did hear from friends about such issues.
- When I faced immediate detergent related issues, the next thing was to check the e-commerce sites to check relevant products. We are lucky to live in a timeline where specific products are catering to our needs. I tried first Mother Sparsh because I was using other products from this brand and they were working well.
- Second point is that the chances of things going wrong with a plant based product are very less. We do machine washing as hand washing was not possible for us. It was a dilemma for us if this would be a good choice nevertheless, we went ahead and we did not face any issue.
- Learnt my lesson a bit hard way that mild detergents work the best. If you worry about the stains and odour keep your concerns away as these products are mild but do their job well.
- Once you develop that comfort level with the products this will save you from a lot of future problems. This routine of washing what you set can continue till your child grows to a certain age. I continue to use the same product. The only addition is a fabric conditioner. There are questions about whether to use it or not. Again, check the label instructions of your clothes generally it shouldn’t be an issue. Plus, we have dedicated products now to our rescue.
You may ask me the products I use for my little one. Well as I have shared, I use Mother Sparsh Plant Powered Laundry Detergent for her.
This product was my first choice because I was using other products from this brand and had a good experience with them.
The next reason was that the best part of Mother Sparsh products is the ingredients which are plant powered backed up. This one has the power of Aloe vera to reduce any kind of skin irritation. Next, it has Neem which is a known anti-bacterial and good for the skin. It also has eucalyptus oil which has a soothing fragrance and prevents the growth of bacteria. This natural bio-enzyme rich detergent is safe and mild and doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals or even preservatives. Additionally, since it is free from harmful toxins like SLS/SLES, phosphate, parabens, sulfates & bleach its Non-Toxic and Biodegradable. Lastly, it works both in hand washing and machine washing without any hassles so honestly, I haven’t looked out for any other product and stuck to this one till now.
Hope these tips are helpful and would love to know your experiences too.