How to Treat and Remove Baby Stains

For anyone that has fed or burped a baby you know that it is a messy job. Usually at the end of feeding my children I would often wonder how much actually went into their little mouths. I would look down at their cute little faces wet with formula, little paths of wet goo dripping from the edge of their mouth, across their cheeks, and pooling behind their ears. At the end of feedings the collars of their shirts were stained with formula whether they had a bib on or not. When my children were infants I used Dreft Laundry Detergent on their clothes. They had very sensitive skin and Dreft was the only detergent their precious little skin could handle. Though, removing stains from their clothes was very important to me. The most important thing was not to use harsh chemicals on their clothes that would cause an itchy rash. This is how I treated stains on their baby clothes:

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Dreft Laundry Detergent
• Club Soda
• Lemon Juice
• Meat Tenderizer

1. As soon as my children were done eating I removed the food and formula soiled clothes, promptly. If the stain is allowed to dry and set into the clothes it is almost impossible to get out
2. After removing the clothes, I would set the clothes in the sink. With cool water I would rinse away the baby food, formula, spit-up, etc. Avoid hot water because it will set in the stain.
3. Once all of the solid particles of food were rinsed away I would then set the washing machine to pre-soak and soak the clothes in Dreft laundry detergent for at least 30 minutes.
4. After pre-soaking I would wash clothes through a normal cycle.
5. If the stain was still visible after washing I would avoid the dryer. The dryer will set in a stain, making it nearly impossible to get out.
6. For white clothes; I would continue to work on the stain with club soda and lemon juice. The club soda’s bubbles helped to bring the stain to the surface while the lemon juice helped to clean the stain away.
7. For colored clothes; I would again use club soda to bring the stain to the surface but then I would sprinkle unseasoned meat tenderizer over it. I would leave the meat tenderizer on the stain for 30 minutes and then machine wash the clothing (works especially great on formula stains).

Tips & Warnings

• Because of my children’s sensitive skin I had to get creative when it came to stains. But in the end if the stain didn’t come out there was nothing more to do than to make sure they were wearing that outfit again for their next feeding. What is a formula stain without an apple juice stain to match?