I’m curious Laundry Friends:
Do you use special baby detergent for your littlest one’s clothes?
Anything similar to Dreft, Method Baby Laundry Detergent, All Free & Clear?
If you choose to use it, what are your reasons for doing so?
I’ve never used a special detergent formulated for babies with any of my new little ones. Should I change my ways with baby #4? Am I missing something?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether a specified baby detergent is really necessary. So be honest!
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No way! Well, at least not for me. I almost always use homemade detergent or at least unscented, so it’s not an issue. I’m really sensitive to scents, so I figure that if I’m okay with it, it’ll probably work for Baby too.
We never used baby detergent, but we typically use a dye/allergy free for all of our laundry. I did use Dreft stain spray because we had terrible spitup issues – and it was great. Now, though, I use home-made stain spray – which I would say works at least as well as Dreft, and maybe better!
I always use any type of free & clear detergent because my fiance is allergic to the dyes and perfumes, so there’s a higher chance our son will be too. I never went further than the free & clear stuff and I found it unnecessary to do so.
I use Charlie’s Soap foe EVERYTHING, even baby clothes 🙂
Both of my babies had, and still have very sensitive skin. Since a second type of detergent (Dreft, etc.) didn’t fit into my budget, I chose, and still use a “free & clear” detergent for all of our laundry. (All, Tide, etc.) My babies are both in college now, and doing their own laundry. They have both re-learned the lesson of using “free & clear” laundry products!
I never used baby detergent. When my daughter was a baby we had to go to the laundromat so her clothes had to be washed with everyone else’s. I couldn’t afford to do separate loads of just baby clothes. Money was really tight then, I used whatever detergent was cheapest.
I got a couple bottles of dreft from baby showers before my daughter was born and used those for the first six months and vowed not to buy any more after they were used up. I just about went crazy doing separate load of laundry for my daughter and a separate load for everybody else. Do you have any idea how many onesies and itty bitty bloomers it takes to do a full load of laundry? Do you have any idea how long it takes to fold a full load of itty bitty baby clothes? Now everybody’s laundry goes in together with a scoop of Charlie’s Soap. I really don’t think baby laundry detergent is necessary unless you have a baby with very sensitive skin.
We didn’t start out using the baby detergent, but Grace was diagnosed with severe eczema at 6 months. We had to go to a pediatric dermatologist and everything because it was so bad. The doctor strongly suggested that everything to touch her skin was washed in Dreft, so we switched. It’s so expensive, though, that we kept with our normal household stuff for Joe and I. She’s still very sensitive to detergents, but we don’t do the Dreft any more (probably stopped around 18 months).
I used to use free and clear on my son’s clothes, but when a retailer suggested that I use regular Tide powder on his cloth diapers, I started using it on his clothes, too. Obviously if it didn’t hurt his sensitive little bottom, it wasn’t going to hurt to wash his clothes in it.
We never did, simply because I felt {and still firmly believe} it’s just a ridiculous marketing hoax. We’ve typically used free & clear, but most recently learned how to make our own {whoot whoot}: http://www.simplybloomblog.com/2010/08/homemade-laundry-detergent.html
Thanks to all of you for your opinions! It seems like Free & Clear detergents are the best way to go!
We use the Target Baby Laundry. Smells like Dreft, but way cheaper. I agree it is totally unecessary – I just love the smell, to me it is “baby” (I know, I know..). If your child actually has sensitive skin (mine don’t), All Free & Clear or similar is probably better then Dreft, the Target stuff or other perfumed products. The Dreft stain spray works well and, IME, a bottle lasts forever.
Regardless, I would wash baby laundry separately, call me paranoid, but I say why expose them more than necessary to the germs of the rest of the family..
Tracey, that just made me laugh. I totally agree! It all smells so good and baby-like! Makes me want to use those specialty detergents just for the scent also! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Mama’s…
-Lauren