Having a baby makes a big difference in the life of a family in all aspects. Even the usual household chores that every housewife performs “automatically” have to be revised taking into account the needs and characteristics of the baby. Today we will talk about washing, because it is a very important point in baby care.
Young mothers have to do a lot of washing: a newborn baby can stain several diapers per hour. In this regard, many questions usually arise: how to wash, in a typewriter or on the hands, together with adult clothes or separately. The answers to all questions are in the rules for washing clothes for a newborn.
10 rules
- The clothes of a newborn baby must be washed separately from everything. Especially carefully you need to filter things in which you walk on the street. Such clothes should not even lie in the same basket with the newborn's laundry. An adult's clothing contains a huge amount of potentially dangerous microorganisms, because he is in it at work, in transport, in a store. Even washing at high temperatures, repeated rinsing and ironing cannot cope with some of them. The immunity of an adult is able to actively fight against such "neighbors", but for a newborn baby, meeting harmful bacteria can be dangerous.
- For washing, you should use a special baby powder. The main active component of such powders is ordinary soap, which is completely harmless to the baby. Unlike synthetic powders, baby powder rinses out better, washes organic dirt well and does not cause allergies. By the way, some manufacturers also have liquid detergents for children's clothes in their product line. They are superior to dry powders in their properties.
- You can wash your baby's clothes in the washing machine. Some models of washing machines have a special “children's” washing mode. If there is no such mode, you can wash on any other, setting the temperature to 80-90 degrees. This washing is similar to boiling.
- Some mothers do not trust washing machines and believe that automatic washing deforms things. In this case, the clothes of the newborn can be washed by hand. You can protect your hands from hot water with two layers of gloves: cotton gloves are worn directly on the hands, rubber ones - over cotton ones.
- Regardless of the washing method, baby clothes need to be rinsed very well. On the washing machine, you can turn on additional rinsing cycles; for hand wash, you need to rinse until the water is absolutely clean and transparent. With each new rinse, you need to lower the water temperature, after rinsing is carried out in cold water. This method is the best way to remove the detergent particles from the fibers of the fabric.
- A newborn baby may spit up a little and leave a small speck on the diaper or blouse. Sometimes mom is tempted to wash only the stained part of her clothes. This is not worth doing. Baby clothes are completely washed.
- If the baby has crumpled, the feces must be removed from the clothes before washing. It is best to do this right away with soap and water. The fact is that some bacteria are safe only when they are in the intestines, and when they get on other parts of the body, they cause problems. When fecal particles enter the general wash, they are carried throughout the laundry, and this is not safe.
- When washing clothes of a newborn, do not use chlorine bleach, scented conditioners, or means to prevent scale. Tough stains can be removed with hydrogen peroxide bleach. Softeners are not needed when washing with baby powder, and it is better to use descaling agents outside of washing.
- The washed items need to be well straightened when hanging so that they are well ventilated and dry quickly. It is best to dry the things of a newborn on the street or on the balcony, and if indoors, then it should be dry and well ventilated. This prevents moisture souring and mold growth.
- Before the umbilical wound heals, the baby's things need to be ironed on both sides so that the newborn baby does not get any infection. After the navel has healed, you don't need to iron things once again.
At first, a young mother may think that washing a newborn's clothes is a difficult task. In fact, the family quickly gets into a rhythm, sorts clothes without problems and often completely switches to baby washing powder. For the sake of saving time and energy, it is better to use a washing machine and diapers to reduce the amount of dirty diapers. Each mother selects a detergent empirically.
READ ALSO:
- How to take care of baby clothes (washing, drying, ironing, storage): tips and tricks
- How long should a newborn's linen (diaper) be ironed? And do I need to iron them?
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky:
