From diaper accidents to milk, stains on baby clothes are inevitable. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean you need to break the bank by getting new clothes for your baby every day.
There are numerous done-and-tested methods to get rid of stubborn stains. This includes using hot water, baking soda, and dish soap. If you’ve tried everything, you can still use the baby clothing in other ways.
Wondering what to do with stained baby clothes? In this article, we’ve listed the best ways to get rid of stains as well as how to make the most out of stained baby clothes. Let’s dive in!
How to Remove Stains From Baby Clothing
Don’t lose hope if a stain doesn’t seem to be coming off through regular washing. The following tricks might help:
1. White Vinegar
Plain white vinegar can tackle any stain. Whether you soak the clothing in vinegar as a pre-wash treatment or apply it directly to the washing cycle, it’ll do the trick.
In particular, vinegar is ideal for greasy stains. It can also remove any stubborn odor, which makes it perfect for diaper accidents.
Vinegar is an all-rounder stain remover. Simply adding it to your laundry load will break down excess laundry detergent, leaving the clothes feeling softer than ever.
That said, it might be too abrasive for colored clothes, as it can remove the pigment.
2. Baking Soda
Another exceptional answer to remove stubborn stains is baking soda. This kitchen stable can draw out pigments and dissolve all types of stains.
The reason baking soda works so well is simple. Baking soda combines with warm water to form carbon dioxide, a gas.
Accordingly, all you have to do is create a paste of baking soda. Next, rub the baking soda onto the stain, and then add hot water, the air will dislodge even the toughest stains and get rid of unpleasant odors.
3. Dish Soap
Dish soap is an excellent pre-soak liquid for any stain. Since this powerful detergent can remove grease and oil from pans in seconds, it’ll work similarly on clothes.
Just rub some dish soap on the stain, and leave it for 10 minutes. Next, rinse the soap off with cool water before washing the clothes as normal.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t add dish soap to your washing machine, as this might ruin it. Additionally, baby clothing can’t handle tough detergents. So, soaking them in dish soap for too long might stretch the delicate clothes out and cause them to fade.
4. Hot Water
There’s no need for complex home remedies and special detergents for stained baby clothing. Instead of washing the clothing on the delicate cycle with cold water, using hot water is enough to remove tough stains.
You can soak the items of clothing in boiling water for 15 minutes before washing them as usual. Alternatively, washing on a hot cycle will dislodge stains as well as kill any bacteria.
This option is particularly ideal for baby clothing as it protects your child’s sensitive skin. There are no harsh chemicals or soap residue, so your child will be perfectly safe.
5. Clean Immediately
What better way to remove stains than to prevent them in the first place? To keep your infant’s clothes looking as good as new, clean any stain as soon as possible. This ensures the stain doesn’t set into the fabric fibers, drying and absorbing into the clothes.
You don’t have to wash every piece of clothes on its own, though. Simply cleaning the stain with a damp towel or rinsing it with cold water will solve the problem.
What to Do With Stained Baby Clothes?
While buying new clothes can be incredibly fun, baby clothes get stained in seconds. No matter your budget, getting new clothes in place of stained items is impossible.
So, you have one of those stains that are here to stay? Here are a couple of ways you can still make use of the baby clothes:
1. Add Embroidery
If you have a stained cardigan, jumper, or outerwear, you can seize this opportunity to add adorable embroidery to your baby’s clothes.
You can go for embroidered iron-on patches if you’ve never embroidered before. Yet, this would also be the perfect time to take up a creative and helpful hobby.
2. Keep for Future Generations
Throwing away stained clothes is just wasteful. You never know when you might need a cozy sweater or a basic sleep onesie.
For this reason, it’s best to keep stained clothing, in case you come across a new baby detergent that works wonders on persistent stains.
Moreover, even if you don’t plan on having more kids, your relatives with kids will be more than happy for the extra clothes, especially if the stains are unnoticeable.
3. Daycare Clothes
Here’s the thing: Daycares are bound to get messy. Your child will probably come home with a punch of stains on their clothes anyway.
Well, there’s no shame in your child wearing their stained clothes to daycare, as long as the clothes are washed and have no odor, of course!
4. Recycle
Baby clothes might be tiny, but they have endless potential. You can make your infant new socks, tops, skirts, leggings, and hats from old, stained clothing items.
The best part is that you don’t need to have any experience with sewing to take on these projects. A pair of scissors to remove the stained part is enough.
5. Donate
Lastly, if you’re done with stained clothes, donating them to families in need is the answer. Just make sure the clothes smell nice and the stains are unnoticeable. This way, other babies will happily wear them.
Final Thoughts
Every mother has wondered what to do with stained baby clothes at least once. The best way is to keep the stain from setting in. This could be simply done by rinsing the stain with cold water.
If you have a persistent stain, dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar are some of your many options.
You can also look at the stain as an opportunity to get creative. You can use fabric paint to liven up your baby’s outfit or add iron-on patches. Since stains are inevitable, nobody is going to judge you if your child continues wearing clothing with small marks!