Do I Need Baby Laundry Detergent?

There is so much to consider before having a baby including washing your babies clothes, blanket, sheets, burp cloths, etc. Before throwing all the baby clothes that you have purchased or been gifted in to the wash, one should consider whether or not using baby laundry detergent is necessary. Life is full of choices, and today I want to make this choice as easy as possible for you to make.

Do I need baby laundry detergent? The answer is NO! In 2019 the focus more than ever is living a clean and healthy lifestyle. Discovering laundry detergent that is safe for the whole family is more accessible now than ever before. Say goodbye to overspending on a baby specific detergent.

Keep reading to discover why you don’t need a baby specific laundry detergent.

Allergies and Genetics

In the past when clean laundry detergents were few and far between, it was important to consider if the father or mother had allergies to specific ingredients or if in general they had sensitive skin. This is how people would base their decision if they needed to purchase a separate baby detergent.

I myself have both issues. I have a severe allergy to coconut, which is found in EVERYTHING and have very sensitive skin. I thought without a doubt that we would need a baby specific laundry detergent. After copious amounts of research we surprisingly decided to stick with our everyday detergent even with all my sensitivities. Our daughter had no reaction to the detergent we used to clean all her clothes, blankets, sheets, etc.

Using Clean Detergent for the Whole Family

I do not recommend using your everyday detergent if it is full of harsh chemicals, dye’s and perfumes. It’s important regardless of how sensitive your skin is or not to minimize the exposure of these things to our babies especially at a young age. It is not good for adults to be exposed to these things, so why would we expose our children to them. The real question you should be asking is “ is our laundry detergent safe for our family?”

Take a look at the ingredients listed on your laundry detergent and evaluate if its hypoallergenic, perfume, and dye free. When we were deciding if we needed to switch our detergent we were uneducated on what ingredients to avoid, and researching each ingredient online would take forever.

Luckily, there is a simple way to almost instantaneously get the results we need. Simply us one of several apps that allow you to simply scan the barcode on the detergent and it will give you all the deets on if the product is clean enough for your family. We use the free app Think Dirty- Shop Clean for most products that we use in our house. Using an app made it super easy for us to decide if we needed to ditch our old laundry detergent or not.

Helpful tip: Start by looking at the front of the detergent. A couple key indicators that the detergent may be clean is an organic label or a label that states made for sensitive skin. Just because it states its organic or made for sensitive skin does not guarantee that the product is safe, but it’s a good start. Next, look for detergents that are Hypoallergenic, perfume, and dye free.

Will Safe Laundry Detergents Actually Get our Clothes Clean?

In general, ABSOLUTELY! Now will a clean laundry detergent get all the stains out of your clothes if you have been rolling around in blueberries all day? Probably not, but for days like these…(i’m sure you have a lot :)) there is a magical product called stain remover. Check out our favorite here! For every day washing and cleaning of things like spit up and occasional small stains a clean laundry detergent will get the job done!

Favorite detergents for the Whole Family

Here is our very favorite clean laundry detergent that we use on a daily basis. I love it because it cleans better than almost all the laundry detergents we’ve ever used. (Even better than most of the chemical laden formulas.)

For a slightly more affordable option this laundry detergent also works well. It’s not as good as the above laundry detergent, but for the price it gets the job done right and will be safe for the whole family.

Take the necessary precautions

If you are still not convinced that using a detergent for the whole family will be safe for your baby then wash a piece of clothing with the detergent and place it on one area of your babies skin. Give it 24 hours and see if the area has been affected by the clothing washed with the detergent. This should give you some piece of mind that the product will or will not react to your babies skin.

What is baby detergent?

Baby detergent is generally better to use than other types of detergent. Although they can also be a way to get consumers to spend a few more dollars on a product that is not much different than regular laundry detergent. In fact some can be worse due to added scent to make the baby clothes smell like a babies bottom. Just because laundry detergent is marketed as baby detergent does not mean that your baby won’t have a reaction to it.

Related Questions

Can I use fabric softener on baby clothes?

No, it is not recommended. Generally fabric softener has added dyes and perfumes that are not good for a babies sensitive skin. If you choose to use a fabric softener find an organic softener without dyes and fragranced naturally like this one. Without dyes or perfumes the fabric softener should be safe for your baby.

Can I use dryer sheets for drying baby clothes?

No, this also is not recommended because of the high amounts of added fragrances that are not good for babies skin. Organic dryer sheets can be used as long as the fragrance is from essential oils or plant derived like these ones that our family loves!

There are also some natural alternatives to dryer sheets. You can dampen a washcloth with just a bit of apple cider vinegar and throw it in the dryer to get rid of static. Another option is to use organic wool balls in the dryer. Some people swear by taking a strip of aluminum foil and rolling in into a ball and putting it into the dryer to eliminate static and it’s also reusable.

Should baby clothes be washed separately?

If using the same detergent than no, they can be washed with other clothing. If other clothing uses non organic detergent, fabric softener, or dryer sheets with added fragrance that is not plant derived then yes, the baby clothes should be washed separately.