Baby Laundry Tips

My Aunt Jeannette is arguably the laundry pro in the family. She can get a stain out of anything and she fits her daily laundry loads into her schedule with ease. I've learned a thing or twenty from her, but I hadn't seen her wash very many baby clothes so I had to figure out a bunch of that process from scratch. These are a few of the things I've learned (most the hard way.) I'm hoping that both she and Martha Stewart would be proud:

• Save trouble later: Fasten all velcro when it comes off the baby
• Got a tricky or stinky stain? Wash first, then hang in the sun for about 3 hours
• Secure socks and other mini items into a delicate lingerie bag
• Use half to a quarter of the recommended amount of laundry detergent
• Check your load when the basin fills; there should only be a few bubbles breaking the surface, no super suds.
• Don't use fabric softener on baby clothes
• If you're doing cloth diapers don't use fabric softener with any loads. The residue stays in the dryer and coats your items, making them water repellant instead of absorbent.
• Dry on low to avoid shrinking

Mamas who cloth diaper take their washing routines seriously to protect their fluffy stash! Everyone swears by a different process, and I'm sure mine will change when we introduce solid foods. For now I run a cold cycle, then a hot cycle with detergent (Tide Free) and an extra hot rinse. I do a combo of hanging dry and using the dryer. Basically, if it's absorbent it goes in the dryer and if it's waterproof it gets hung. All-in-ones hang and then get fluffed in the dryer for 30 minutes. We've been fabric-softener free for 3 months and I don't miss it at all!

Sometimes, when I'm really ambitious I do this routine:
Workout and Washout