Removing Stains from Baby Clothes

Baby clothes come in many adorable patterns and fabrics. It can be a lot fun shopping for your child or even a friend's child. Even hand-me-down baby clothes are a great find. However, what happens when all of that cute clothing is worn for less than an hour and suddenly your baby has made a mess of it with food and diaper accidents?

Some stains can be really difficult to clean while others are fairly simple. My friend recently had a baby and she told me that she has been amazed at how often she has to change the baby's clothes—maybe even more than changing diapers! I asked her how she keeps the clothing looking so new, fresh and clean and she offered up some good cleaning tips.

• Spot treating. One of the best things to do with baby clothing is to spot clean it before the stain can set. Whether your baby is still feeding with milk or is eating solid foods, treating the stain before it sets is the best way a parent can keep the clothing clean and spot free. I recommend using a spot cleaner that is light on odors and is hypo-allergenic. Baby skin is very sensitive and you wouldn't want to great looking baby clothes and a baby with skin irritation.
• More aggressive stains. For stains that don't come off in with a pre-treatment, you will want to use a strong detergent and was the clothing right away. Some people suggest using Oxi-Clean and Era, which are both great. My friend uses Tide on her baby clothing and that works great, too.

There are, of course, two main thoughts on baby clothing. One is to simply buy enough baby clothing to avoid having to do laundry every day. The other is to buy just enough and use pre-treatments on the stains. Either way you decide to go, keeping baby clothing clean and fresh is fairly simple as long as you either pre-treat it or wash it right away. It seems like a daunting task, especially as they get older, but it's a fairly simple routine once you get it down. I suggest keeping a few different laundry basket stations in the house with a bottle of pre-treatment near it. This way, no matter where you are in the house, you can easily remedy the stain.