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Pregnancy

did ypu wash new baby clothes?

39 replies

ditsydoll · 26/04/2013 13:26

Will be packing my hospital bag this week and have bought some new white packs of vests etc..
Should I wash them before use?
Did you wash every outfit before your baby wore it?

OP posts:
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ditsydoll · 26/04/2013 13:27

Sorry for typo in the thread title.

OP posts:
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Bunnylion · 26/04/2013 14:08

I'm washing everything.

I don't usually when I buy stuff for myself but as the baby's skin will be a lot more sensitive to mine I think it's worth doing. I want to avoid any skin/allergy reactions. You don't know what the factory's wash them in before sale.

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lljkk · 26/04/2013 14:08

Nope, nothing ever unless it was 2nd hand & came dirty.
I think most people do wash, I think people just like the idea of it.

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Pascha · 26/04/2013 14:11

I did and still do but experience with needing new clothes quickly whilst out shows it doesnt make a blind bit of difference really. Its still nice to do though.

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Pascha · 26/04/2013 14:12

Dont open all the little baby stuff, in case you have a ginormobaby and need to exchange for bigger size Wink

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AuntieStella · 26/04/2013 14:15

I think I did this for first DC, and maybe the second. Definitely didn't for the third (who had quite a lot of new stuff - I found things survived one baby's worth of strange exuded slime, but not two).

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ThedementedPenguin · 26/04/2013 14:16

I didn't wash anything new but I washed everything that was second hand.

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ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets · 26/04/2013 14:17

Yes you should wash them.
When they're in the factory they're treated with chemicals to make them stay crease free, and it can be nasty to brand new skin.

And there's nothing lovelier than seeing all the tiny things hanging on the line Smile

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OneFingerSjupesUpTheYoni · 26/04/2013 14:18

I'm saying nothing. The last thread about this went mental.

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Meringue33 · 26/04/2013 14:18

No, always though that was overkill. We had so many gifts some were grown out of unused and can be sold/ passed on.

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AuntieStella · 26/04/2013 14:19

A thread about washing went mental ?!? Shock

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Discogeek · 26/04/2013 14:25

I never washed anything last time & I won't be this time. I didn't even realise it was something people did! I despise every aspect of laundry so do the bare minimum at the best of times, there's no way I'm making more work for myself Smile

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carrielou2007 · 26/04/2013 14:29

Ooh there was a thread about this that was literally posters screaming/how people should not be allowed children/chemicals that would injure etc ok slightly over exaggeration but you get the gist Grin.

I did with my first, she was a whopper so had lots if beautiful clothes she couldn't wear and that I couldn't change/return. With my son I didn't bought only 0-3 and had to go shopping in way home from hospital as being only 8lb13 nothing fitted so straight from packet to on him.

This time around just too much already to do with working/3 and a 6 year old to be bothered worried about it Grin

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knittingirl · 26/04/2013 14:31

tbh haven't made up my mind yet, will probably partly depend how much time I have on my hands over the summer. But I really don't want to end up with clothes I can't return that don't fit!

And I remember the last thread on this too lol...

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Steffanoid · 26/04/2013 14:33

I have done like a previous poster purely because I like seeing things hanging on the line and then folding them all and putting them away, they look so lovely

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OneFingerSjupesUpTheYoni · 26/04/2013 14:34

Carrielou i bet we were on the same one - i was freaked right out and seriously confused!

Yep auntiestella as carrielou said it went from i do/i don't to ''you are bringing deeeeeeath to your chiiiiild won't somebody thiiiink of the cheeeeeeeldren'' within 30 odd posts Shock

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carrielou2007 · 26/04/2013 14:37

I might have to try to find the thread again now, one poster's husband was some sort if chemical scientist then other posters shouting get down about what he had said it was farcical! We should start one on 'washing newborns with cotton wool and water v baby wipes' to get same sort if reaction Wink

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notso · 26/04/2013 14:37

I did but only for something to do while start-of-labour-spotting.
The outfits we were given afterwards I didn't, most of them were only on for about an hour before getting poo or sick on them anyway!
Somethings do smell chemically when new but washing powder is also chemically it just smells nicer.

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rowtunda · 26/04/2013 14:48

I washed the first things we bought for DS (before he arrived) once he was born I was a bit busy to be washing already clean clothes! Doubt I'll bother for DC2

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WaitingForMe · 26/04/2013 14:55

I washed everything. I just loved handling all the tiny things and imagining an actual baby wearing them.

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slightlysoupstained · 26/04/2013 15:09

I didn't. DP did all the newborn stuff washing. We only washed a few outfits for the first few days before the birth - figured we only needed enough to last as long as it took for DP to pop into supermarket on way home for more of the appropriate size, stick a wash on, and dry them.

Have always washed any of our clothes that are in direct contact with skin before first wear, so seems sensible to do so for baby, esp as they suck on their hands/sleeves/etc.

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slightlysoupstained · 26/04/2013 15:10

Waiting I got a bit freaked out by how big the newborn outfits seemed compared to my belly! Now they look tiny.

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kalidasa · 26/04/2013 15:24

Basically no. I bought almost everything second hand and only washed a few things (in fact everything was perfectly clean but in a couple of cases I just didn't like the smell of the powder/fabric softener so washed them again). I didn't wash any of the handful of new things either.

But then I never wash new clothes before wearing either whereas I know some people do.

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80QuidYoniJob · 26/04/2013 17:16

I did last time and I will this time too.

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rrreow · 26/04/2013 17:16

I tend to wash new baby clothes because of the shrinking they do, because when they're new and unwashed they end up swimming in them, when they're actually the right size once washed. It's how we ended up buying lots of stuff that was too small for DS as we put him in the unwashed newborn clothes and they were HUGE on him, cue us thinking he needed early-baby clothes, but once washed the early-baby stuff was pretty small and he only wore them for a week.

I don't wash them for any other reason though.

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