The Best Laundry Detergents for Baby Clothes

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

25 Jan 2009 11:44 AM

Washing your baby's clothing separately from the laundry belonging to the rest of the family is a very good idea. Everyday soil, perfumes, body lotions, wool fibers and other additives and even clothing dyes from other clothing can get on your baby's clothing during the washing process and can irritate young skin.

Regular laundry detergents can also be an irritant. In my experience, certain brands of laundry detergent work better than others at cleaning baby clothes but remaining gentle on baby skin. Here are my picks.

All Free and Clear

This is the main laundry detergent I used for my baby clothes. It comes in an easy to use liquid formula and contains no dyes or perfumes (it looks clear). Whenever any of my children had a rash, simply switching back to this detergent helped immediately. The downside is that without perfumes, there is no real deodorant factor, so you don't get that "spring fresh" scent.

Dreft

Dreft detergent is probably the most popular baby laundry detergent, and it comes in liquid form. It is said to be gentle and mild and has a pleasant scent that makes babies smell really nice. The downside to Dreft is that it is rather expensive as far as laundry detergent goes, and it does contain perfumes (hence the scent) which may cause a reaction. My babies all had eczema when they were small, and the Dreft detergent seemed to make it worse.

Ivory Snow

This is the gentle detergent that has been used for generations. It comes in a powder form and does very well at getting out baby stains. It contains no perfumes or dyes, but it does smell like well, soap. One of the big positives of this detergent is that I found that it got out stains better than any of the other detergents. The downside to Ivory Snow is that it is often difficult to find. I had to rely on finding it in grocery stores in New York City. Today it can be purchased online.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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