How to choose laundry detergent for infants?
Choosing laundry detergent for baby clothes and underwear, one should be especially careful about different components present in the product. If only a few components are listed on the package, this should alert you. Chemically active agents include many individual ingredients, and if they are not listed, you can’t learn about the true nature of the laundry detergent. Therefore, these purchases can be dangerous for your baby’s health.
What mustn’t be in a good laundry detergent for baby clothes?
- Phosphates
They degrease skin and destroy its protective barrier function, reducing the immunity of the body.
- Surfactants.
The content of surfactants should not exceed 35%. They affect internal organs and are often the cause of skin diseases — eczema, irritation, dermatitis, etc. Note: abundant foaming is an obvious symptom of high surfactants presence. A good laundry detergent for babies mustn’t foam well.
- Sharp smell.
Of course, it’s nice when linen is fragrant. However, any perfume in the composition of laundry detergent for baby clothes is a shot against the respiratory system of an infant and additional risk of allergies.
Hypoallergenic detergents are odorless. They are sold in pharmacies. They usually undergo supplemental purification. In high quality detergents, chemical perfumes can are replaced by essential oils.
- Сonditioners and softeners.
These components are difficult to wash out and they remain on clothes, causing allergies in infants. Do not use laundry detergents with conditioners and softeners for clothes if your baby is under 3.
What can be in laundry detergent for infants?
- Soap.
- Sodium carbonate peroxide.
- Oxygen bleach.
- Zeolites
It is a natural component of volcanic origin. Even if zeolites stay on clothes after washing, they have no harmful effects on newborns.
- Enzymes, produced without GMOs.
Enzymes destroy protein stains. They are harmful only in form of dust, but in a soap solution, they are absolutely harmless.
Bleach in laundry detergent
The purpose of bleach is removing stains from light fabrics. Bleach can be chemical — oxygen or chlorine, or optical. Optical bleach works differently from chemical. It stays on clothes surface and creates the effect of whiteness. Needless to say that it remains on the fabric after washing and it contacts with a baby’s skin. Therefore, optical bleach is invalid for washing baby clothes. In good laundry detergents, it is replaced by sodium carbonate peroxide.
It’s also a good idea to avoid chlorine bleach. For washing baby clothes, use laundry detergent with hydrogen peroxide bleach as it is harmless and even kills bacteria.
Basic tips on choosing laundry detergent for newborns.
It is worth noting that each baby has individual reaction to detergents. Therefore, sometimes only through trial and error you can find a suitable laundry detergent for your baby.
Now let’s look at some tips in choosing laundry detergents for newborn clothes.
- The best variant is laundry detergents based on soap solution.
They cleanse baby closes more gently and are safe for your newborn.
- The detergent should be marked as allergy-tested.
It is desirable even if your baby is not allergic.
- Pay attention to the shelf life and quality of package.
- Buy laundry detergents for newborns in larger shops or drugstores.
Baby laundry detergents is a very popular product, so we cannot exclude the possibility of counterfeit of well-known trademarks. Larger shops usually have reliable suppliers.
- Choose detergents with oxygen bleach.
Oxygen bleach is safer for baby skin and copes with urine stains better.
- Choose detergents with lighter smell.
It is desirable that the smell was unobtrusive.
- Natural composition
The best option is laundry detergent for infants based on plant extracts and baby soap, since you can easily wash such detergents out of the newborn’s clothes. Even if some quantity of natural detergent is left on the clothes, it will not cause allergies in infants.
Сonclusion.
All components should be specified on a package of a safe laundry detergent for babies. There should be plenty of them — not 4 or 5! If you see only several components listed — look for a different detergent.
Do not use baby laundry detergents, if they contain phosphates, surfactants, optical and chlorine bleaches, perfumes, softeners and conditioners. It’s strictly prohibited to use adult laundry detergents for children under 3 years.
Additional features of a safe laundry detergent are:
- it perfectly and quickly dissolves in water;
- it does not form flakes;
- it leaves no stains on clothes;
- it makes little foam.
Alas, you can check all these only at home.
Study the composition yourself and never choose anything based on somebody’s recommendations, as your baby is unique. If you want absolute security — just boil your newborn’s clothes with grated soap or use harmless DIY methods of washing baby clothes.
Here they were — uncomplicated secrets of choosing baby laundry detergents. We hope our tips will be useful for you and help you make the right choice, and most importantly, your baby will be comfortable in clean clothes. Good luck to you in choosing a detergent for daily laundry.