How to Remove Stains from an Infant's Clothing

Infants can go through many changes of clothing each day, making it difficult to keep up with the growing piles of laundry to be washed. Formula, baby food, fruit juices, and diaper messes are some of the most stubborn stains to remove, but there are ways to keep your baby’s clothes looking clean and fresh.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Liquid Detergent
• Baby Wipes
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Lemon Juice
• Vinegar
• Chlorine Bleach

1. Soak stains in cold water as a first line of defense. Often this is all that it will take to remove a stain, especially if you tend to it right away. Soaking will help to loosen the stain before washing.

2. Treat any stained clothing with some liquid detergent, rubbing the stain gently between your thumb and forefinger. This will prevent the stain from setting in. Baby wipes also can be used to help remove many stains, especially if you work on the stain immediately.

3. Use a 50 – 50 solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide and water to remove baby formula stains. Soak stained articles of clothing for about 30 minutes. If some of the stain still remains, pour a bit of peroxide directly on the stain and then soak for another 30 minutes. Launder as usual in a cold water wash.

4. After laundering, check clothing to be certain that any stains have washed out before putting clothes into the dryer. If a stain still is there, the heat from the dryer could set the stain more, making it difficult to remove.

5. Hang white articles of clothing and cloth diapers outside on a clothesline to dry. The sun should bleach out most stains. For particularly stubborn stains on white fabric, apply some lemon juice to the stain before hanging out in the sun. Adding a half cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle helps to whiten clothes as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Read the care labels on your baby’s clothing. Labels identify the fiber content. Since most infant clothing is designed to appeal to adults, it is important to choose fabrics like cotton, which is absorbent, or jersey knits, which shrink very little, even after many washings.
• Check to see if clothing fabric is colorfast by dipping a cotton ball into warm water, and then blotting on an inside seam. If the color of the fabric comes off on the cotton, the fabric is not colorfast.
• Never use chlorine bleach to remove stains from a baby’s clothing. Frequently, this worsens the stain and the bleach can irritate your baby’s sensitive skin.